CMT News

Singer-songwriter Tom T. Hall will be presented the BMI Icon honor at the performing rights organization's 60th annual country awards on Oct. 30 in Nashville. The Icon award recognizes songwriters who have a "unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers." Hall gained national attention in 1968 for writing "Harper Valley P.T.A.," a Jeannie C. Riley hit that reached No. 1 on the country and pop charts. His other songwriting credits include Alan Jackson's "Little Bitty," Dave Dudley's "The Pool Shark" and Bobby Bare's "(Margie's at) The Lincoln Park Inn" and "That's How I Got to Memphis." He also wrote and recorded numerous hits, including chart-toppers such as "A Week in a Country Jail," "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died," "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine," "I Love," "Country Is," "I Care" and "Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet)." He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Previous Icon recipients include Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Bill Anderson, John Fogerty, Isaac Hayes, Brian Wilson, James Brown and the Bee Gees.