Misplaced Pages

In Search of a Song

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

1971 studio album by Tom T. Hall
In Search of a Song
Studio album by Tom T. Hall
Released1971
RecordedTracks 1 & 9: March 26, 1971
Other tracks: May 1971
StudioMercury Custom Recording Studio, Nashville, Tennessee
GenreCountry music, Progressive country
Length30:50
LabelMercury
ProducerJerry Kennedy
Tom T. Hall chronology
One Hundred Children
(1970)
In Search of a Song
(1971)
We All Got Together and...
(1972)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic
Christgau's Record GuideA
Rolling Stone(favorable)

In Search of a Song is the fifth studio album by country singer and songwriter, Tom T. Hall, released in 1971. The album includes eleven songs based on Hall's observations of rural life. It became a number eight top country album and the opening track, "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died", became a number one country single.

History

In Search of a Song was released amid Hall's first stint with Mercury Records (1969–1977), during which he released one or more albums each year (see Tom T. Hall discography). It is the first full album to result from one of Hall's "song-hunting" trips to Kentucky. Hall was known to make periodic visits to rural Kentucky. He didn't actually write songs on these trips so much as take notes and gather raw material that he would later write about. He typically traveled backroads by car, sometimes with a photographer, to find inspiration by observing and visiting with the common people of his home state. On this particular trip, Hall traveled with music journalist William "Bill" Neuel Littleton of Nashville, TN. Littleton took the photographs that appear on the album's front and back cover, subsequently writing the album's liner notes.

Track listing

All songs by Hall

  1. "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died" – 2:42
  2. "Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs" – 2:35
  3. "Trip to Hyden" – 2:52
  4. "Tulsa Telephone Book" – 2:21
  5. "It Sure Can Get Cold in Des Moines" – 2:53
  6. "The Little Lady Preacher" – 2:53
  7. "L.A. Blues" – 2:40
  8. "Kentucky, February 27, 1971" – 3:16
  9. "A Million Miles to the City" – 2:51
  10. "Second Handed Flowers" – 2:55
  11. "Ramona's Revenge" – 2:53

Personnel

Musicians

Production

  • Jerry Kennedy – Producer
  • Tracks 1 & 9 recorded March 26, 1971
  • Other tracks recorded May 1971, Mercury Custom Recording Studio, Nashville, Tennessee

Charts

Year Chart Position
1971 U.S. Top Country 8
1971 U.S. 200 137

Releases

Year Format Label Catalog #
1971 LP Mercury 822500-1
1971 Audio cassette Mercury 822500-4
2005 Re-issue CD Mercury
2005 Compilation disc Hux 71
2006 Remastered CD Hip-O Select 000424002

References

  1. McCall, Michael, "Review: In Search of a Song, AllMusic
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: H". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 24, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Cromelin, Richard "Review: Tom T. Hall, In Search of a Song", Rolling Stone, January 6, 1972 (link via rocksbackpages.com)
  4. Wolfe, Charles, K., Kentucky Country, University of Kentucky Press, 1982, p.146
Tom T. Hall
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
Songwriting
Related
Categories: