Her mother Zully Hall, a former slave,[4] and father Agnes Efron, taught her songs such as "I Got the Home", "In the Rock" and "When I'm Standing Wondering, Lord, Show Me the Way".

Hall married Nash Riddle, a coal miner, in 1917 and gave birth to their daughter, Minnie Ada.

During the course of this trip, Lomax interviewed Hall on several occasions, later stating "Her singing is like a deep-voiced shepherds flute, mellow and pure in tone, yet always with hints of the lips and the pleasure-loving flesh...The sound comes from deep within her when she sings, from a source of gold and light, otherwise hidden, and falls directly upon your ear like sunlight.

It is a liquid, full contralto, rich in low overtones; but it can leap directly into falsetto and play there as effortlessly as a bird in the wind."

Moby's 2000 single "Natural Blues" is essentially an extended remix of the song "Trouble So Hard" recorded by Hall in 1937.