TOM T. SOUNDTRACKED MY 1980 TRIP TO THE SNOWY MOUNTAINS

YouTube - OLD DOGS AND CHILDREN AND WATERMELON WINE


Back in 1980, when I was just five years old and a bit, my parents took me and my three siblings on a holiday down to the Snowy Mountains in NSW, and one of the few things I remember of that holiday is my mum
playing Tom. T. Hall as we drove around through the snowfields from Jindabyne to Perisher Valley and beyond. 

I think I must have always had an ear for music, because music is one of the first things that I can remember from my earliest days. I was raised on music which my family members were into really, my sister was into Cold Chisel and Dire Straits, my brother was into the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, and my mum was into John Denver and country music. 

There was also a lot of other sorts of music floating around my household, it wasn`t
cool to admit when I was young that you liked country music, but if there were two artists which I admitted to liking a bit when I was a young kid it was John Denver and Tom T. Hall.

They might have been a couple of wafflers a lot of the time, but I really admire their
storytelling lyricism. 

Tom. T. Hall has got to be one of the best
wordsmiths in the history of country music, he made you think and he painted a picture in your mind everytime he sang a verse, even if the song was somewhat incongruous. 

Tom T. is still going, not sure if he is making too much music anymore, he is now in his

70`s, but he did outlive John Denver, who passed away tragically in 1997 in a light aircraft crash. 

Both men were the true masters of country /folk fusion, Tom. T. Hall was the more country of the two. 

My mum played and played Tom. T on that trip to the snow in 1980, the songs which stand out the most are `I Like Beer`, `The
Year That Clayton Delaney Died` and the song which is featured in the music clip `Old Dogs, Children & Watermelon Wine`. 

He overstates everything in his songs, but then again I get accused of overstating everything in my blogs so maybe that`s why I have a lot of time for Tom. T. Hall. 

There are plenty of other fantastic country /folk tunes in his repertoire from over the past 40 years, too many to name in one blog.

Until I write another blog on the legendary `Nashville Storyteller`, go and buy yourself a decent compilation of Tom. T. Hall. It`s no nonsense trad country music.