History Music / TomTHall

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Harper Valley PTA" is famously built around one of these.

-->The man who preached the funeral
-->Said it really was a simple way to die.
-->He laid down to rest one afternoon
-->And never opened up his eyes.

Tom T. Hall (born May 25, 1936) is a CountryMusic singer and songwriter. His songs, which mix thoughtful lyrics that often center around [[SliceOfLife narratives of everyday life]] and [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth simple melodies]], earned him the nickname “The Storyteller”.

* ButtMonkey: The narrator of "I Hope It Rains at My Funeral" cannot catch a break from ''anyone'': his father, his lovers, the law...

* LongTitle: A good chunk of his catalogue, with 'The Great East Broadway Onion Championship Of 1978" being the longest.

* WidowsWeeds: Mentioned in "Ballad of Forty Dollars".

After a stint in the US Army, studying journalism in college, and working as a disk jockey, Hall moved to Nashville in 1964 and established himself as inventive young songwriter. Encouraged to try his hand at performing, he launched his recording career in 1967 with the moderate country hit “I Washed My Face in The Morning Dew”. A year later his song “Harper Valley PTA” was recorded by Jeannie C. Riley and hit #1 on the country and pop charts. This helped kick Hall's career into high gear, and he became one of the most popular country artists of TheSeventies, with six #1 hits on the country charts. One of them, “I Love”, was also a crossover pop hit. As his music career slowed down in TheEighties he started focusing on writing fiction (publishing novels and short story collections) and performing {{Bluegrass}} music. His profile received a much-needed boost in 1997 when Music/AlanJackson topped the country chart with a CoverVersion of Hall's song “Little Bitty”.

After a stint in the US Army, studying journalism in college, and working as a disk jockey, Hall moved to Nashville in 1964 and established himself as inventive young songwriter. Encouraged to try his hand at performing, he launched his recording career in 1967 with the moderate country hit “I Washed My Face in The Morning Dew”. A year later his song “Harper Valley PTA” was recorded by Jeannie C. Riley and hit #1 on the country and pop charts. This helped kick Hall's career into high gear, and he became one of the most popular country artists of TheSeventies, with six #1 hits on the country charts. One of them, “I Love”, was also a crossover pop hit. As his music career slowed down in TheEighties he started focusing on writing fiction (publishing novels and short story collections) and performing bluegrass music. His profile received a much-needed boost in 1997 when Music/AlanJackson topped the country chart with a CoverVersion of Hall's song “Little Bitty”.

After a stint in the US Army, studying journalism in college, and working as a disk jockey, Hall moved to Nashville in 1964 and established himself as inventive young songwriter. Encouraged to try his hand at performing, he launched his recording career in 1967 with the moderate country hit “I Washed My Face in The Morning Dew”. A year later his song “Harper Valley PTA” was recorded by Jeannie C. Riley and hit #1 on the country and pop charts. This helped kick Hall's career into high gear, and he became one of the most popular country artists of TheSeventies, with six #1 hits on the country charts. One of them, “I Love”, was also a crossover pop hit. As his music career slowed down in TheEighties he started focusing on writing fiction (publishing novels and short story collections) and performing bluegrass music. His profile received a much-needed boost in 1997 when Music/AlanJackson topped the country chart with a CoverVersion of Hall's 1996 song “Little Bitty”.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died"
-->''Clayton used to tell me "son you better that old guitar away''
-->''There ain't no money in it, it'll lead you to an early grave"''

By the way, the “T” doesn't stand for anything. He added it when he started recording because there were already several country singers with names similar to “Tom Hall”.

* EarWorm: A few, but "That Song is Driving Me Crazy" is ''about'' one.

* WidowsWeeds: Mentioned in "The Ballad of Forty Dollars".

* OrphansOrdeal: "Strawberry Farms

* DeadpanSnarker: Often takes on this persona in his first-person narrative songs. Also has a reputation for this in real life.

* TruckDriversGearChanges: He ''loves'' to change keys as a way to emphasize a plot twist in a song.