The Essential Tom T. Hall: Twentieth Anniversary Collection-The Story Songs

Tom T. Hall | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 31, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mercury Nashville
• ASIN: B00000613G
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,578 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If you haven't yet been bitten by the Tom T. bug, this well-chosen single-CD collection serves as a perfect introduction. Not so much a hits package--it leaves behind many of his biggest charters--Essential instead focuses on his strongest narratives and most memorable characters. Blessed with an uncanny ability to turn a phrase, Hall clearly isn't an average, ordinary, run-of-the-mill American; yet those are the people he's obsessed with and the people he seems to understand better than they understand themselves. Waitresses, farmers, preachers, musicians, soldiers, hitchhikers, and assorted misters and ma'ams populate his stories, and Hall himself is the narrator, the observer, the straight man as it were, utterly fascinated by what most consider mundane. Hall is amiable and incredibly credible, somehow removing all the sap from sentimentality. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tom T. is classic, September 16, 2000

By 

Dan R. Jones (Seneca, SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Tom T. Hall: Twentieth Anniversary Collection-The Story Songs (Audio CD)

I'm a native of Carter Co. Kentucky, Tom T. Hall's homeplace. My father attended school with him in Olive Hill, KY. As a result I was introduced to his music at an early age. If you haven't listened to much Tom T., I suggest this album as a good starting point. His music is sincere, insightful, and powerful. I left eastern Kentucky a long time ago, but whenever I want to go back home, I throw his CDs in the player and his words take me home. Even if you're not from eastern Kentucky, his music will touch you, as he has a gift for observing and relating the human condition. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of a kind, April 18, 2005

By 

Donald T. Wardlow "donald t wardlow" (Myrtle Beach area, sc usa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Essential Tom T. Hall: Twentieth Anniversary Collection-The Story Songs (Audio CD)

Nobody told a story in a song like Tom T. Hall. In the late '60s and '70s, you might hear "Week in a Country Jail," Homecoming, "Old Dogs, Children, '''", "Clayton Delaney," etc., on the radio. You sure to God won't now, and more's the pity. Anybody dumb enough to judge this singer based on "I like Beer," like my family did, is foolishly uninformed. 10 of these songs I've never heard before, but his reputation is rock solid and I'm buying, sight unseen. The one song of his I truly disliked--"That Song is Driving Me Crazy," isn't even on this album, so I'm banking on a winner, taking a sure thing. Nobody sounded like Tom T. Hall, either--unlike to-day, where everybody sounds like everybody else. Hall, Haggard, Cash, Twitty, Dave Dudley--you couldn't confuse them with anybody else, by voice, style of song they would record, etc.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars That Old Story Teller!, October 24, 2006

By 

Mcgivern Owen L (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Essential Tom T. Hall: Twentieth Anniversary Collection-The Story Songs (Audio CD)

Country fans should not be dissuaded that only 7 of the 20 selections herein made the Billboard charts. "The Story Songs" are not a "Greatest Hits" compilation. They are pure country magic from the Old Storyteller from Olive Hill, Kentucky. This reviewer was unfamiliar with most of the songs, but took the advice of previous reviewer Wardlow and bought "sight unseen". A wise move! Virtually each of the 20 tracks pleases the ear here. Favorites are always highly subjective, but this reviewer liked a cynical "Ballad of 40 Dollars", a foot tapping "Ballad of Bill Crump" (`he made the church, he made the pew') and "The Homecoming". There are 2 fine "sung" tracks; "Old Dogs.." and "Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs?". The final 3 tracks are real life sad; Tom T must have been writing about folks he knew. Life must be better than fiction. How else does he derive these "stories"? In fact, most of his songs seem to capture life in the raw; other country performers have done the same but none so consistently as Hall. Here is a singer/songwriter who truly throws himself into his work. This observer does not know why most of these tracks were not "hits". They probably are not "radio" releases, but must be listened to for complete appreciation. That is what CDs are for! There are minor low points here: This reviewer could have done without "Salute to a Switchblade", about some not so memorable Army days. Also, some of the tracks, notably those final 3 are sad! But since when does country music have to cheer folks up? Tom T might not be for casual country listeners but for veterans the best advice to my amazon friends is to indeed buy sight unseen. Be adventurous and hit that "Add to Cart" button.