#Tom T. Hall

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Tom T. Hall - That's How I Got To Memphis

[dollarbin]

Nickel Bin #39:

Tom T. Hall's Another Town

Welcome back to the Nickel Bin, wherein we build up a momentary yet satisfying world in which that silver disc clogging up your wallet is not a testament to our country's favorite idea man and enslaving rapist, Jefferson, but is rather a song of the day from a Dollar Bin record that is out there awaiting your notice.

So, let's welcome in a joyfully simple, bouncing tune with surprising harmonies and a clear cut message: Tom T. Hall traveled all about our land of suddenly dwindling opportunity and found that much of it, and the women within it, were equally unimpressed with him.

Fret not, Tom. We are heartily impressed with your song and your whole deal. And we'd gladly dwell alongside you in the grocery store of your choice were you still with us.

[dearyallfrommatt]

“Tulsa Telephone Book”

Tom T. Hall

[jazzdailyblog]

"Let My Children Hear Music:" Charles Mingus' Masterpiece of Orchestral Jazz

Introduction: Charles Mingus, one of the most innovative and influential composers in jazz history, produced an immense body of work over his career that spanned bebop, hard bop, and avant-garde styles. Yet, of all his creations, “Let My Children Hear Music,” released in 1972, stands out as a monumental testament to his genius. Described by Mingus himself as “the best album I have ever made,”…

[oldshowbiz]

Austin City Limits late night on KXLY

[idroolinmysleep]

I had to look it up, but PMW meaning "pussy money weed" comes from the A$AP Rocky song PMW (All I Really Need). Learning this reminded me of the Tom T. Hall song where "faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money" was the answer to the mysteries of life. I wonder if California DMV would've also denied FHYWOWMM if someone had submitted it.

Customer: CALIFORNIA POWER MOTIVATION DMV: CALIFORNIA PUSSY MONEY WEED Verdict: DENIED

[writinginnorthnorfolk]

I love…

a breath of sea air,the wind in my hair,watching a seabird drift off course,then finding its way back home; the rich purple huesof heather, the bluesof sea holly and cornflower,the electric-blue feather of a jay; the loud rumbling purrof my cats, their soft fur,the way they trust me not to movewhen they curl up on my lap; cold winter nights, warmand safe in our home,together with the one I…

[satansluckycigarette]

The amount of lies in the Bob Dylan story really makes the, what like three, lies in Johnny Cash's legend that music historians make a huge fucking deal about really irritating. Johnny Cash never did hard time- and never claimed he did, wasn't Native American- and admitted as much once he learned he wasn't, and might not have tried to kill himself in Nickajack Cave- though he absolutely did try to kill himself multiple times.

Dylan would lie about where he learned songs (including inventing an entire black blues player called Wigglefoot in order to crib Hank Williams Sr learning guitar from Tea Pot), who his influences were (he'd only discovered Woody Guthrie about a year before moving to New York), about his contemporaries (he edited a zine accusing Harry Belafonte of blackface- Belafonte was black, Guthrie of faking his accent- if you need someone to tell you that Woody Guthrie really was an Oklahoma folk hero I genuinely don't think you can handle this discussion, and shit-talking about Joan Baez), and about where he recorded and who he recorded with (no, he never sat down and recorded with Alan Lomax and Bessie Smith).

And like myth-making goes into every musicians stage performance, but when I have to listen to people tell me that Dylan is the gold standard of folk music in a world that has Johnny Cash, Tom T. Hall, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, John Prine, Dave Van Ronk, Doc Watson, and countless others: I'm allowed to be a little annoyed

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin #63:

Tom T. Hall's Songs of Fox Hollow

Real men make music for children.

I remember my dad's childhood friend Dave, who lived for a full year in the late 40's inside an iron lung after contracting polio, showing up at our home in the early 80's with Hall's Songs of Fox Hollow pinched under one of his forever fragile arms. My famous brother and I were fired up: as I've written elsewhere, music was largely absent from our home and the guy on the cover looked like he understood our plight.

My grandfather was a pediatrician, and he spent a heroic and relentless year keeping 9 year old Dave alive. Even so, Dave's body never really recovered from the polio: he walked with a limp, drove a specially adapted car and, when he smiled, which he always did while around us, it looked like he was doing a lot of hard work. Amazingly, he's 83 years old and still going: just last week he and my dad drank way too much pricey port wine together.

It's an objective statement that Dave was the smartest person inside our childhood orbit. He worked for RAND Corporation and was literally paid to think. Dave's focus was always Central America: I honestly don't know whether his thoughts sped up or slowed down our regular and only occasionally well-intended violent incursions into that part of the world. But based on his decision to introduce us to Tom T. Hall I'd argue Dave's ideas were usually ignored by our often nefarious government.

After all, just check out the advice Hall offers kids, and their parents, on the back of his record.

I'm not so sure what he means with #3 - there are plenty of things I've never seen that I do not need my dog or God to defend me from - but the rest of this list strikes me as worthy of praise, especially coming from a white male in 1974. I especially love #9: Dave, who's had a long lifetime of trouble with his body, is definitely bigger than us in his mind, for he has been tested in ways that we can barely conceive of.

Listening to the album 40 years later shows Dave's, and Tom's, wisdom in giving me such an album and making it to begin with. It's good for a kid to hear about the heroics of a one legged chicken, and it's good for all of us to count off the things we love.

And so somebody ought to head on down to the lake and track down old Sneaky Snake. Tom T. Hall and Dave deserve to have their root beer returned to them.

[dearyallfrommatt]

“Fox On The Run"

By Tom T. Hall from his 1976 album The Magnificent Music Machine. It was a Number 9 for him and a personal favorite song of a personal favorite singer of mine. George Jones also did this in concert and damn near every bluegrass festival I’ve been to in my life - which is plenty - has had at least one group of pickers banging this one out. It’s a killer tune and I always assumed it was an old bluegrass standard - or at least one from the Bluegrass Revival of the ‘60s - and songwriter “Tony Hazzard” sounds like classic mountain picker nomenclature, right there.

Turns out I’m wrong. Mr. Hazzard is, in fact, a well-respected English songwriter from the Swingin’ ‘60s, penning right crackers for the likes of Lulu, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, & Herman’s Hermits. As a matter of fact, “Fox On The Run” was originally recorded by Manfred Mann in 1969, hitting Number 5 on the UK charts. Groovy, baby, indeed. It was introduced to bluegrass audiences by aforementioned revivalists the Country Gentlemen for their 1971 record Sound Off. And that’s pretty much where I come in, or at least six years later with Hall’s version. I was already a big fan at only two years old.

So, I didn’t know that. Bro. Tony is still kicking around and is still working as a composer. Here’s his MySpace page. Salute. Ol’ T joined his wife Miz Dixie in the Hereafter in 2021. I still play his records all the time.

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: The Travelin’ McCourys - One Chord that Rings True

Jason Carter left the Travelin’ McCourys in good shape, making his swan song with the Del McCoury Band spinoff on One Chord that Rings True, a strong album to support as Christian Ward settles in to his new role.

The LP’s title comes from a line in the McCourys’ version of Earl Scruggs’ “Passin’ Thru:” There’s one chord that rings true/it’s a mighty world we live in/but the truth is, we’re only passin’ through, mandolinist Ronnie McCoury sings - sounding much like Papa Del - on track No. 3.

As for Carter the fiddler, he is fiery throughout, while providing baritone lead vocals to Bruce Hornsby’s “White Wheeled Limousine” and Montgomery Gentry’s “Why Do I Feel Like Running.” After more than 30 years collaborating with the McCourys, in both the DMB and the Travelin’s, Carter’s presence will be missed.

But the Travelin’ will continue with bassist Alan Bartram adding smooth tenor sheen to ballads like the Waterboys’ “The Whole of the Moon;” Ronnie McCoury bluegrassifying Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and the band bringing in drums and pedal steel to assist banjoist Rob McCoury on Tom T. Hall’s novelty “I Like Beer,” with its party sounds and drunken chorus.

Whiskey’s too rough/champagne costs too much/vodka puts my mouth in gear/this little refrain/should help me explain/as a matter of fact I like beer, they sing.

It’s a fine way to end a Travelin’ McCourys show - as it often does - the band’s second studio offering and Carter’s long tenure with Del and the boys.

Grade card: The Travelin’ McCourys - One Chord that Rings True - B

6/25/25

[mst3kgifs]

Oh poopy... oh double poopy!

[t-underneaththeradardancing]

still - not quite - well - deep sleep tho when did and thats how we got - there or memphis - walking

or

morning - usual always good kitty murder birdsong - could bee worser and have been

4 am existential to much for a turtle

tuesday

its later

now

hallelujah

anyway

[oldshowbiz]

Tom T. Hall and Jimmy Dean