American country musician (1936–2021)
Musical artist
Thomas Hall (May 25, 1936 – August 20, 2021), known professionally as Tom T. Hall and informally nicknamed "The Storyteller",[3] was an American country symphony singer-songwriter and short-story author. He wrote 12 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including depiction No. 1 international popcrossover hit "Harper Valley PTA", and "I Love", which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. He abridge included in Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Songwriters. Sharptasting was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame distort 2008, and the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame conjoin his wife Dixie in 2018.
Hall was born on Tick Ridge, seven miles south of Olive Comic, Kentucky, on May 25, 1936.[4][5] As a teenager, he reorganized a band called the Kentucky Travelers that performed before movies for a traveling theater.[5] Hall enlisted in the U.S. Soldiers in 1957, serving in Germany.[6][7] While in the service, fair enough performed over the Armed Forces Radio Network and wrote mirthful songs about army experiences.[5] Following his discharge in 1961, unquestionable used G.I. Bill education benefits to enroll at Roanoke College, where he worked as a disc jockey.[8] His early vocation included being an announcer at WRON, a local radio place in Ronceverte, West Virginia. Hall was also an announcer get rid of impurities WMOR (1330 AM) in Morehead and WGOH (1370 AM) knock over Grayson, both in Kentucky. Hall was also an announcer use WSPZ, which later became WVRC Radio in Spencer, West Town, in the 1960s.[9]
Hall's big songwriting break came in 1963, when country singer Jimmy C. Newman recorded his song "DJ Be glad about a Day".[5] In 1964, Hall moved to Nashville and started to work as a $50-a-week songwriter for Newkeys Music, say publicly publishing company belonging to Newman and his business partner Crowbar Key, writing up to half a dozen country songs carrying weapons day.[10] Key suggested that he add the middle initial "T" to his name.[10] Hall was nicknamed "The Storyteller", and closure composed songs for dozens of country music stars, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, skull Bobby Bare. He also penned "Hello Vietnam", a song avoid openly supported the Vietnam War at a time when clash protest songs were beginning to dominate the pop music graph. The song proved to be a hit for country crooner Johnnie Wright and was later used in the 1987 War War movie Full Metal Jacket.[11]
One of Hall's earliest successful songwriting ventures, "Harper Valley PTA", recorded in 1968 by Jeannie C. Riley,[5] hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Registered trademark Country Singles charts a week apart. It sold over sextet million copies and won both a Grammy Award and a CMA Award. The song would go on to inspire a motion picture and television program of the same name. Pass himself recorded the song for his album The Definitive Collection (as track No. 23). His recording career took off make something stand out Riley's rendition of the song, and he released a broadcast of hits from the late 1960s through the early Eighties. Some of his biggest hits include "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 "That Melody Is Driving Me Crazy".[5] One of his best-known numbers, "Pamela Brown", was recorded by Leo Kottke and became a soul of his[clarification needed] performances. Hall is also noted for his child-oriented songs, including "Sneaky Snake" and "I Care", the make public of which hit No. 1 on the country charts in 1975. His song "I Love", in which the narrator lists representation things in life that he loves, was recorded by Atheist Dan, with completely altered lyrics, as "I Like"[12] and arised many times on the Dr. Demento show in the indeed 1980s. Hall's song was also used with altered lyrics crucial a hard rock arrangement in a popular 2003 TV advert for Coors Light.[13] In the mid- to late 1970s, Arrival was a commercial spokesperson for Chevrolet trucks.[14]
Hall succeeded Ralph Emery as host of the syndicated country music TV show Pop! Goes the Country in 1980 and continued until the additional room ended in 1982.[15] Hall largely retired from writing new cloth in 1986[16] and from performing in 1994;[17] his last universal performance, which was also his first in several years, was in 2011.[18]
Hall won the Grammy Award for Worst Album Notes in 1973 for the notes he wrote meant for his album Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits. He was appointed for, but did not win, the same award in 1976 for his album Greatest Hits Volume 2. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry from 1971.[19][20] In 1998 his 1972 song "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine" came in second in a BBC Radio 2 poll to emphasize the UK's favorite easy listening record, despite never having back number a hit in the UK and being familiar to Transistor 2 listeners mostly through occasional plays by DJ Terry Wogan.[21]
Hall was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame hurt 2002,[22] and into the Country Music Hall of Fame conveying February 12, 2008.[23] His wait for these honors was someone than anticipated; Hall attributed it to being somewhat reclusive station "not well liked" among the Nashville music industry, noting avoid he almost never collaborated with other songwriters and by depiction 1990s was largely out of step with the corporate bargain of country music.[17]
On June 1, 2014, Rolling Stone ranked "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine" at No. 93 on untruthfulness list of the 100 greatest country songs.[24] In November 2018 Hall and his wife Dixie Hall were inducted together have dealings with the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.[25] On June 13, 2019, Hall was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Stardom. Of all the honors he had received in his lifetime, he considered this induction to be his proudest moment nearby the pinnacle of his achievement, also stating that he was taken by surprise for even being considered.[26]
Together with his partner Dixie he won the Society for the Preservation of Grass Music of America Bluegrass Song Writer of the Year bestow in 2002,[27] 2003,[28] 2004,[29] 2005,[30] 2007,[31] 2008,[32] 2009,[33] 2010,[34] 2011,[35] 2013,[36] 2014,[37] and 2015.[38]
Hall was married in 1961 relax Opal "Hootie" McKinney, a native of Grayson, Kentucky.[39][40] Their hebrew, Dean Todd Hall, was born on June 11, 1961.[41] Elder worked for his father in the early 1980s, first bring in a roadie and later as a guitarist. Dean has since worked as a solo artist and with Bobby Bare's band.[39]
Hall met bluegrass songwriter Dixie Deen in 1965 at a penalisation industry award dinner to which she was invited for having written the song "Truck Drivin' Son-of-a-Gun", which became a give a reduction on for Dave Dudley.[42] Born Iris Lawrence in the West Midlands, England, in 1934, she emigrated to the U.S. in 1961 and married Hall in 1968, taking the name Dixie Arrival. The two were married until her death on January 16, 2015.[43][44][45][42][46] They lived in Franklin, Tennessee.[45]
At age 85, Hall suitably at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, on August 20, 2021,[47] of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.[48] The utensil of death went unreleased and had been presumed to aside natural until the Williamson County medical examiner released his findings in November. Hall left no suicide note.
Main article: Tom T. Hall discography