Who wrote song Thats How I Got to Memphis?

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Karl Blau is an incessant DIY-er from Anacortes, Wash., a town in the Northwest with a strong local music community. It's where Blau has been making music since 1997, releasing an astonishing 40-plus records through his own label, KLAPS (Kelp Lunacy Advanced Plagiarism Society). So the title of Blau's new album, Introducing Karl Blau, is a bit ironic, given that he's been making music for as long as he has. The album is a collection of mostly country covers, and — whether or not you know his previous work — a fantastic introduction to a talented musician.

Introducing Karl Blau was produced by Tucker Martine, known for his studio work with The Decemberists, My Morning Jacket, Bill Frisell, Neko Case, Laura Veirs and others. Blau has played guitar with Veirs, who is also Martine's wife, and it was Martine's idea to build Blau's album around Nashville songs by Bobby Bond, Allen Reynolds, Townes Van Zandt, Don Gibson, Link Wray and Martine's father, Nashville songwriter Layng Martine, Jr.

Blau was recently featured on World Cafe, where he and Martine told host David Dye that the album's story begins with a cover of the Tom T. Hall song "That's How I Got To Memphis." A No. 3 Billboard country single in 1970 for Bobby Bare, it was the first song Blau and Martine worked on together. This led to an exchange of other songs they would record on Introducing Karl Blau.

Featuring Veirs on backing vocals, "That's How I Got To Memphis" perfectly captures the essence of the album. Blau has a unique, expressive and soulful vocal style, and he wraps his voice around the song with warmth and respect. In this video premiere, Blau takes a long drive and journeys to Memphis, picking up hitchhikers along the way until he becomes one himself, ultimately making it to his destination.

Introducing Karl Blau is available now on Raven Marching Band Records.

Tom T. Hall was a songwriter’s songwriter.

That statement has been made many times over the course of Tom T. Hall’s long, productive and successful career as a country songwriter.

Those words rang so true after his death at the age of 85 on August 20th, 2001, as fellow songwriters sang his praises:

It saddens me to think Tom T. Hall has passed away. His Faster Horses album was in constant rotation on my turntable for years. He was as complicated a gentleman as he was a masterful storyteller and poet. I admired the man. I miss him already.
–Rodney Crowell

The simplest words that told the most complicated stories. Felt like Tom T. just caught the songs as they floated by, but I know he carved them out of rock.
–Jason Isbell

Tom T Hall was an absolute titan. If you ever met him or worked with him you saw it immediately. His songs live on forever to prove it. Thanks for setting the bar so high…
–Will Hoge

SavingCountryMusic.com was the first media outlet to report his death on that day in August 2021.

There was a sad rumor at the time that Hall had taken his own life, although no definitive cause of death was stated in initial reports.

Subsequently it has been revealed that “The Storyteller” had taken his own life at his home in Franklin, Tennessee.

The Williamson County, Tennessee Medical Examiner’s report conducted by Samuel Smith M.D. reads that Tom T. Hall “had sustained an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, to the head, on the morning of 8/20/2021. A 911 call was placed at 1115 hours on 8/20/201. Williamson County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) and Williamson Medical Emergency Medical Services (WMC EMS) responded to the call. Paramedics confirmed death at approximately 1133 hours, due to obvious injuries.”

Tom T. Hall is perhaps most known for penning the 1968 Jeannie C. Riley number one hit (country AND pop), “Harper Valley P.T.A.” But Hall’s career would be underestimated greatly if seen through only the lens of one novelty song.

…Hall amassed 50 songs on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, including seven No. 1 hits. He also landed seven top 10 albums on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, including reaching No. 1 on that chart with The Rhymer and Other Five and Dimers in June 1973. —Billboard

Throughout his career, Hall timelessly and empathetically chronicled humanity — from barstool stories to cemetery caretakers — with tales that would influence generations of wordsmiths to follow. His songbook of country hits includes “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine,” “A Week in a County Jail,” “I Love,” “Little Bitty,” made famous by Alan Jackson … and the list goes on. —The Tennessean

An accomplished prose writer, Hall won the 1972 Grammy for Best Album Notes, for his liner notes to Tom T. Hall’s Greatest Hits. The autobiographical The Storyteller’s Nashville appeared in 1979. His novels included The Laughing Man of Woodmont Cove (1982), The Acts of Life (1986), Spring Hill, Tennessee (1990), and What a Book! (1996). His love of literature inspired him to befriend fellow writers William Styron and Kurt Vonnegut. He shared songwriting tips and philosophy in How I Write Songs, Why You Can (1976).

In the early 1980s, Hall hosted the syndicated TV series Pop! Goes the Country [following long-time host Ralph Emery], and in 1984 he scored his last Top Ten country hit, a cover of the Gordon Jenkins and Johnny Mercer tune “P.S. I Love You.” Following the release of the album Song in a Seashell in 1985, Hall took a ten-year sabbatical from recording. He returned in 1996 with the album Songs from Sopchoppy, which included the Hall original “Little Bitty.” Alan Jackson spotted the song, recorded it, and scored a #1 country single with it in late 1996. —Country Music Hall of Fame

One of Hall’s most acclaimed (and most covered) songs, “That’s How I Got to Memphis,” was Bobby Bare’s first single for Mercury Records. A solo write by Tom T. Hall, it debuted on Billboard‘s Country Singles chart on 8/8/70 peaking at #3 for two weeks.

That’s How I Got To Memphis

(Words and Music by Tom T. Hall)

If you love somebody enough you’ll follow wherever they goThat’s how I got to Memphis, that’s how I got to MemphisIf you love somebody enough you’ll go where your heart wants to go

That’s how I got to Memphis, that’s how I got to Memphis.

The first time I fell for Buddy Miller‘s music is when I heard his cover of Tom T. Hall’s “That’s How I Got to Memphis.” At the time, I’d borrowed Miller’s 1995 CD Your Love and Other Lies from my friend. Although I eventually came to love the entire album, it was “That’s How I Got to Memphis” that grabbed me on the first listen and never let me go.

I have followed Miller’s career since then, buying and enjoying all of his albums. If asked to name my favorite Buddy Miller album, it would be Cruel Moon (1999).

But asked me to name my favorite Buddy Miller recording, though, I would have to go past all of the wonderful original songs of his. And I’d name his cover of “That’s How I Got to Memphis.”

Buddy Miller’s Relationship With the Song

Considering how that song has remained a standout in Miller’s catalog for me, I was fascinated that the Tom T. Hall song means so much to him. In this video recorded at Tom T. Hall night at Music City Roots on November 16, 20111, Miller explains how the song is his favorite and how it has become his “touchstone.”

Miller has been playing the song since it came out. And he has played it at every gig. Additionally, he played it the first time he met his wife, the singer-songwriter Julie Miller.

What Is the Meaning of the Song?

The title of “That’s How I Got to Memphis” gives you and idea about the question of the song (how did the singer get to Memphis?). But it is Tom T. Hall’s great storytelling ability that tells you just enough to answer the question and leaves just enough unclear, so that everyone may hear something different in the song.

In “That’s How I Got to Memphis,” the singer explains how he is seeking a lost love and how that journey brought him to Memphis. The song does not answer all of the questions, like why the woman went to Memphis, what kind of “trouble she’s in,” or the exact reason she left the singer. But the singer’s quest to find the answers to these questions allows the listener to fill in the blanks, even as the story breaks your heart.

The song is about life and loss. If the song were from the woman’s point of view, one might be tempted to categorize it as a song about a stalker, even as we wonder why she left and why she always threatened to go to Memphis. But because the song is in the voice of the broken-hearted man speaking to another person who may be a stranger or a friend, a great singer can remind you of the pain of losing something you once loved.

Or you may see the song as more about the journey of getting to another place. The beauty of Hall’s song is in the ambiguity, which leaves a lot to be revealed in the connection between the singer and the listener.

Other Versions of “That’s How I Got to Memphis”

Several other artists have covered the song, sometimes shortening the title to “How I Got to Memphis.” The song has been recorded and/or performed by artists such as Bobby Bare, Bill Haley and the Comets, Solomon Burke, Rosanne Cash and the Avett Brothers. More recently, Jeff Daniels sang the song on the series finale of HBO’s The Newsroom.

“That’s How I Got to Memphis” first appeared on Tom T. Hall’s 1969 album Ballad Of Forty Dollars & His Other Great Songs. Below is his version.