SINGS MISS DIXIE & TOM T. - TOM T. HALL
This modest bluegrass session is evidence that, four decades after his recording debut, Tom T. Hall still ranks with country’s greatest storytellers, and his beloved wife and songwriting partner, Dixie, is one big reason why. Though the mood is generally upbeat, funerals figure prominently in “Jimmy Martin’s Life Story” (recorded shortly before yodeling guitarist Martin’s 2005 death and humorously suggesting the avoidance of hard-drinking blues songs at the memorial ceremony), “A Headstone for Harry” and the great “A Hero in Harlan,” an unsentimental look at a small-town soldier’s return for burial. Pastoral memories of dirt roads, county borders and green hills surround acknowledgement about not fitting in with the young folks. Sometimes Hall’s just along for a relaxed ride among an all-star cast of pickers and strummers, and he talks more than he sings. But then, he’s always been a great talker. Billboard
