Tag: “Tom T. Hall”

Tin Pan South Festival dates in Nashville announced

 in Nashville music

Tin Pan South, the annual songwriters’ festival, wil be held in Nashville March 27-31, according to the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
Festival passes will go on sale on March 7 at the festival’s site.

2011 highlights of this always entertaining festival included Tom T. Hall’s appearance at the Bluebird Cafe, an all-Texas night at the Hard Rock Cafe and the debut of the Blue Sky Riders, featuring Kenny Loggins, Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman.

Eric Brace interview: “I Love” is nominated for a Grammy

 in Interviews, Nashville music

I Love: Tom T. Hall’ Songs of Fox Hollow is one of those rare kids’ albums that will enchant children and adults in equal measure. We reviewed it enthusiastically in April and it’s great to see this salute to Tom T. and the original Fox Hollow album nominated for a Grammy for best children’s album..
Eric Brace of Last Train Home and Peter Cooper co-produced the album.
Here Brace talks about the Grammy nomination and the people who made it possible:

listen to ‘Eric Brace’ on Audioboo

2012 Grammy nominations: Americana, folk and blues

 in Americana Music

The 2012 Grammy nominations are out, with the winners to be named on Feb. 12. The Americana music-related categories and nominees:

For Best Americana Album:
Emotional Jukebox -Linda Chorney
Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down – Ry Cooder
Hard Bargain -Emmylou Harris
Ramble At The Ryman -Levon Helm
Blessed -Lucinda Williams

For Best Bluegrass Album
Paper Airplane- Alison Krauss & Union Station
Reason And Rhyme: Bluegrass Songs By Robert Hunter and Jim Lauderdale
– Jim Lauderdale
Rare Bird Alert -Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers
Old Memories: The Songs Of Bill Monroe – The Del McCoury Band
A Mother’s Prayer -Ralph Stanley
Sleep With One Eye Open – Chris Thile & Michael Daves

For Best Blues Album:
Low Country Blues – Gregg Allman
Roadside Attractions -Marcia Ball
Man In Motion – Warren Haynes
The Reflection – Keb Mo
Revelator – Tedeschi Trucks Band

For Best Folk Album
Barton Hollow – The Civil Wars
I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive -Steve Earle
Helplessness Blues- Fleet Foxes
Ukulele Songs – Eddie Vedder
The Harrow & The Harvest -Gillian Welch

For Best Children’s Album:
I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs Of Fox Hollow
(Various Artists) Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, producers

For Best Instrumental Composition
Life In Eleven – Béla Fleck & Howard Levy, composers (Béla Fleck & The Flecktones)

“I Love:” Tom T. Hall at the Hall

 in Americana Music

Tom T. Hall and Peter Cooper began the evening with a conversation about the new CD and the many friends Hall had in attendance.

Tom T. Hall really knows how to celebrate his 75th birthday.
He was joined by a stellar group of musicians at the Country Music Hall of Fame tonight to celebrate the release of “I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow.” The new album features a remarkable array of artists revisiting Hall’s “Songs of Fox Hollow,” a 1974 children’s record that included the hits “I Love” and “I Care.”
Though a kids’ record, the original “Fox Hollow” worked on many levels and this tribute album does as well. Take a dozen or so talented musicians,turn them loose on an underappreciated gem, and the results will be inspired. Eric Brace and Peter Cooper produced the project and sang and played as well.
Many of the artists on the album showed up for the concert. Patty Griffin’s “I Love,” Buddy Miller’s “Sneaky Snake” and “Bobby Bare’s “I Care” were among the highlights.
A kids’ record has to be fun, and Gary Bennett and Mark and Mike (Mark Horn and Supe Granda) and Jon Byrd, respectively, informed us about barn dancing, a one-legged chicken and conversations with a goat.
Elizabeth Cook and Tim Carroll couldn’t be there to revisit their performance of “I Wish I Had A Million Friends,” but the Wrights stepped in with an outstanding version.
Tommy Cash was on hand, but opted not to play “Old Lonesome George the Basset,” the song he recorded for the project. Brace and Cooper jumped right in with their own entertaining take. Jim Lauderdale contributed an engaging “I Like to Feel Pretty Inside” before heading out the door for another show across town.
The finale, “I Made a Friend of a Flower Today,” featured Fayssoux Starling McLean and Tom T. Hall, bringing the evening to a touching end.
Lloyd Green, Jen Gunderman, Mike Bub, Mark Horn, Duane Eddy, Baker Maultsby and Richard McLaurin rounded out an exceptional band.
Cooper is a music journalist and Brace is a former music writer for the Washington Post. They brought both reverence and the highest of standards to this extraordinary project. “I Love” was a labor of love and it shows.

Songs of Fox Hollow: A salute to Tom T. Hall

 in Reviews

I had the chance to see Peter Cooper and Eric Brace join Tom T. Hall in a songwriters in the round session not long ago, and both were clearly excited to be performing with an artist they admire so much. They spoke excitedly about “I Love,” a forthcoming CD saluting Hall’s wonderful children’s record “Songs of Fox Hollow.”

They’ve done their hero proud. The album features a diverse and talented line-up offering largely faithful  renditions ; it works very well.

Patti Griffin opens the set with a gorgeous version of “I Love,” Hall’s big crossover hit of 1973. Buddy MiIler contributes a fun “Sneaky Snake,  aided on guitar by Duane Eddy, who also backs Cooper on “Everybody Loves to Hear a Bird Sing.”

Jim Lauderdale, Baker Maultsby, Brace’s Last Train Home, Elizabeth Cook, Tim Carroll, Gary Bennett, Jon Byrd, Mark and Mike and Tommy Cash all contribute fine performances, and the album closes on particularly high notes with Bobby Bare’s take on “I Care” and Fayssoux Starling McLean’s sweet performance of “I Made a Friend of A Flower Today,” with a guest vocal by Hall himself.

No surprise from Red Beet Records, the packaging is a work of art with custom graphics and lyrics. “I Love” is full of charming music that deserves to be heard by a new generation.

Ken Paulson

Tom T. Hall at Tin Pan South

 in Americana Music

Tom T. Hall at the Bluebird Cafe

Tin Pan South’s highlight to date had to be Tom T. Hall’s performance at the Bluebird Cafe tonight. Hall said he plays just one night a year and this was it. Lucky audience.
Tom T. played some of this best-known songs, supplemented with entertaining anecdotes and playfulness. He followed up his “How I Got to Memphis” (surprisingly, the most lucrative cut in his catalog) with his take on how Elvis Presley pronounced Memphis.
Particularly compelling was the story behind “The Year Clayton Delaney Died.” I’ve known the song for years, but didn’t learn until tonight that Clayton’s was a true story, and that he died at age 19.
Joining Hall were two fine songwriters – and two of Tom T.’s biggest fans – Eric Brace and Peter Cooper. Hall clearly thinks highly of the two younger songwriters and his ease with them fueled the evening. It was an extraordinary night.