The Tom Petty Project

Another half hour with Tommy today folks. Wait til you hear who he would like to see open for Tom Petty and which artist he wants to hear cover a Tom Petty song! Please check out Tommy's (brilliant) website here: https://www.tommyedwinmusic.com . Also, check out his song Empty Chair, from the album "Fade To Memory": https://youtu.be/MGAfmr4Y54U?si=jBEiJQpB3u39412P Don't forget to follow me on soci...

Today's special bonus episode is a conversation I had with San Francisco-based tribute band Petty Theft. I chatted for just about an hour and a half with bassist Django Bayless and lead singer/rhythm guitarist Dan Durkin, the two founding members of the band about how the band came together, how they choose songs to cover, and of course, their love of Tom's music. As I said to the boys during the...

Today's episode is a conversation I had with the wonderful Tommy Edwin. Tommy and I connect over on Twitter months ago and I've been a fan of his music (and his personality) ever since. I love having conversations about Tom Petty's music with other musicians because, even when we're not talking directly about Tom. the ways in which he influenced people always shines through. Tommy Edwin is not exc...

Something that my season seven guest Ivan Anderson said that stuck with me, was that “Listen to Her Heart” is a 'little' song. And by that, he wasn’t being dismissive. He was saying that it wasn’t covering a weighty topic and it was compact and accessible. I’d say exactly the same thing about this one. It’s neat and compact. It has a superb hook in the pre-chorus and the whole thing is imminently...

Yer So Bad could almost be the most important song in the entire Tom Petty canon. Almost. Probably not the most important, but it was the first song that Tom showed to Jeff Lynne and from there, the rest of Full Moon Fever and then The Traveling Wilburys dropped effortlessly into place. You have to think there was a little magic in the air that night. Tom tells Paul Zollo, “It was around this time...

Every hardcore Tom Petty fan knows that when Tom took the record to the execs at MCA, they didn’t like it at all. When Paul Zollo asks Tom why in Conversations with Tom Petty, Tom replies “They didn’t hear a single!” One of the other issues with the record that it was only nine tracks long. So while Jeff Lynne, who coproduced the record, was out of town, Tom and Mike recorded the lullaby, Alright...

In his fantastic memoir, Tom Petty and Me, Jon Scott calls Runnin Down a Dream “One of the greatest driving songs I’ve ever heard” and you get his point completely. It’s a juggernaut of a rock n roll song but isn’t overpowering sonically. Again Jeff Lynne leaves enough space for the song to breath but adds in enough flare to keep you interested all the way through. It’s an urgent and riveting song...

“I do like that song. I think it’s a really sweet song. A nice sentiment. Very simple. Extremely simple. It’s not complex in any way” One thing I always find interesting in reading Paul Zollo's book is the way that Tom often seems to be looking at his own songs from the outside. The book came out in 2005 and in preceding decade, Tom had only played the song six times, so you can see why some of th...

Love is a Long Road is a really durable song and though I pointed out that it has a few rock tropes in it, they’re not overdone and not dated and I think this song really holds up well in its original recorded form. It’s another song with a very simple structure but with a couple of nice twists and turns in it. Listen to the song here: https://youtu.be/2AilA-M6N5U Check out this great live Sounsta...

As it does with so many people, this song resonates with me in many different ways and has become part of my general outlook on life. For me, it’s less a combative thing and more about holding firm to certain principles. Loyalty. Decency. Humility. All big words and and big ideas generally, but they are important and they’re important to me. Maybe this is not a unique association that I’m making,...

 “I'm gonna free fall out into nothin'. Gonna leave this world for awhile.” This is exactly what great music does to me. It takes me out of my body and out into the creative ether. It helps me let go of anxiety or sadness or anger or grief and just soar on the music. I know that not everyone has that experience with music but it’s like a drug in a lot of ways. It alters your mood, changes you...

Hi folks. Technical difficulties and scheduling have prevented me from recording episode one for season eight, so I have compiled the first Twelve answers to my first quick fire question. It's interesting that there were so many different answers to what I imagined would be a pretty straight arm wrestle between Damn The Torpedoes, Wallflowers, and Full Moon Fever! But that's the beauty of Tom's ca...

In this special episode Kevin is joined, once again, by co-host John Paulsen to wrap up Let Me Up (I've Had Enough). Lots to talk about on this album and the "Producer for a Day" segment throws up a plethora of additional tracks to consider for inclusion! If you want to check out Kevin's alternate track listing for the album you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eZDzlGl84o&lis...

This episode is the first installment in a new feature for the podcast; The Petty 8ight! I love talking to Pettyheads, musicians, and other people who have been influenced by Tom or his music in myriad ways, but I thought it would be neat to see what non-fans thought of Tom's music if I threw some songs at them. My first guest is the creative hurricane, Scott Haskin, who aside from podcasting hims...

The song was never played live and really, you have two Stones-y blues rock tracks on this album. The track we’re talking about today and Think About Me. The latter is superior in every way. It’s mixed better, it is way catchier, it moves more, it definitely swings more and basically, it renders Let Me Up I’ve Had Enough a little redundant. Another rare example of a genuine filler track on a Heart...

Ivan gives me his answers to my formulaic 10 questions. This is almost always a highlight of every conversation as it reveals so much about the person I'm talking to and where their brain takes them. Ivan's answer to "If you could pick any artist to cover any Tom Petty song, who would it be and what song would they cover?" is brilliantly aligned with his own off-kilter way of creating music. He al...

In Conversations with Tom Petty, Tom tells Paul Zollo that this is another song that was another one that was completely ad-libbed in the studio. He then relays a wonderful little anecdote about the Heartbreakers wardrobe lady, Queenie. Tom says “she’s been with us, God knows, since the early eighties. She always requests that one. We’ll always be back there in the hall, waiting for the encore and...

Today's episode features a wide ranging chat with the uniquely brilliant Ivan Anderson, the genius behind the Glitch Rock band Cyberattack and an all round wonderful fella. On his debut album under the Cyberattack monicker, Ivan covered Listen to Her Heart, which is how his work circled into my orbit. Not only does he find an incredibly angle on the song, but he also created a beautifully chaotic...

John Paulsen takes the reigns on this week's very special 100th episode as Kevin becomes a guest on his own podcast! The boys talk about Kevin's background with Tom Petty, how the format of the show, and John makes Kevin play his own game and answer some Petty Trivia questions. Kevin then reveals his answers to the Ten Quickfire Questions that he throws at his guests and gets a little carried away...

Ain’t Love Strange is short, punchy, and has a really catchy, hummable chorus. I adore Benmont’s piano tone in this one and I think it’s one of those really lean, enjoyable pop songs that doesn’t ask a lot of you in the way of listening and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Check out the song here: https://youtu.be/NXysGNwC0w4 Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, lea...

There’s an awful lot going on in this simple, short little song. So much so that I’ll be honest, I missed almost all of it before I sat down to really analyze it. I don’t know if I’d ever caught that odd, missing-a-bar timing between the verse sections, or the switch back to more conventional counting in the chorus. Check out the song here: https://youtu.be/E8kNnb08l7Q Don't forget to follow me on...

This is essentially an R&B song that would have benefited so much from a full, real horn section. While I’ve said previously that I don’t love horns and Tom Petty, for some reason, I think the synth in this track really pulls it down and makes it sound terribly dated. I also think this could really have worked as a song given to another artist and I could absolutely hear someone like Cyndi Lau...

This is a very simple, very straight ahead rock n roll song. It’s not meant to do anything other than get your feet moving and your face smiling and it knocks that out of the park. It’s almost like the older, cooler cousin, of Anything That’s Rock n Roll. The cousin with the leather jacket and the hotrod car. It has bags of swagger and personality and some excellent off the cuff work from the enti...

The song for this week's episide, My Life/Your World, has always reminded me a lot of Stop Draggin My Heart Around. It’s got the same tempo, same basic groove and the instrumentation sounds similar in a lot of places. The lyrics are a little disjointed but have good moments. Mike’s guitar work is pretty great and he chooses some good tones. The little segue into the song with that short instrument...

In Conversations With Tom Petty, Paul Zollo quotes Tom saying that this is one of his favourites and that it’s a “durable” song. He tells Paul, ‘I was going through a crisis at the time with my marriage. My first marriage was on the rocks. I was separated, though it was later reconciled. So I had more on my plate than I could handle. I had written ‘It’ll All Work Out” and sang it into a cassette....