Tom T. Hall’s Death Revealed As A Suicide

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Tom T. Hall. Photo: Courtesy Robert K. Oermann

More than four months after his passing, legendary songwriter Tom T. Hall‘s cause of death has been revealed as a suicide.

The Country Music Hall of Fame member “sustained an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound” on Aug. 20, 2021, according to The Williamson County Medical Examiner’s report. He was 85.

Country music blog Saving Country Music first reported Hall’s cause of death on Wednesday (Jan. 5).

Hall, also known as “The Storyteller,” is known for crafting enduring country standards such as Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” Alan Jackson’s “Little Bitty” and Bobby Bare’s “How I Got to Memphis.” He was the author of 12 No. 1 country songs, and was inducted as a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1978.

As a recording artist, he placed more than 50 singles on the country charts in 1967-87. 21 of which became top 10 hits, including “A Week in a Country Jail,” “The Year That Clayton Delaney Died,” “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine,” “I Love,” “Country Is,” “I Like Beer,” and “Faster Horses.”

Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008. He was presented with a BMI Icon award three years later.

In 1968, Tom T. Hall married songwriter and former Music City News journalist Dixie Dean. She passed away in 2015.

Read Hall’s full obituary here.

 

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

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