Tom T. Hall, The Storyteller, reinvented the word “rollicking” with In Search of a Song. Musically the tempos are barrelhouse upbeat and the arrangements are bright and bouncy. Horns and bass harmonicas wheeze through the cracks of Hall’s words, a result of his “song-hunting” trips to Kentucky, where he would pull in as much from the environments as possible before writing a thing. The stories within are hilarious and empathetic. “Who’s Gonna Feed Them Hogs” is asked by a sick old farmer whose will to keep the work going gets him out of the hospital bed (“my wife can’t feed ‘em and my neighbors don’t care”). “Tulsa Telephone Book” swaggers with a near surf rock feel and alternates between goofy wordplay and classic country heartbreak. In the vast landscape of Tom T. Hall albums this is absolutely the place to start.