RIP Tom T. Hall

 Tom T. Hall's 1971 classic, In Search Of A Song, was one of the first Country music albums I ever heard.  Late in 1971, and stationed in Germany in the Army, my Dad bought many albums.  Country, Pop vocalists mainly. And In Search Of A Song is an album I heard a lot in my early years of discovering that there was more to music than what was played on American Top 40. I knew "The Year Clayton Delaney Died" word for word by the time I was 10 in 1974.  

 As the CD age arrived it became one of those Holy Grail albums that I had to find on CD.  But it took until 2005 for that to happen.  John Morthland, in his book Best of Country Music, writes the definitive look at the album and Hall himself.  Hall is an often underappreciated genius of Country music.  His genius was in writing about Small Town America in his trademark singing/talking voice.  Hall held these values because he grew up in a small town.  So the stories he wrote about in his song were often true tales.  They didn't call him "The Storyteller" for nothing. 

  Hall's catalog has other great albums: Ballad of Forty Dollars (69), Homecoming (70), I Witness Life (70), 100 Children (70), Storyteller (72), Rhymer and Other Five and Dimers (73), Faster Horses (76), Magnificent Music Machine (76), Places I've Done Time (78), Old T's In Town (79), Everything From Jesus to Jack Daniels (83).

  So many classic songs scattered throughout his catalog: Harper Valley PTA, Ballad of Forty Dollars, I Love, Faster Horses, I'm Not Ready Yet, Year Clayton Delaney Died, Turn It On, Turn It On, Turn It On, That's How I Got To Memphis, Homecoming, Ravishing Ruby, Week In A Country Jail, Salute To A Switchblade, I Like Beer, Fox On The Run, Faster Horses. Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine, Little Bitty, I Miss A Lot Of Trains.

  It took until 2008 for the Country Hall to induct Hall.  And 2019 for him to get into the Songwriters Hall.  Accolades were tardy, but Hall's songs are ripe for discovery.