Comments on: Tom T. Hall

By: John Young

John Young — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:46:44 +0000

I have always been a fan of Tom T. Hall. Why did I see on t.v. a couple of years ago that he had died?

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Singles » [Album] Beyonce - I Am… Sasha Fierce (2008 / CD-Rip / 320Kbps ... — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:46:06 +0000

[...] Songwriter Series: Tom T. Hall » Country UniverseJohnnie Wright reached #1 with Hall’s “Hello Vietnam,” in 1966, and Hall soon started a recording career of his own. He took the plunge in 1967, signing with Mercury Records. His first single, “I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew,” was … [...]

By: Erik North

Erik North — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:44:44 +0000

His brand of story songs is something I feel has been largely missing from country music for an awfully long time. They are “country” enough, but with a good eye for detail and not so overtly “hick” as to turn off people. A great example of this is that first #1 hit he had as a performer, “A Week In A Country Jail”–especially the jailer’s wife and all those servings of hot baloney, eggs, and gravy.

If anyone in Nashville today could write songs like that with such detail, country music might just be a bit better off artistically (IMHO).

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:47:35 +0000

While I wouldn’t put Tom T quite up there with Harlan Howard, Dallas Frazier or Merle Haggard as a songwriter, there is a type of song that he writes better than anyone else and that is “slice of life” observation songs.

His best songs like “The Ballad of Forty Dollars” (told from the perspective of a grave digger), “Ravishing Ruby” , “Margie’s At The Lincoln Park Inn”, “Jesus On The Radio (Dadddy On The Phone)”, “George and The North Woods” and “Ode To A Half Pound of Ground Round” tell stories most of us can relate to, and none of us could tell as effectively.

My personal favorites are “I Can’t Dance” (which describes me completely), “Old Enough To Want To (And Fool Enough To Try)” and “The Monkey That Became President” (classic finishing line: “would you rather have a monkey up in Washington DC, or have those people making monkeys out of you and me”)

Tom T’s recording career have been quiet in recent years and when he does write or perform it’s generally in the field of bluegrass, always his first love). The good news is that he and his wife Dixie recently released a new bluegrass album of new material

By: Mike W.

Mike W. — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:09:18 +0000

Tom T. Hall is my favorite songwriter ever. I am glad anytime he gets the much deserved attention he gets. “I Hope It Rains At My Funeral” might be one of the best songs ever written. I mean seriously, I have never heard a more realistic, gritty song about regrets in life.

“Homecoming” is also great.