As a teenager, Hall organized a band called the Kentucky Travelers that performed before movies for a traveling theater. During a stint in the Army, Hall performed over the Armed Forces Radio Network and wrote comic songs about Army experiences. His early career included being a radio announcer at WRON, a local radio station in Ronceverte, West Virginia. Hall was also an announcer at WVRC Radio in Spencer WV in the 1960s.
Hall's big songwriting break came in 1963, when country singer Jimmy C. Newman recorded his song, "DJ For a Day." Soon, Hall moved to Nashville, and within months, he had songs climbing the charts. Hall has been nicknamed "The Story Teller," and he has written songs for dozens of country stars, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, and Bobby Bare.
One of his earliest successful songwriting ventures, "Harper Valley PTA," was recorded in 1968 by Jeannie C. Riley, sold over six million copies, and won both a Grammy Award and CMA award. The song would go on to inspire a motion picture and television program of the same name. Hall himself has recorded this song, on his album The Definitive Collection (as track #23). Hall's recording career took off after Ms. Riley's rendition of the song, and he had such hits as "A Week in a Country Jail," "Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine," "I Love," "Country Is," "The Year Clayton Delaney Died," "I Like Beer," "Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet)," and many others. He is also noted for his children-oriented songs, including "Sneaky Snake" and "I Care," the latter of which hit #1 on the country charts in 1975.
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 also hosted the syndicated country music TV show "Pop! Goes the Country" in 1980.
His 1996 song "Little Bitty", from the album Songs from Sopchoppy, became a #1 single that year when it was recorded by Alan Jackson for the album Everything I Love.
In 1998, his 1972 song "Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine" came in second in a BBC Radio 2 poll to find the UK's favourite easy listening record, despite never having been a hit in the UK and being familiar to Radio 2 listeners mostly through occasional plays by DJ Terry Wogan.
His song "I Love", in which the narrator lists the things in life that he loves, was used, with altered lyrics, in a popular 2003 TV commercial for Coors Light.
On July 3, 2007, he released the CD "Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie & Tom T." on his independent bluegrass label Blue Circle Records.
On February 12, 2008, Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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