Tom T. Hall
AKA The Storyteller BORN 1936
After leaving the US Army, Kentucky-born Tom T. Hall was working as a radio announcer in West Virginia when his song DJ For A Day was recorded by Jimmy C Newman in 1963. So began a writing career which saw his songs – deceptively simple narratives which encapsulated the truths and complexities of the human condition, and transcended the country genre – covered by Johnny Cash, George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Solomon Burke, Lee Hazlewood, Waylon Jennings, Scott Walker, The Shaggs and more. His biggest success as a composer came with Jeannie C Riley’s Grammy-winning Harper Valley PTA, a hypocrisy-busting US Number 1 in 1968. A successful solo career followed, his empathic baritone delivering hits including 1972’s (Old Dogs, Children And) Watermelon Wine, one of six US country Number 1s. Success slowed in the ’80s, but he kept retirement at bay and released his last collection of co-writes in 2015. As well as winning numerous Bluegrass awards alongside his West Midlands-born wife Dixie Hall, in 2008 he joined the Country Music Hall Of Fame, while in 2019 he was elected to the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. He was also a published author.