The man known in country music circles as "The Storyteller" will now sadly tell no more stories in song. Tom T. Hall, whose first songwriting smash was Jeannie C. Riley's 1968 C&W/pop crossover smash "Harper Valley PTA", and whose first of many #1 C&W hits as his own artist was the 1970 smash "A Week In A Country Jail", passed away today at the age of 85:
"I don't think of myself as a star. I didn't set out to become a star, I set out to become a singer. I would have sung no matter what. The star part is just something that they made up in Hollywood in 1930."--Linda Ronstadt