Tom T. Hall is not only a great song writer, but a great novel writer also! This book tells the story of the SATURN car plant moving into the little town of Spring Hill, Tennessee, and the effects on the people who live there. It's so good, somebody should really consider making this book into a film.

The Songwriters handbook is an outstanding book all in all, over all.It just has one drawback that weighs the heightened excellency down...and that is the creativity point of view.Tom Hall does a wonderful job of explaining the different ways to approach and take up songwriting, but he also tends to pull your creativity out of you.I bought this book hoping it would help me make my lyrics more creative...you know, make you dig more to reveal the idea and point the song is trying to bring across.The songwriter's handbook wants you to make everything simple and clear.Besides that, this book is a goody.

This book will have you laughing out loud. The ending is a surprise, but, if read again, there are several signs that point to it. Written in the first person narrative, this book is full of outlandish adventures and comical mishaps on "the storyteller's" highway to fame. Told with dual protagonists, this book is certainly an unexpected delight for all ages!

Do not waste your money on this one. Nothing here that has been written about already and generally much better. Reading this, you would believe every artist in Nashville, past and present, is a tremendous talent, since old Ralph spends half the book... telling us how great the artists are.... Really bad.

Ralph Emery is a country music radio/TV personality who knows his stuff. When Ralph puts together material for a book, the reader knows they are going to get authentic data. Ralph's contact with and dealings with the people he wrote about in this book are real. I know the music well and I applaude his analysis of who had the hit songs of the year he was focusing on. Once I started the book, I couldn't put it down. Please let Ralph know, it was thoroughly enjoyed by me. I have been a country music fan since the early 40s when I was about 6 years old and able to turn on the battery operated radio and listen in wonderment at the music I heard. It fascinated me then, and the traditional music still fascinates me today. I am having a very difficult time being as broadminded as Ralph is about the sound of today. I rarely listen to the radio today. I buy albums by Dolly, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Asleep at the Wheel. Need I tell you more. When I am driving, my discs are playing the music I love. I'm not listening to the so-called " country music" station which only play sing-alikes with a sound that doesn't touch my soul. Thank you Ralph, for your many years of touching the souls of your listeners. Tho I never listened to you on WSM (hard to get in S Dak. and Calif is too far away), I loved your TNN Nashville Now program. You were my must see program each day. I surely miss the authentic country shows on TNN. I rarely tune in, except for the Grand Ole Opry these days. Thanks for the book, Ralph. Keep up the good work. Hope to see you soon on TV.

This book had some great stories that you don't get to hear on CMT or in Country Weekly. I thought this was a well-written account of the history of country music by someone who has been an institution in the industry for over 50 years. Very good book!