1. Tom T Hall

A masterclass in the country conversational. His voice even does that odd thing when he’s pronouncing certain s’s, and folds into a tiny whistle, as if he were gently letting off a literal bit of steam at the end of a phrase. The helpless man-infant awash with booze and regret at the bar, talking to the barkeep, talking to the punter on the adjacent stool, talking to the shadows. “When you love somebody enough, you’ll go where your heart wants to go” he opens, sounding vaguely heroic. But by the fourth verse he’s explained that his passage to Memphis meant not sleeping or eating for three days. This is only speculation, but people that don’t eat or sleep for three days are usually suffering from more than just heartbreak. He wants to find her, to find out what trouble she is in. I empathise with him, Christ I really do, but he’s fooling no-one.