Country Music’s ‘Storyteller’ Tom T. Hall Dies at 85
Hall was best known for writing hits like “Harper Valley PTA,” “I Love,” and “I Like Beer.”
Rick Diamond/Getty
Country music singer-songwriter Tom T. Hall, who penned hits like “Harper Valley PTA” and “I Like Beer,” has died at the age of 85. Hall was known as “The Storyteller” because of his lyrical prowess, which earned him induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019. “He wrote without judgment or anger, offering a rhyming journalism of the heart that sets his compositions apart from any other writer,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Other Hall songs include “A Week in a Country Jail,” “Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine,” and “Ballad of Forty Dollars.”
The simplest words that told the most complicated stories. Felt like Tom T. just caught the songs as they floated by, but I know he carved them out of rock. #RipTomTHall
— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) August 21, 2021
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