Tom T. Hall
Encyclopedia
Thomas "Tom T." Hall is an American
country music
singer-songwriter. He has written 11 #1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the pop crossover
hit "I Love
", which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100
. He became known to fans as "The Storyteller," thanks to his storytelling skills in his songwriting.
, a local radio station
in Ronceverte
, West Virginia
. Hall was also an announcer at WVRC
Radio in Spencer, West Virginia
in the 1960s.
Hall's big songwriting break came in 1963, when country singer Jimmy C. Newman
recorded his song, "DJ For a Day." Soon, Hall moved to Nashville
, and within months, he had songs climbing the charts. Hall has been nicknamed "The Story Teller," and he has written songs for dozens of country stars, including Johnny Cash
, George Jones
, Loretta Lynn
, Waylon Jennings
, Alan Jackson
, and Bobby Bare
.
One of his earliest successful songwriting ventures, "Harper Valley PTA
," was recorded in 1968 by Jeannie C. Riley
, sold over six million copies, and won both a Grammy Award
and CMA
award. The song would go on to inspire a motion picture and television program
of the same name. Hall himself has recorded this song, on his album The Definitive Collection (as track #23). Hall's recording career took off after Ms. Riley's rendition of the song, and he had such hits as "A Week in a Country Jail
," "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine
," "I Love
," "Country Is
," "The Year Clayton Delaney Died," "I Like Beer
," "Faster Horses (the Cowboy and the Poet)
", and many others. He is also noted for his children-oriented songs, including "Sneaky Snake" and "I Care
," the latter of which hit #1 on the country charts in 1975.
Hall won the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes
in 1973 for the notes he wrote for his album Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits. He was nominated for, but did not win, the same award in 1976 for his album Greatest Hits, Volume 2.
He also hosted the syndicated
country music TV show Pop! Goes the Country
in 1980.
His 1996 song "Little Bitty
", from the album Songs from Sopchoppy, became a #1 single that year when it was recorded by Alan Jackson
for the album Everything I Love
.
In 1998, his 1972 song "Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine" came in second in a BBC Radio 2
poll to find the UK's favorite easy listening
record, despite never having been a hit in the UK and being familiar to Radio 2 listeners mostly through occasional plays by DJ Terry Wogan
.
His song "I Love", in which the narrator lists the things in life that he loves, was used, with altered lyrics, in a popular 2003 TV commercial for Coors Light
.
On July 3, 2007, he released the CD Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie & Tom T. on his independent bluegrass label Blue Circle Records.
On February 12, 2008, Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer-songwriter. He has written 11 #1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the pop crossover
Crossover (music)
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...
hit "I Love
I Love
"I Love" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released in October 1973 as the only single from the album, For the People in the Last Hard Town. The song would be Hall's most successful single becoming his fourth number one on the U.S....
", which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. He became known to fans as "The Storyteller," thanks to his storytelling skills in his songwriting.
Biography
As a teenager, Hall organized a band called the Kentucky Travelers that performed before movies for a traveling theater. During a stint in the Army, Hall performed over the Armed Forces Radio Network and wrote comic songs about Army experiences. His early career included being a radio announcer at WRONWRON (AM)
WRON is a News/Talk formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Ronceverte, West Virginia, serving Ronceverte and Lewisburg in West Virginia. WRON is owned and operated by Radio Greenbrier, LLC.-External links:*...
, a local radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
in Ronceverte
Ronceverte, West Virginia
Ronceverte is a city in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, on the Greenbrier River. The population was 1,557 at the 2000 census.- Culture and History :...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. Hall was also an announcer at WVRC
WVRC-FM
WVRC-FM is a radio station broadcasting a Country format. Licensed to Spencer, West Virginia, USA, it serves the Spencer area. The station is currently owned by Star Communications, Inc.....
Radio in Spencer, West Virginia
Spencer, West Virginia
Spencer is a city in Roane County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,352 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Roane County. Spencer is the home of the annual West Virginia Black Walnut Festival. Points of interest include Charles Fork Lake, Chrystal Water and Power...
in the 1960s.
Hall's big songwriting break came in 1963, when country singer Jimmy C. Newman
Jimmy C. Newman
Jimmy Yves Newman , better known as Jimmy C. Newman , is an American singer and a long time star of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:Newman was born near Big Mamou, Louisiana...
recorded his song, "DJ For a Day." Soon, Hall moved to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, and within months, he had songs climbing the charts. Hall has been nicknamed "The Story Teller," and he has written songs for dozens of country stars, including Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
, Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
, Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...
, and Bobby Bare
Bobby Bare
Robert Joseph Bare is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is the father of Bobby Bare, Jr., also a musician.-Early career:...
.
One of his earliest successful songwriting ventures, "Harper Valley PTA
Harper Valley PTA
"Harper Valley PTA" is a country song written by Tom T. Hall that was a major international hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley in 1968. Riley's record sold over six million copies as a single. The song made Riley the first woman to top both Billboard's Hot 100 and the U.S...
," was recorded in 1968 by Jeannie C. Riley
Jeannie C. Riley
Jeannie C. Riley is an American country music and gospel singer. She is best known for her 1968 country and pop hit "Harper Valley PTA" , which missed becoming the Billboard Country and Pop number one hit at the same time...
, sold over six million copies, and won both a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
and CMA
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
award. The song would go on to inspire a motion picture and television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
of the same name. Hall himself has recorded this song, on his album The Definitive Collection (as track #23). Hall's recording career took off after Ms. Riley's rendition of the song, and he had such hits as "A Week in a Country Jail
A Week in a Country Jail
"A Week in a Country Jail" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released in November 1969 as the third and final single from his 1969 studio album Homecoming. The song was Hall's fifth release to reach the U.S. country singles chart and...
," "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine
(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine
" Watermelon Wine" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released in November 1972 as the second and final single from the album, The Storyteller. The song was Hall's third number one on the U.S. country singles chart...
," "I Love
I Love
"I Love" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released in October 1973 as the only single from the album, For the People in the Last Hard Town. The song would be Hall's most successful single becoming his fourth number one on the U.S....
," "Country Is
Country Is
"Country Is" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released in September 1974 as the second and final single from the album of the same name, Country Is. The song was Hall's fifth number one on the country chart...
," "The Year Clayton Delaney Died," "I Like Beer
I Like Beer
"I Like Beer" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released in August 1975 as the lead single from the album, Faster Horses. The song peaked at number 4 on the U.S. country singles chart and number 12 on the Canadian country singles...
," "Faster Horses (the Cowboy and the Poet)
Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet)
"Faster Horses " is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released in December 1975 as the second single from the album, Faster Horses. The song was Hall's final number one on the U.S. country singles chart, spending one week at the top and a...
", and many others. He is also noted for his children-oriented songs, including "Sneaky Snake" and "I Care
I Care (song)
"I Care" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released in December 1974 as the only single from the album, Songs of Fox Hollow. "I Care" was Hall's seventh number one on the U.S. country singles chart. The single had a one-week stay at...
," the latter of which hit #1 on the country charts in 1975.
Hall won the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes
Grammy Award for Best Album Notes
The Grammy Award for Best Album Notes has been presented since 1964. From 1973 to 1976, a separate award was presented for Best Album Notes - Classical. Those awards are listed under those years below. The award recognizes albums with excellent liner notes...
in 1973 for the notes he wrote for his album Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits. He was nominated for, but did not win, the same award in 1976 for his album Greatest Hits, Volume 2.
He also hosted the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
country music TV show Pop! Goes the Country
Pop! Goes the Country
Pop! Goes the Country was a weekly half-hour syndicated variety country music television series between September 7, 1974 and January 1, 1982 for a total of 234 episodes...
in 1980.
His 1996 song "Little Bitty
Little Bitty
"Little Bitty" is the title of a song written by American country music singer-songwriter Tom T. Hall and recorded by Alan Jackson. It was released in October 1996 as the lead-off single to Jackson's fifth studio album Everything I Love. The song reached the top of the U.S. Billboard country music...
", from the album Songs from Sopchoppy, became a #1 single that year when it was recorded by Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...
for the album Everything I Love
Everything I Love
Everything I Love is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released on October 29, 1996 and produced six singles for Jackson on the Hot Country Songs charts: the Number One hits "Little Bitty" and "There Goes", Top Ten hits in the title track, "Between the...
.
In 1998, his 1972 song "Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine" came in second in a BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
poll to find the UK's favorite easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
record, despite never having been a hit in the UK and being familiar to Radio 2 listeners mostly through occasional plays by DJ Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
.
His song "I Love", in which the narrator lists the things in life that he loves, was used, with altered lyrics, in a popular 2003 TV commercial for Coors Light
Coors Light
Coors Light is a light beer produced by the Coors Brewing Company. It was first produced in 1978.The beer has a "Cold Certified" label which turns the mountains on the label from white to blue when the beer's temperature is lowered to 4 degrees Celsius .- Promotions :In 2008, Coors Light became...
.
On July 3, 2007, he released the CD Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie & Tom T. on his independent bluegrass label Blue Circle Records.
On February 12, 2008, Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Books written by Hall
- How I Write Songs, Why You Can (1976), Chappell Music Co.
- The Songwriter's Handbook (1976), Rutledge Hill Press
- The Storyteller's Nashville (1979), Doubleday & Co.
- The Laughing Man of Woodmont Coves (1982), Doubleday & Co.
- The Acts of Life (1986), The University Of ArkansasUniversity of ArkansasThe University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
Press - Homewords (1986), The University of Tennessee Press
- Christmas and the Old House (1989), Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
- Spring Hill, Tennessee (1990), Longstreet Press, Inc.
- What a Book! (1996), Longstreet Press, Inc.
See also
- :Category:Songs written by Tom T. Hall
- :Category:Tom T. Hall songs
- :Category:Tom T. Hall albums
External links
- Tom T. Hall official website
- [ Tom T. Hall page at allmusic.com]
- Blue Circle Records
- Good Home Grown Music Publishing
- Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum