Tom T. Hall at his Franklin, Tennessee homestead
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Tom T. Hall was born 86 years ago today.
Born in Olive Hill, Kentucky, Hall was a retired country music singer-songwriter. He wrote 11 #1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the #1 international pop crossover, "Harper Valley PTA" and "I Love," which reached #12 on the Hot 100.
Hall became known to fans as "The Storyteller," thanks to his storytelling skills in his songwriting. As a teenager, he organized a band called the Kentucky Travelers that performed before movies for a traveling theater. During a stint in the Army, he performed over the Armed Forces Radio Network and wrote comic songs about his Army experiences.
His early career included being a radio announcer at WRON, a local radio station in Ronceverte, West Virginia. Hall was also an announcer at WSPZ, which later became 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. 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. It hit #1 on the pop and country charts at the same time and sold over six million copies. The song would go on to inspire a motion picture and television program of the same name.
Hall himself 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" and "Faster Horses (the Cowboy and the Poet)."
Hall died at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, on August 20, 2021 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head; the cause of death went unreleased and had been presumed to be natural until the Williamson County medical examiner released his findings in November.
Hall left no suicide note, had chlordiazepoxide (used to treat anxiety and alcohol withdrawal) in his system at the time of his death and was rumored to have been suffering from numerous old age-related illnesses at the time.