Tom T. Hall
Induction Year: 1978
Birth Name: Tom T. Hall
Birth Date: May 25, 1936
Place of Birth: Olive Hill, KY
Discography / Career Highlights
Career Milestones:
1957 – Hall enlists in the U.S. Army and is stationed in Germany. While there, he performs at local NCO clubs on the Armed Forces Radio Network, where he sings mostly original material.
1961 – After being discharged from the army, Hall returns to the United States, where he enrolls in Roanoke College as a journalism student and supports himself with a disc jockey job at a radio station in Salem, Va. One day, a visiting songwriter from Nashville hears some of Hall's songs and sends them to publisher Jimmy Key of New Key Publishing. Key signs Hall as a songwriter and begins pitching his material.
1963 – Jimmy C. Newman records Hall's "D.J. For A Day," which goes on to become a Top 10 Country hit.
1964 – Hall moves to Nashville with $46 and a guitar.
1967 – Hall signs as a recording artist with Mercury Records. His first single, "I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew," is released that summer and becomes a minor hit.
1968 – In the late summer, Jeannie C. Riley scores a major hit with Hall's "Harper Valley P.T.A." Its success focuses attention on Hall's recording career.
1969 – "The Ballad of Forty Dollars" becomes Hall's first hit as an artist, climbing to #4. Later that year, "A Week in a Country Jail" becomes Hall's first #1 single as an artist.
1971 – Hall becomes a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
1972 - Hall earns a Grammy, as well as Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year ("Old Dogs, Children And Watermelon Wine") honors from the Nashville Songwriters Association.
1978 - Hall is inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
1979 – Hall publishes his semiautobiographical book The Storyteller's Nashville.
1982 – Hall publishes his novel The Laughing Man of Woodmont.
2008 - Hall is inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Awards:
1972 - Grammy Award for Best Album Notes ("Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits")
1972 - NSAI Songwriter of the Year
1972 - NSAI Song of the Year ("Old Dogs, Children And Watermelon Wine")
Catalog Highlights:
" Mad " - Artists: Dave Dudley (1964, #6 Country)
"D.J. For A Day " - Artists: Jimmy "C" Newman (1964, #9 Country)
"Hello Vietnam " - Artists: Johnnie Wright (1965, #1 Country)
"Artificial Rose " - Artists: Jimmy Newman (1965, #8 Country)
"Back In Circulation " - Artists: Jimmy C. Newman (1965, #13 Country)
"City Of The Angels " - Artists: Jimmy C. Newman (1965, #37 Country)
"What We're Fighting For " - Artists: Dave Dudley (1966, #4 Country)
"Back Pocket Money " - Artists: Jimmy C. Newman (1966, #10 Country)
"California Uptight Band " - Artists: Flatt & Scruggs (1967, #20 Country)
"Louisiana Saturday Night " - Artists: Jimmy C. Newman (1967, #24 Country)
"I Washed My Face In The Morning Dew " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1967, #30 Country)
"Dropping Out Of Sight " - Artists: Jimmy C. Newman (1967, #32 Country), Bobby Bare (1981, #35 Country)
"Harper Valley PTA " - Artists: Jeannie C. Riley (1968, #1 Country - #1 Pop - #4 Adult Contemporary - 1968 CMA Single of the Year)
"There Ain't No Easy Run " - Artists: Dave Dudley (1968, #10 Country)
"Anything Leaving Town Today " - Artists: Dave Dudley (1968, #12 Country)
"Town That Broke My Heart " - Artists: Bobby Bare (1968, #16 Country)
"Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman " - Artists: Jim & Jesse (1968, #49 Country)
"The World The Way I Want It " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1968, #66 Country)
"Ain't Got The Time " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1968, #68 Country)
"(Margie's At) The Lincoln Park Inn " - Artists: Bobby Bare (1969, #4 Country)
"Ballad Of 40 Dollars " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1969, #4 Country)
"Homecoming " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1969, #5 Country)
"George (And The Northwoods) " - Artists: Dave Dudley (1969, #10 Country)
"One More Mile " - Artists: Dave Dudley (1969, #12 Country)
"Boo Dan " - Artists: Jimmy C. Newman (1969, #31 Country)
"Strawberry Farms " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1969, #40 Country)
"A Week In A Country Jail " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1970, #1 Country)
"Pool Shark " - Artists: Dave Dudley (1970, #1 Country)
"How I Got To Memphis " - Artists: Bobby Bare (1970, #3 Country), Derryl Dodd (1996, #36 Country)
"If I Ever Fall In Love (With A Honky Tonk Girl) " - Artists: Faron Young (1970, #4 Country)
"Salute To A Switchblade " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1970, #8 Country)
"Shoeshine Man " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1970, #8 Country)
"Day Drinkin' " - Artists: Dave Dudley - Tom T. Hall (1970, #23 Country)
"The Year That Clayton Delaney Died " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1971, #1 Country - #42 Pop)
"One Hundred Children " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1971, #14 Country)
"Ode To Half A Pound Of Ground Round " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1971, #21 Country)
"Second Handed Flowers " - Artists: George Jones (1972, #5 Country)
"Me And Jesus " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1972, #8 Country - #92 Pop)
"The Monkey That Became President " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1972, #11 Country)
"More About John Henry " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1972, #26 Country)
"(Old Dogs-Children And) Watermelon Wine " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1973, #1 Country - 1972 NSAI Song of the Year)
"You Always Come Back (To Hurting Me) " - Artists: Johnny Rodriguez (1973, #1 Country - #86 Pop)
"Ravishing Ruby " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1973, #3 Country)
"Spokane Motel Blues " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1973, #16 Country)
"Watergate Blues " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1973, #16 Country)
"Country Is " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1974, #1 Country)
"I Love " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1974, #1 Country - #12 Pop - #2 Adult Contemporary)
"That Song Is Driving Me Crazy " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1974, #2 Country - #63 Pop)
"Sneaky Snake " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1974, #69 Country - #55 Pop)
"I Care " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1975, #1 Country)
"I Like Beer " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1975, #4 Country)
"Deal " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1975, #8 Country)
"I Can Still Hear The Music In The Restroom " - Artists: Jerry Lee Lewis (1975, #13 Country)
"Faster Horses (The Cowboy And The Poet) " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1976, #1 Country)
"Fox On The Run " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1976, #9 Country)
"Negatory Romance " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1976, #24 Country)
"Your Man Loves You, Honey " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1977, #4 Country)
"It's All In The Game " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1977, #12 Country)
"What Have You Got To Lose " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1978, #9 Country)
"You Show Me Your Heart (And I'll Show You Mine) " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1979, #11 Country)
"Son Of Clayton Delaney " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1979, #14 Country)
"I'm Not Ready Yet " - Artists: George Jones (1980, #2 Country)
"The Old Side Of Town " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1980, #9 Country)
"Jesus On The Radio (Daddy On The Phone) " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1980, #9 Country)
"Back When Gas Was Thirty Cents A Gallon " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1980, #36 Country)
"Solder Of Fortune " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1980, #51 Country)
"Everything From Jesus To Jack Daniels " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1983, #42 Country)
"A Bar With No Beer " - Artists: Tom T. Hall (1985, #40 Country) Little Bitty " - Artists: Alan Jackson (1996, #1 Country)
Comments:
"Harper Valley PTA" sold more than six million copies, was awarded a 1968 CMA Award for Single of the Year and earned Jeannie C. Riley a 1968 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. The song also inspired a motion picture and television program of the same name.
Hall hosted the syndicated country music TV show "Pop Goes The Country" from 1980-83.
