Tom T. Hall, country singer who wrote ‘Harper Valley PTA,’ dead at 85

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Country music legend Tom T. Hall, a singer and songwriter who penned “Harper Valley PTA,” died Friday. He was 85.

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The Country Music Hall of Famer died at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, his son, Dean Hall, told The Tennessean.

“Harper Valley PTA” was recorded by Jeannie C. Riley in 1968, Variety reported. Hall’s own No. 1 country hits included “The Year Clayton Delaney Died” and “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine,” during the 1970s.

“Few could tell a story like Tom T. Hall,” Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association, said in a statement. “As a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist, he was one of those triple threat artists who continued to make an impact on the next generation. I’ll always remember growing up listening to Tom T.’s music with my father, who was a huge bluegrass and country fan.”

Hall, who entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008, also wrote “That’s How I Got To Memphis” and “I Like Beer,” The Tennessean reported. He became a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.

“Tom T. Hall’s masterworks vary in plot, tone, and tempo, but they are bound by his ceaseless and unyielding empathy for the triumphs and losses of others,” Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame, said in a statement Friday.

Thomas T. Hall was born May 25, 1936, in Olive Hill, Kentucky. He began playing music at a young age and performed with a bluegrass band, the Kentucky Travelers, while he was a teenager, according to Rolling Stone.

Hall joined the Army in 1957 and occasionally performed on the Armed Services Radio Network while stationed in Germany, the magazine reported.

Hall’s first No. 1 song came in 1965 with Johnnie Wright’s version of “Hello Vietnam,” according to Rolling Stone.

Hall’s hits for other artists included Dave Dudley’s “The Pool Shark,” Bobby Bare’s “That’s How I Got to Memphis” and Alan Jackson’s “Little Bitty.”

Known as “The Storyteller,” Hall had been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1971.

“Harper Valley PTA” was a song about a single mother who wears a miniskirt and admonishes the hypocritical people belonging to the PTA at her daughter’s school. The song later was turned into a movie and television series.

“Thank you for all of the music, Tom T. Hall,” the Opry posted on Twitter. “We’ll miss you.”

Hall retired from performing and recording a decade ago, Variety reported.

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