by Julian Spivey
One of the greatest songwriters in the history of modern music, but specifically country music, Tom T. Hall died at 85 on Friday, August 20. Hall was nicknamed “The Storyteller,” as he was known for his prowess at writing songs that told a complete story from start to finish and weren’t your typical verse, verse, chorus, verse format. 

10. “America the Ugly” (1970)
This tenth spot on this list is interchangeable for me. It could change depending on the day, but today I’m feeling 1970’s “America the Ugly” because it still feels so relevant today. “America the Ugly” proves that Hall wasn’t against making a point in his songwriting as it tells the story of a photographer from a foreign land who comes to capture the realities of America, including poor people and hungry children, and elderly given up on by later generations. I just wish it wasn’t relevant today. 

9. “I Love” (1973)
This one is just precious. “I Love,” which was Hall’s only crossover hit (as a performer) onto the Billboard Top 40 getting all the way to No. 12 in 1973, is just about loving the simple things in life. It’s so sweet it would be saccharine if most attempted it, but there’s enough sly humor in it to make it work for me – I’m talking about the squirrel line. There’s no rhyme there. I just love that he throws squirrels in randomly. It was a no. 1 on the country charts, one of seven in his career as a performer. 

8. “Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet)” (1975)
Sometimes in Hall’s best songs he puts a writer or performer in conversation with a regular Joe, in the case of “Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet)” it’s an old cowboy, who departs wise wisdom on the writer/performer. In this song a young, idyllic poet encounters a hard-worn cowboy at a bar, who tells him there’s only four things in life worth a damn: faster horses, younger women, older whiskey and more money. The poet says he doesn’t have any interest in those things and is called out for being a liar. By the end of the song the poet has realized there’s an awful lot of truth in what the old cowboy has to say. 

7. “A Week in a County Jail” (1969)
In perhaps Hall’s most humorous tune, “A Week in a County Jail,” his first no. 1 as a performer in 1969, the protagonist is pulled over in a small town for speeding and must spend time in a jail cell until a judge can lay down the law. It takes a full week, and our narrator is forced to spend his time eating hot bologna, eggs and gravy and making eyes at the jailer’s wife. 

6. “Tulsa Telephone Book” (1971)
I probably heard “Tulsa Telephone Book” for the first time less than a year ago thanks to randomly hearing it on a local radio station that lets DJs play whatever they want. The song, off 1971’s In Search of a Song, was never released as a single – so it’s my favorite Hall deep cut. “Tulsa Telephone Book” tells of a man who’s had a one night stand and only knows the woman’s first name, but desperately wants to see her again so he’s read through the Tulsa telephone book 13 times without any luck. It’s such a great idea for a song, while being both catchy and having a wry sense of humor. 

5. “The Year Clayton Delaney Died” (1971)
“The Year Clayton Delaney Died” is probably Hall’s most known hit as a performer – of course he wrote “Harper Valley P.T.A.” which Jeannie C. Riley topped both the country charts and the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 – which tells the story of a guitar picker who liked his booze and wasn’t a parent’s idea of a good role model and how he taught the song’s narrator had to play guitar (and drink booze). The song was inspired by Hall’s boyhood hero Lonnie Easterly. “The Year Clayton Delaney Died” was a no. 1 country hit in 1971 and I have to wonder if it inspired the similarly themed “The Ballad of Curtis Loew” by Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1974. 

4. “That’s How I Got to Memphis” (1968)
“That’s How I Got to Memphis” is the Tom T. Hall song that’s been in my head ever since the moment I learned of Hall’s passing on Friday. It’s just a perfect song. “That’s How I Got to Memphis” tells the story of a man’s search for his lost love, who’s doesn’t want to be found, and how he followed her trail to Memphis. Hall didn’t release the song as a single, but a version recorded by Bobby Bare in 1970 hit no. 3 on the country chart. The song was also memorably performed on the series finale of HBO’s “The Newsroom” in 2014 being played by the show’s lead character portrayed by Emmy-winner Jeff Daniels. 

3. “Old Dogs, Children & Watermelon Wine” (1972)
Hall’s 1972 no. 1 country hit “Old Dogs, Children & Watermelon Wine” is one of those songs I mentioned earlier where the narrator, in this case Hall himself, is given wise advice from a regular Joe, in this case a janitor at a Miami bar. The song is a true account of Hall’s experience at the 1972 Democratic National Convention and a conversation he had with a janitor at a Miami Beach hotel. In the janitor’s mind there’s “only three things in this old world worth a solitary dime: old dogs, children and watermelon wine.” It’s one of the ultimate country story songs and Rolling Stone magazine listed it as one of country music’s 100 greatest songs of all-time in 2014. 

2. “Homecoming” (1969)
“Homecoming,” a no. 5 hit for Hall in 1969, should be a movie. It basically is a movie in song form in just over three minutes. Hall was great at penning songs about writers and performers – proving the adage “write what you know” – and “Homecoming” is the best of these as it features a traveling musician passing through his hometown on the way from one performance to another who stops at home for a brief conversation with his dad. It’s perfection. 

1. “Ballad of Forty Dollars” (1968)
“Ballad of Forty Dollars,” a no. 4 hit in 1968, has been my favorite Hall song from the moment I heard it – it’s a perfect story song and features the greatest punchline of any punchline that’s ever been written in a song. The narrator is a cemetery caretaker observing the funeral of a man he somewhat knew and essentially giving the play-by-play of it before ending the song with the all-time great: “the trouble is the fella owed me 40 bucks.” In an interview with CMT.com in 2005 Hall revealed that his first job as a young man was mowing the grass at a cemetery and how he’d have to shut down his mower during funerals and just observe them, including conversations being had by the gravediggers.  

by Julian Spivey
I was just thrilled to be seeing a concert on Saturday, Aug. 14 after having it postponed more than a year due to Covid-19 and then once again about a week before it’s new date for reasons that were never truly announced. Then less than a week before the new, new date the musician Jason Isbell announced he wouldn’t perform at venues that didn’t require vaccination cards or a negative Covid test within 72 hours of the event and I felt because I lived in the far from progressive Arkansas that the venue might try to prove a dumb point and the show might get canceled.
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Luckily the venue accepted the vaccination policy, and Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit went on to put on an incredible show on Saturday night at the First Security Amphitheater in Little Rock, Ark. It was the seventh time I’ve seen the band live (the fourth as the main attraction) and it was one of the best I’ve seen as the band performed a lot of tracks from its 2020 release Reunions and past fan-favorites.

The venue was also packed for the two postponements and uproar that Isbell’s vaccine policy (which is being adopted by many other artists and venues) in the days leading up to the event.

President of River Concerts (which runs shows at the venue) Dan Fife told KATV Channel 7 that only 10 percent of ticket buyers requested a refund.

Isbell & the 400 began their set with “Overseas,” my favorite track off Reunions, which includes one of the best guitar solos of Isbell’s career to date.

Other terrific tracks from that album the band would play over the span of the evening were “It Gets Easier,” no doubt inspired by Isbell’s now decade-long sobriety, “Letting You Go,” dedicated to his five-year old daughter Mercy who is traveling on tour with him, “Be Afraid,” “What’ve I Don’t Help,” “Dreamsicle” and “Only Children.”

Of Isbell’s terrific output over the past decade, I’d have to say Reunions was my least favorite, but these songs just go to show how great of a singer-songwriter he is because they’re still top notch.

Isbell does a terrific job at spreading great songs from his entire career throughout his set. There was “Last of My Kind” and “If We Were Vampires” from 2017’s The Nashville Sound, “Something More than Free” and “24 Frames” from 2015’s Something More Than Free and “Super 8,” “Elephant,” “Stockholm” and “Cover Me Up” from 2013’s Southeastern. These are all essentially “greatest hits” for the songwriter from the Muscle Shoals, Ala. region.

Perhaps my favorite performance from Isbell & the 400 Unit’s set was “Outfit” from his days with the Southern rock group Drive-By Truckers that I hadn’t seen the band play in concert the last few times I’ve attended their shows. It had been replaced a lot in 400 Unit sets by “Never Gonna Change,” also from his days with the Truckers. Isbell dedicated the song to his father, who has also been tagging along on tour with his son.

One of the funnier moments of the show was when Isbell played the classic “Oh Well” from the Peter Green days of Fleetwood Mac for his daughter Mercy, early on in his set before her bedtime, as its one of her favorite songs he plays, despite not being his own. He’s a multiple-time Grammy Award winning artists and his own daughter would rather he play covers. It was a fantastic performance by the entire band that includes Sadler Vaden on guitar, Jimbo Hart on bass, Chad Gamble on drums and Derry DeBorja on keys and occasionally accordion and anything else necessary.

After a terrific 18-song set, Isbell would return to the stage for an encore, at first just with Vaden as the two performed an excellent acoustic version of “Tour of Duty,” from the band’s 2011 album Here We Rest. The two were then joined by the remainder of the band for a rip-roaring performance of “Never Gonna Change” that truly brought the house down.

Sometimes postponements can bring about great opportunities and that’s what happened when this show was moved from 2020 to 2021 as legendary singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams was the opener on Saturday but wasn’t going to be in 2020. It’s truly a miracle Williams was able to perform as she’s less than a year removed from having a stroke in November of last year. She was helped to a seated stool on the stage for her performance and is still unable to play guitar, but she sounds terrific. She thrilled the audience, the part of the audience that arrived early enough to see her set (come on people, enjoy the openers, especially when they’re this notable), with performances like “Bad News Blues,” “Pineola,” “Drunken Angel” and “You Can’t Rule Me.” Toward the end of her set she stood up, while leaning on her seat, to pay tribute to recently departed ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill with an excellent cover of that band’s 1973 song “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” and remained on her feet to finish with “Righteously,” “Honey Bee” and “Get Right with God.”

As I previously wrote on this website, I am 100 percent thrilled with Isbell’s decision to enforce a vaccination policy for his show and I’m happy to see other artists and venues and concert promoters doing the same. I love live music and the only way for live music to continue now is to ensure the safety of the concert goers and those artists performing, their crews behind the scenes and those who work at the venues. I wondered if having to show vaccination cards at the entrance would make the process of entering the venue take longer – it didn’t add any time whatsoever to being able to get into the venue on Saturday night. So, I have to say any venues or people complaining that they can’t do it are just plain wrong or inept.

by Julian Spivey
“What’ve I done to help? What’ve I done to help but not myself” – Jason Isbell sings on the track “What’ve I Done to Help” on his band’s 2020 album Reunions.

On Sunday, Aug. 8, Isbell went quite a way in living up to those lyrics when he announced on MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Reports that he wouldn’t perform at any venue on his tour that wouldn’t adhere to his vaccine requirements for concerts that have fans show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test 72 hours prior to the show upon entrance at the venue.

His announcement immediately caused controversy because to some the Covid-19 pandemic has been a matter of freedom more than public safety all along, as ignorant as that may be.

Most venues have adhered to Isbell’s policy thus far, with one show at Houston’s Cynthia Woods Mitchel Pavilion that was set for August 11 being canceled. The venue said it was more of a timing issue than disagreement with Isbell’s policy.

This was a matter that personally affected my plans this week because I have tickets for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s Little Rock, Ark. show at the First Security Amphitheater on Saturday, Aug. 14 and was worried the venue would make some dumbass statement over the policy because Arkansas isn’t exactly the most progressive state in the country and has done terribly when it comes to its citizens getting vaccinated.

I’m thrilled the venue is going forward with the show and will be more than happy to show my vaccination card to the usher upon reaching the gate. More than that I’m thrilled to be a bit less worried during the show without the unclean being around.

I find it asinine that Isbell has become the target of so much hate over his decision to enforce a vaccination policy on his tour. I think it’s admirable that he wants to try to protect his fans (and himself and his bandmates and tour personnel) the best he can. I think it’s important for an award-winning artist of his stature to take a stand and say, and these aren’t his words but rather my take on it: “if you want to come out and see live music, you need the vaccine (or at least a recent negative test), because the way things are going, we’re going to have to shut everything down like we did in 2020.”

If you have a problem with Isbell’s policy – don’t go to his show (not that you could anyway). Concerts aren’t a right. They’re a privilege. This isn’t discrimination because everyone (age 12 and up) has availability to the vaccine as it’s free – hell, Arkansas had to throw out thousands of vaccines recently simply because people didn’t want them. It’s no more discriminating for a venue (or any business for that matter) to make you show a vaccine passport before entering than it is for it to enforce a dress code.

I applaud Isbell for taking a stand, especially knowing it was one that could cause him money and potentially even “fans.” I think fans of live music better get used to this because I think it’s only the beginning and we’re going to see many other artists follow suit.