Tom T. Hall, Country Music Hall of Fame artist known as 'The Storyteller,' dead at 85

Tom T. Hall, a Country Music Hall of Fame artist who wrote unassuming songs with distinct depth, died Friday at age 85. 

Hall died at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, according to his son, Dean Hall. 

A consummate country songwriter who captured life's intimate details with lighthearted songs such as "I Like Beer," penned the classic "That's How I Got To Memphis" and showcased era-defining sharpness with "Harper Valley PTA," Hall entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008, alongside Emmylou Harris, The Statler Brothers and Ernest Stoneman. 

He joined Kris Kristofferson and Billy Joe Shaver in bringing a class of storytelling to country music unlike those before them. Hall timelessly and empathetically chronicled the human spirit — from barstool stories to cemetery caretakers — with words that would influence generations of wordsmiths to follow. 

His songbook of country hits includes "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine," "A Week in a Country Jail," "I Love" ... and the list goes on.

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Many knew him as "The Storyteller," a fitting nickname gifted to Hall by another country great — Tex Ritter. 

“Tom T. Hall's masterworks vary in plot, tone, and tempo, but they are bound by his ceaseless and unyielding empathy for the triumphs and losses of others," Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame, said in a statement Friday. "He wrote without judgment or anger, offering a rhyming journalism of the heart that sets his compositions apart from any other writer. His songs meant the world to Bobby Bare, Johnny Cash, George Jones and other greats, and those songs will continue to speak to generations."

Hall was a Grand Ole Opry member since 1971, and the venerable radio program paid tribute to him late Friday. 

"Thank you for all of the music, Tom T. Hall," the Opry shared on social media. "We’ll miss you."

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Born May 25, 1936, in small-town Olive Hill, Kentucky, Hall wrote his first song — called "Haven't I Been Good To You," according to the Country Music Hall of Fame — at age nine. 

Hall, the son of a preacher, quit school after his mother died and a hunting accident left his father disabled. He cut his teeth playing bluegrass, often taking the stage after shifts at a local garment factory. He took a job at a Kentucky radio station before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1957, serving in Germany — where he sometimes performed original numbers on the Armed Forces Radio Network. 

Hall began writing songs that other artists recorded, including “Hello Vietnam,” his first No. 1, cut by Johnnie Wright in 1965. By 1967, he signed with Mercury Records and began releasing solo music, starting with "I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew.”

Before Hall died, he received his share of lifetime honors including  a Country Music Hall of Fame induction in 2008, a BMI Icon Award in 2012 and Songwriters Hall of Fame invitation in 2019. 

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Any country music faithful may recognize him most recently for being featured prominently in Ken Burns' 16-hour 2019 PBS documentary, "Country Music." 

But he'll be most remembered for the songs that continue to feel lived-in for years to come. 

"Art moves this way," he said in 2010, pointing forward. "If you're doing it the way they used to do it, that's copying. It's already been done. ... Do it your way, and have some fun."