The Storyteller’s Nashville

Tom T. Hall (1936—2021), nicknamed “The Storyteller,” was a singer and songwriter whose detail-rich songs sharpened and elevated the language of country music and earned him a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also included in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters. His works, which include “Watermelon Wine,” the Grammy-winning “Harper Valley PTA,” and “I Love,” have become standards, and he has been an integral part of the Nashville music community for fifty years, inspiring generations of artists, from Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson to new-century song crafters Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin.

Tom T. Hall (1936—2021), nicknamed “The Storyteller,” was a singer and songwriter whose detail-rich songs sharpened and elevated the language of country music and earned him a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also included in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters. His works, which include “Watermelon Wine,” the Grammy-winning “Harper Valley PTA,” and “I Love,” have become standards, and he has been an integral part of the Nashville music community for fifty years, inspiring generations of artists, from Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson to new-century song crafters Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin.

Peter Cooper is the senior music writer at the Tennessean in Nashville, a senior lecturer in country music history at Vanderbilt University, and a celebrated songwriter, recording artist, and touring musician. He coproduced the Grammy-nominated “I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow” album.