Tom T. Hall, Dave R., and I

In the Bicentennial 1976 Summer, I mostly stayed with my grandmother in her South Philadelphia apartment. I brought a little stash of cassettes that had been made for me by a guy who lived up the street from my parents, Dave Richter. This was the tape stash that included Aereo Plain, Best of the Best of Merle Haggard, Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Ramble, and Old and In The way. Among these was Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits Vol 1.

There was a Tom T tribute album called I Love, which featured most of the reliable roots music types covering their favorite TTH hit. Looking back, I don't think anyone covered anything that wasn't on either Vol 1 or 2, except Syd Straw's cover of his best known song, "Harper Valley PTA", which was one of her best recordings, come to think of it.

When I was learning my first three chord songs, TTH provided a wealth of great and easily mastered material. Also, his lyric writic style has a certain flat-outness about it. Songs like "Homegoing" and "Ballad of 40 Dollars" are masterpieces of essential storytelling and economy of language. I knew them cold by the time I was 12 years old.

As I've gotten older, I've stayed close to TTH's music. His stuff on Mercury Records is a major body of work. He was produced by Jerry Kennedy, who at the time also produced Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave Dudley, Faron Young, Johnny Rodriguez, and had in the sixties done Roger Miller's and Charlie Rich's best stuff. He knew how to strip it down so that the arrangement and the performance conspired an understated setting for the song. His artists excelled at songs. Which is why Jerry Lee's best stuff in his 60s Smash stuff. But that's another blog.

I've always had a soft spot for "I Remember The Year That Clayton Delaney Died", because it reminded me of Rich Meisner, a blind guy who sang and played for change in front of the Woolworth's near my folks' house. I already knew this song at the time I first encountered Rich, which would be about 1977, and he taught me a few guitar basics that I still lean on.

I never saw Rich drink, he was a churchgoing guy who lived quietly in a boardinghouse in Haddonfield, and was by no means disrespected around town. But I saw him as he local Clayton Delaney.

My favorite thing Tom T. Hall ever said, in an issue of Penthouse I stole when I was of the age when I had to sneak Penthouse, was as follows:

"Songs are nourishment for working people. You don't just hand 'em out like hors d'ouvres."

Dave, thanks for giving me Tom T. Hall.