About The Song
“A Week in a Country Jail” is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released on November 24, 1969, as the third and final single from his 1969 studio album Homecoming on Mercury Records (catalog number 72998). The B-side was “Flat Footin’-It.” The track was recorded on March 4, 1969, at Columbia Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. It was produced by Jerry Kennedy and runs approximately three minutes in length.
The song marked Hall’s fifth single to chart on the U.S. country singles survey and became his first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It reached the top position for the weeks of January 31 and February 7, 1970, remaining at number one for two weeks. The single spent a total of thirteen weeks on the Billboard country chart. In Canada, it peaked at number 32 on the RPM Country Tracks chart.
Tom T. Hall wrote the song in 1968. The inspiration originated from a request by country singer Stonewall Jackson, a neighbor of Hall’s in Brentwood, Tennessee. Jackson was preparing material for a concept album focused on prison themes, influenced by the popularity of Johnny Cash’s live prison recordings at the time, and asked Hall to contribute a prison song. Hall attempted several approaches but found the subject difficult because he had never served time in a major prison.
Hall discussed the challenge with his wife, Iris “Miss Dixie” Hall. She advised him to write about what he knew, noting that he had previously spent time in a local jail. Hall then based the song on a real personal experience from years earlier in a small-town jail in Paintsville, Kentucky. He had been detained following a minor traffic violation. The local judge was unavailable because of a family funeral (accounts specify the judge’s grandmother or mother), which delayed court proceedings. As a result, Hall remained in custody for nearly a week until the judge returned, after which he was fined and released.
Hall composed the narrative in a straightforward storytelling style without a traditional chorus structure. The lyrics recount the sequence of events: the traffic stop at a red light, the arrest for speeding, the call to his employer rather than a bail contact, the shared cell with seven other inmates, the arrangement to send the jailer for beer, the daily meals of hot bologna, eggs, and gravy prepared by the jailer’s wife, interactions with the sheriff, and the eventual appearance before the judge who collected the fine. Certain details, such as the evolving interest in the jailer’s wife, were added or expanded for narrative purposes and were not part of the original incident.
Producer Jerry Kennedy reviewed the completed song and encouraged Hall to record it himself rather than pitch it to other artists, citing its unconventional structure and personal nature. Hall included it on the Homecoming album, which also featured other narrative-driven tracks. The album was Hall’s second full-length release as a recording artist for Mercury and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
Prior to this single, Hall had established himself primarily as a songwriter. Notable earlier compositions included “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” a major crossover hit for Jeannie C. Riley in 1968, and other country tracks such as “(Margie’s at) The Lincoln Park Inn.” His own recording career had begun with the 1967 single “I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew,” followed by “The Ballad of Forty Dollars” (a top-five country hit in 1968) and “Homecoming” (a top-five country single in 1969). “A Week in a Country Jail” represented the first of what would become seven number-one country singles for Hall as an artist.
The recording features Hall’s characteristic spoken-sung delivery over a straightforward country arrangement typical of late-1960s Nashville productions under Jerry Kennedy. Session details place the tracking at Columbia Studio in Nashville. The song later appeared on various compilation albums, including Tom T. Hall’s Greatest Hits (1972). Chart documentation from Billboard confirms the two-week run at number one in early 1970 and the overall thirteen-week chart life. Discography records list it as the lead track on the Homecoming album in some configurations.
These production, release, and chart details are documented in Billboard archives, Mercury Records catalog information, and contemporary accounts of Hall’s songwriting process. The autobiographical basis of the composition, including the specific circumstances of the Kentucky jail detention and the role of the request from Stonewall Jackson, is corroborated in Hall’s own later interviews and biographical references from the period.
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Lyric
One time I spent a week inside a little country jail And I don't guess I'll ever live it down I was sittin' at a red light when these two men came and got me And said that I was speeding through their town Well, they said, "Tomorrow morning you can see the judge then go" They let me call one person on the phone I thought I'd be there overnight so I just called my boss To tell him I'd be off but not for long Well, they motioned me inside a cell with seven other guys One little barred-up window in the rear My cellmates said if they had let me bring some money in We ought to send the jailer for some beer Well, I had to pay him double 'cause he was the man in charge And the jailer's job was not the best in town Later on his wife brought hot bologna, eggs and gravy The first day I was there I turned it down Well, next morning they just let us sleep but I was up real early Wonderin' when I'd get my release Later on we got more hot bologna, eggs and gravy And by now I wasn't quite so hard to please Two days later when I thought that I had been forgotten The sheriff came in chewin' on a straw He said, "Where is the guy who thinks that this is Indianapolis? I'd like to talk to him about the law" Well, I told him who I was and told him I was working steady And I really should be gettin' on my way That part about me bein' who I was did not impress him He said, "The judge'll be here any day" The jailer had a wife and let me tell you she was awful But she brought that hot bologna every day And after seven days she got to lookin' so much better I asked her if she'd like to run away The next mornin' that old judge took every nickel that I had And he said, "Son, let this teach you not to race" The jailer's wife was smilin' from the window as I left In thirty minutes I was out of state