Tom T. Hall, informally nicknamed "the Storyteller", was an American country music singer-songwriter and short-story author. He wrote 12 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the No. 1 international pop-crossover hit "Harper Valley PTA" and "I Love", which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. He is included in Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Songwriters.
Hall was born in Tick Ridge, seven miles from Olive Hill, Kentucky, on May 25, 1936. As a teenager, he organized a band called the Kentucky Travelers that performed before movies for a traveling theater. Hall enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1957, serving in Germany. While in the service, he performed over the Armed Forces Radio Network and wrote comic songs about army experiences. Following his discharge in 1961, he used G.I. Bill education benefits to enroll at Roanoke College, where he worked as a disc jockey.
Hall's big songwriting break came in 1963, when country singer Jimmy C. Newman recorded his song "DJ For a Day". In 1964, he moved to Nashville and started to work as a $50-a-week songwriter for Newkeys Music, the publishing company belonging to Newman and his business partner Jimmy Key, writing up to half a dozen country songs per day. Key suggested that he add the middle initial "T" to his name. Hall was nicknamed "The Storyteller", and he composed songs for dozens of country music stars, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, and Bobby Bare. Hall won the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1973 for the notes he wrote for his album Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits. He was nominated for, but did not win, the same award in 1976 for his album Greatest Hits Volume 2. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry from 1971. Hall was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2002. On February 12, 2008, Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In regard to Hall's longer-than-anticipated wait to be inducted, he attributed it to being somewhat reclusive and "not well liked" among the Nashville music industry, noting that he almost never collaborated with other songwriters and by the 1990s was largely out of step with the corporate style of country music. At age 85, Hall died at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, on August 20, 2021 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head; the cause of death went unreleased and had been presumed to be natural until the Williamson County medical examiner released his findings in November. Hall left no suicide note. He had chlordiazepoxide (used to treat anxiety and alcohol withdrawal) in his system at the time of his death and was rumored to have been suffering from numerous old age-related illnesses at the time.
Tick Ridge, just outside of Olive Hill, began as a rural trading post established by the Henderson brothers in the first part of the 19th century. Although Olive Hill was allegedly named by Elias P. Davis for his friend Thomas Oliver, there is no evidence to support this popular contention. In 1881, the town was moved from a hillside location to the current location in the Tygarts Creek valley, where the Elizabethtown, Lexington, and Big Sandy Railroad had laid tracks. The hillside location become known as Old Olive Hill and now serves as the city's residential area. On March 24, 1884, Olive Hill incorporated as a city and served as the county seat of the short-lived Beckham County from February 9 to April 29, 1904. Olive Hill is located in western Carter County primarily on the north side of Tygarts Creek, a tributary of the Ohio River. U.S. Route 60 passes through the city, leading east 14 miles (23 km) to Grayson, the Carter County seat, and west 18 miles (29 km) to Morehead. Interstate 64 passes 3 miles (5 km) north of Olive Hill, leading east 44 miles (71 km) to Huntington, West Virginia, and west 84 miles (135 km) to Lexington.
Tom T. Hall tracks to check out: What Have You Got To Lose, I Love, The Year Clayton Delany Died, I Like Beer
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