Tom T. Hall - The Year That Clayton Delaney Died (That Good Ole Nashville Music Show - Aug 18, 1971)
Tom T. Hall is known as a storyteller, a songwriter with a keen eye for detail and a knack for narrative. Many musicians have covered his songs -- most notably Jeannie C. Riley's 1968 hit "Harper Valley P.T.A." -- and he also has racked up a number of solo hits, including seven number one singles.
Hall is the son of a bricklaying minister, who gave his child a guitar at the age of eight. He had already begun to write poetry, so it was a natural progression for him to begin writing songs. Hall began learning music and performing techniques from a local musician called Clayton Delaney. At the age of 11, his mother died. Four years later, his father was shot in a hunting accident, which prevented him from working. In order to support himself and his father, Hall quit school and took a job in a local garment factory. While he was working in the factory, he formed his first band, the Kentucky Travelers. The group played bluegrass and gigged at local schools as well as a radio station in Morehead, KY. After the Kentucky Travelers broke up, Hall became a DJ at the radio station.
In 1957, Hall enlisted in the Army and was stationed in Germany. While in Germany, he performed at local NCO clubs on the Armed Forces Radio Network, where he sang mostly original material, which usually had a comic bent to it. After four years of service, he was discharged in 1961. Once he returned to the States, he enrolled in Roanoke College as a journalism student; he supported himself by DJing at a radio station in Salem, VA.
One day a Nashville songwriter was visiting the Salem radio station and he heard Hall's songs. Impressed, the songwriter sent the songs to a publisher named Jimmy Key, who ran New Key Publishing. Key signed Hall as a songwriter, bringing the songs to a variety of recording artists. The first singer to have a hit with one of Hall's songs was Jimmy Newman, who brought "DJ for a Day" to number one on the country charts in 1963. In early 1964, Dave Dudley took "Mad" to the Top Ten. The back-to-back success convinced Hall to move to Nashville, where he was going to continue his career as a professional songwriter.
After Johnnie Wright had a number one hit with Hall's "Hello Vietnam," the music industry was pressuring Tom to become a performer. He decided to take the plunge in 1967, signing a contract with Mercury Records. His first single, "I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew," was released in the summer of 1967 and became a minor hit. Hall followed the single with two other singles in 1968 that failed to crack the Top 40. Then, in the late summer of 1968, Jeannie C. Riley had a major hit with Hall's "Harper Valley P.T.A.," which spent three weeks at the top of the charts and was voted the Single of the Year by the Country Music Association. Its success brought attention to Hall's own recording career, which was evident from the performance of "Ballad of Forty Dollars." The song became his first Top Ten hit, climbing all the way to number four.
Throughout 1969, he had a string of hit singles, culminated by the release of the number one single "A Week in a Country Jail" at the end of the year. The following year was just as successful, as "Shoeshine Man" and "Salute to a Switchblade" both hit the Top Ten. In 1971, he had his second number one single and his biggest hit, "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died," which was based on his childhood hero.
For most of the early '70s, Hall was a consistent hitmaker as well as a popular concert attraction. Between 1971 and 1976, he had five number one hits besides "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died": "(Old Dogs-Children And) Watermelon Wine," "I Love," "Country Is," "I Care," and "Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet)." Hall was appearing on television shows with regularity during this time, particularly Hee Haw.
Although he continued to have the occasional Top Ten hit in the late '70s, most notably the number four "You Man Loves You, Honey" (1977), Hall didn't deliver hit singles as consistently as he did the first half of the decade. That pattern continued in the early '80s, when he began having trouble cracking the Top 40; only 1984's "P.S. I Love You," a cover of a 1934 Rudy Vallée hit, made it into the Top Ten. After 1986, Hall retired from recording, although artists continued to record his songs. In 1996, he delivered Songs From Sopchoppy, his first album in ten years. Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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Пікірлер: 63
cant get more country than Tom T Hall.
AT 84 SURPRISED I AM JUST WEIGHED IN ON THIS CLASSIC>...IT ROLLS AROUND IN MY OLD HEAD SO OFTEN....A GEM RIP, TOM
One of my favorite song.
Tome T, was one of the very best from the Golden Age of C&W. His voice and songs will live on. What stories - every one touches me in some way.
This is when Country music was COUNTRY. I sure wish we could have more singers like this in todays country.
It might be the good Lord likes a little pickin too. Tom T Hall one of the finest Kentuckians around. Proudly served his country in the Army and made so much wonderful music
Now that's country right there!
@howardlovecraft750
4 жыл бұрын
Yep
Tom T's Music showed (shows) great insight into the culture of the American common man.
Nobody ever knew it, but I went out in the woods and cried. That's not songwriting, it really happened.
Tom T was my fathers fovourite, we had some good times listening to his music. Wish he was still here.
Grandpas favorite song, my brother and I both named after this song ❤️
I love this song, I sing this song a lot when I sing Karaoke, We need more singers like this on music row today,
This is why he's the greatest ever. T at his best.
I love this music Country music all the way!
R.i.p Tom t Hall
OMG that was near a half of century away. The good ole nashville sound of my father an me ;-)
'TennOHsee'.............love it !!
This is such a great song and it's very special to see this performance from 1971. Thanks for the video and for the very interesting narrative in your description.
Rest in peace, Mr. Hall.
good music
The Story-Teller is countryfied as I am.
true country evokes a memory some good some bad but all worth remembering
Great stuff, I wish he was Australian so we could claim him !
one of my favorites
RIP Tom.
It's sad that people my age 39 don't even know real country artist. This isn't a written song like today he lived this whole song...
Amazing singer and song
Thanks for sharing!
man thats music.wish the stuff coming down the rails now was strong like this
This song reminds me of my dad :)
My wife & got to see him at the Texas Prison Rodeo in Hunstville Tx.He was as good if not better live.
Love it
This a great story....
My dad was one of those in the Ohio 5 piece band.
Amen! the best
Well his two Greatest Hits albums were released on one CD a while back. That would be a good starting place. Not a bad song on it. Then there was the the two CD set "Storyteller, Poet, Philosopher". Other albums on CD worth checking out are: "In Search Of A Song", "The Magnificent Music Machine", "The Storyteller And The Banjo Man" (with Earl Scruggs), "The Ultimate Collection". I like just about everything he's ever done.
beautiful grammer guitar behind tom
TY :)
That is the reason your listening to it.
Cool song
my wife said her dad wore this record out, ha ha
Yep=was good music because the people were more real.
How did I get here?
Talent talent yep
there is no substitute for old country, pretty much ALL new music SUCKS....send me back to much better times.
@whitsundayrealestate_
10 жыл бұрын
new country has a new generation interested in a genre that would otherwise already be dead. Be thankful that the love for the love and the love for the new are next mutually exclusive.
@frankkelch4553
9 жыл бұрын
***** "all done" is correct, the vast majority of country music from the last 30 years is absolute garbage.
@terenceboris851
7 жыл бұрын
very true. new music sucks. it just doesn't have those great qualities the old stuff has.
@justinchurchey8915
5 жыл бұрын
I agree, I like some modern country artists, that's it.
Yuppie still country
Nowadays the music sounds like the old Santa Fe derailled somewhere up the line, LOL!
Is that Jerry Byrd playing guitar behind him?!?!
yes sir! that was jerry byrd ... the best steel guitar ever!
@richardburnhauser5014
11 ай бұрын
Who was Jerry bryd ?
@richardburnhauser5014
11 ай бұрын
Was Clayton Delaney his real name ?
You kids are to young to know we're it all came from
watermelon wine
Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money
I agree super weedburner. Today's country music sucks.
supperweedburner if you think this is pop you need to give up your dope that black BOY mikejackson sings pop