Wire from the Bunker: RIP Tom T. Hall
I was always surprised that Tom T. Hall wasn’t recognized during the Great Alt-Country Scare of the 1990s in the way that, say, Johnny Cash and to a lesser extent Willie were. Sure, there was the obligatory tribute album to the Storyteller (as TTH was often called) that included No Depression stalwarts at the time such as Richard Buckner, Joe Henry, Iris Dement, and Whiskeytown. They called it Real: The Tom T. Hall Project; it almost seemed like a reclamation effort to rescue the great man from obscurity. Hall was an enormous country music star in the 70s but despite the good intentions of the alt-country crew, he never seemed to get his critical due. Well, lemme tell ya: Tom T. was a giant. In his own unique way worthy of inclusion on the Hillbilly Rushmore alongside the Man in Black, Hank, Hag, or whoever else you’d put up there.
Picture courtesy of Phawker.com
