Stacy’s Music Row Report- Music Row Report

UPDATE: As I previously reported here, I have been withholding some information that I confirmed to my own satisfaction in August, 2021.

Now that I have the official results, I am sadly (with a mixture of frustration, anger and disbelief, though, honestly, not shock) the first journalist to confirm that TOM T. HALL's grisly cause of death was a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head (via the mouth).

Suicide runs in families, including Hall's, but there were other reasons for Tom's decision. One of the biggest, in my opinion, was Hall's beginning to lose his mobility.

Beyond that, if you're looking for reasons, there were any number of them stemming from Tom's acknowledged history of mental illness. Hall's depression, in turn, impacted the way Tom lived his life. He chose to surround himself with a host of sycophants who apparently saw him as a meal ticket affording them "bragging rights" and, in their estimation, nothing more.

There were others in his life to whom Tom chose not to listen (including approximately a handful of well-meaning, caring people, some of whom should have put themselves first long before they did) that had me relying on my intuition (my having known Tom, one of my mentors- though he preferred to introduce me to others as his "friend"- all of my adult life and the majority of his) before I received the facts.

Then there are those uninvestigated (for what seems like obvious reasons) thefts from the Country Music Hall of Fame Library's Tom T. Hall vertical file...

Here is a G-rated summary of nine (9) pages of otherwise lurid, disgusting and graphic details (and methodology sadly familiar to Tom and what remains of his family), that Report readers would expect from a thorough investigation, and to which I am privy: The 911 call was placed at 11:33 a.m. on August 20, 2021 and paramedics arrived 18 minutes later.

The toxicology report suggests that at, at the time of his death, at least one (metabolizing) drug designed to aid in alcohol withdrawal and anxiety management was in Tom's system. (I earned Hall's ire nearly a half-century ago when, naive and otherwise barely out of my teens, I wrote him an ill-advised, but well-meaning and heartfelt letter, beginning "It's not my place to tell you this but, since those whose place it is will not do so, you are an alcoholic.")

As if I was giving Tom information he didn't already know and he would abstain forevermore as a result. Right?

Hey, no one knew what an "intervention" was in those days, let alone how to plan one. And I'd never heard of Al-Anon.

As I noted, apparently erring, in a Legacy.com remembrance (ever mindful of posting guidelines, with which, given the delay in publication of the post, I thought I had unintentionally violated, I posted another memory), I thought Tom had succeeded in recovery. It never occurred to me that he may have lapsed decades later, and, even though I knew Hall had been on hunting trips in the distant past, that he owned a gun.

Those who did know about such a lethal combination should have sounded an alarm.

That said, as those who knew him best would expect, Tom left no note.

I never believed that the 2012 incident (not to mention earlier, suppressed incidents at his former Brentwood, Tennessee office) occurred as it was reported and subsequently adjudicated, given Hall's organization's prior history with the Williamson County Sheriff's Office. (I was very public about my feelings in my reporting of the Fox Hollow shooting at the time. Had that incident, and prior incidents, been responsibly handled, sans enabling, Tom would have been forced to make better decisions.)

As a 2021 graduate of The Davidson County Sheriff's Office's Citizens Academy, my skepticism has been reinforced by he WCSO's evasion and lack of responsiveness in its handling of Tom Hall's death, beginning with an unwillingness/inability to explain why, given the findings I have reported (which it does not dispute) as it informed me, most recently on November 24, 2021, the investigation remains "open."

It must be noted that there is a possibility that Hall was aware of an informal (and subsequently botched) investigation (having nothing to do with the WCSO) that was underway in the months prior to his death, the details of which will likely surface during an upcoming election cycle, perhaps as opposition research. If that is the case, voices more powerful than my own will establish that there are bungling enablers with (if only figuratively) blood on their hands.

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Reaction continues to roll in re: the explosive revelations detailed in KIRT WEBSTER, THE DEMISE OF WEBSTER PR: AN UNPRECEDENTED INVESTIGATION, SEX SCANDAL & UPDATE : The Status of Austin Rick's Book, Venmo Prostitution?, A Leaked WTVF-TV Internal Memo, A Veiled Threat...

Your thoughts?

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Thanks to TORI and the Richlynn Group for the invitation to attend DAVID STARR'S December 1, 2021 Touchstone album (featuring MICHELLE PRENTICE, MATT BUBEL, KYLE TUPPER, MARK PRENTICE, MIKE SEVERS and ERIK STUCKY) release party at INDO Nashville where media will ''enjoy snacks, drinks and gorgeous arrangements of some of your favorite songs such as These Days (JACKSON BROWNE), Drive (THE CARS) I've Got to Use My Imagination (GLADYS KNIGHT) and many more...

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JOHN RIAN EASON, an alleged pedophile, is under a temporary restraining order filed November 19, 2021 in Wilson County (Lebanon) Tennessee Circuit Court.

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The New York Republicans Club (see below), avid Report readers no doubt, have now corrected their description of "country singer TED NUGENT," substituting the adjective "rockstar."

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My frustration with the language of country-music parlance used to be confined to terminology such the sometimes redundant "girl singer" and overuse of descriptions such as "legend" and "superstar." Now it's the New York Republicans Club that has me scratching my head with its announcement that its list of "featured guests" for the club's 109th annual gala is "country singer TED NUGENT."

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Thanks to THE NATIONAL MUSEUM of AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC for the invitation to attend the first (of what organizers promised annual event) ROSEDALE SUMMIT November 8, 2021 at the Museum's downtown Nashville location. (I've corrected the description you're reading elsewhere as all of the event's sponsors should be aware that it is "bad form" to describe an event as an “annual” event until is has been held in at least two successive years. Again, rather than use the term 'first annual,' indicate as I have that the sponsors plan to hold the event annually.)

Now that we've pleased English teachers and/or grammarians...

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Thanks to WILD TURKEY and PAOLA CISNEROS for the invitation to attend Wild Turkey's Give Back concert (a 100 Nights Bold Concert event featuring live performances by DEVON GILFILLIAN and The SERATONES ) November 5, 2021 at Nashville's Virgin Hotel rooftop.