I love honest open smiles, kisses from a child
Tomatoes on a vine, and onions
I love winners when they cry, losers when they try
Music when it's good, and life
- Tom T. Hall/I Love
Today was the birthday of legendary country songwriter and singer, Tom T. Hall. He was born in 1936 in Tick Ridge, Kentucky. I think if you're born in a place called Tick Ridge, you've got a pretty good head start on being a country singer…at least back when country singers were country singers.
Hall wrote 12 number one hit songs and 26 that made the Top 10, including Harper Valley PTA, Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine, The Year That Clayton Delaney Died, I Love, That's How I Got to Memphis, I Like Beer, Pamela Brown and on and on and on. Songs for the common folk.
Thinking back, Tom T. Hall was one of the first storyteller songwriters I really noticed. I came from a story telling world. That's what country folks did, visit and tell stories. Whether it was at a church social, a backyard get together or standing out in the barnyard around a tractor talking to a neighbor, somebody was gonna tell a story. That, of course, would begat someone else's story and on it would go . As a kid, when I heard Tom T. sing a song it was kind of like sitting around at the kitchen table at home listening to a favorite uncle tell some yarn.
Back then, in the last half of the 60s, I'd sometimes see Tom T. on Hee Haw or some country variety show. There weren't many opportunities, given the limited offerings on TV, so you had to be paying attention. He'd strum along on his guitar and sing one of his stories. Often they were sweet, funny and sad all at the same time. He just seemed like a regular fella, like one of the men I knew from around home.
And then there was his song Harper Valley PTA that was a smash #1 hit for Jeannie C. Riley. I don't suppose I knew at the time that it was Tom T's song but I sure liked it. Even at ten years old I delighted in a story about snooty folks getting their comeuppance and having their hypocrisies laid out for all to see.
Yes, sir, Tom T. was alright with me.
Sadly, though, Tom T. Hall took his own life in 2021 at the age of 85. No note was left but it's speculated that his battle with chronic pain and the recent death of his beloved wife, Dixie, may have been contributing factors. It was a sad end for someone who taught so many of us about reasons to appreciate life.