When I think about the solo in this song, it has a gravity to it that makes it feel centuries old. You could almost imagine that it has been living underground in some secret grotto since time began, just waiting for the right song to come along and feed it. It feels like a primal life force all its own, as if Mike is possessed by it rather than being its architect and its master. And I know that isn’t the case and the reality is that Mike Campbell just has such complete mastery over his instrum...
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 10Ep. 8
In the liner notes for Wildflowers and all the Rest, engineer Jim Scott remarks that “Tom would write a song like ‘Honey Bee’ on the spot and the band would just follow him. There are dozens of recordings just starting a song and making it up from top to bottom, coming up with funny lyrics.” Of course, there are plenty of deep cut or inside examples of this that are well known to the hard core fans, such as Juju Beads and the more widely loved Girl on LSD, but immediately Honey Bee is different....
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 10Ep. 7
As journalist Jaan Uhelski writes in the Wildflowers and All the Rest liner notes, “If Wildflowers is an album about taking stock of one’s life, “Only a Broken Heart” is a watershed moment on that excavation of self.” Everything about the way the final album version of this song is arranged and produced caters toward that excavation. The busyness of the piano and bass in the alternative version is stripped out and the harmonica lead from the demo is also abandoned in favour of allowing those dou...
Jun 05, 2024•53 min•Season 10Ep. 6
“It's good to be king and have your own way. Get a feeling of peace at the end of the day” There’s security in success, but there’s an ominous cautionary tone that creeps into the next line, “And when your bulldog barks and your canary sings, You're out there with winners, it's good to be king”. When your bulldog barks and your canary sings. Dogs usually bark as a warning. Canaries were used in coal mines to detect poisonous gasses and act as a grim, sacrificial alarm to miners. With that porten...
May 29, 2024•50 min•Season 10Ep. 5
Legendary Nashville songwriter, Harlan Howard is purported to have coined the expression “three chords and the truth” and friend and colleague Bob Dylan is also remembered for the great line “All I need is my red guitar, three chords and the truth”. Well that’s all this riff is. Three chords. No passing chords, no fancy inversions or suspended notes. Just three chords - D A E. Mike Campbell was and is famously prolific in his writing and brought all of that work to Tom in case there was somethin...
May 22, 2024•46 min•Season 10Ep. 4
On certain days, I think “Time to Move On” is the best song on Wildflowers, on other days, other songs take that honour. It’s a song that resonates with so many people because it gives us that glimpse into someone finding freedom, if not exactly peace. Despite being the fourth most streamed song from Wildflowers on Spotify, "Time to Move On" was not played live very many times. In fact, on setlist.fm, it comes in tied with Swingin as the 58th most played song in Tom’s catalogue, behind tracks su...
May 15, 2024•51 min•Season 10Ep. 3
We’re all quick to judge people, whether they cut us off in the fast lane, or don’t hold a door open for us as we’re heading out of the grocery store. But we don’t know what that person is going through, emotionally, psychologically, physically. That disconnect is amplified a hundredfold when it’s in the context of a famous person. Wealth and stardom and all the trappings of comfort don’t mean much if your marriage is falling apart. So “You don’t know how it feels to be me” shouldn’t be viewed a...
May 08, 2024•55 min•Season 10Ep. 2
Everything about the way this song is crafted sneaks up on you. It’s a masterclass in how you take an idea and flesh it out into a fully-fledged tour de force piece of art. And that’s not to say that this song isn’t wonderful when played just on an acoustic guitar, or on piano with just the vocal accompaniment. It’s a great song in its bones, but it’s dressed in such elegant musical finery that it becomes this dazzling, breathtaking thing of beauty. This episode includes a conversation about Wil...
May 01, 2024•39 min•Season 10Ep. 1
When climbers finally decide to take on the holy grail of all ascents, Everest, they first face a nine day journey to base camp, which includes two full rest days. This journey alone weeds out about thirty of explorers. Those who are lucky enough to make the arduous trek to the first staging post are then faced with Mount Everest growing ever upwards into the clouds before them. Well my fine friends, I finally made it to basecamp and I’m staring up at my own personal Everest, relishing the chall...
Apr 24, 2024•15 min
One last non-Petty episode before we being digging into Wildflowers! This time, Russell Mark, from The Nextdoors is back to talk about their new single "Swing and a Miss". We talk about perfection in art and whether it's worth striving for, we nerd out over specific production choices and songwriting form, and of course, we talk about Gary Carter, and America's pastime. It was a lot of fun chatting to Russell again and I hope you enjoy our chat as much as we did! You can listen to or buy Swing a...
Apr 17, 2024•33 min•Season 9Ep. 35
This is another special non-Petty episode of the podcast with the fantastic Jake Thistle, who found time in his insanely busy schedule to sit down with me to discuss his label debut, The Half Left Out. We chatted a little about Gainesville and Tom of course, but mainly we dug into the weeds around his full debut release, with topics ranging from album sequencing, how different producers bring different perspectives to songs, and how to avoid cliche: Jake has a fairly direct way of dealing with t...
Apr 10, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Season 9Ep. 34
A really fun one today folks. John and Kevin dig deep into inclusions and ommissions from 1993's Greatest Hits. We have a conversation about formats (CD vs vinyl), chronological ordering vs sequencing, and whether ballads belong on Greatest Hits compilations. Both John and Kevin have one song that the other feels simply doesn't belong on the Greatest Hits album and have a fulsome conversation about their reasoning! Do check out www.4for4.com if you're into fantasy football and follow John on Twi...
Apr 03, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 9Ep. 33
Today’s episode is the third installment in my Petty 8ight series, where I bring in musicians who aren’t Pettyheads, give them eight deeper cuts that they likely haven’t heard before, and get their thoughts on them. In this episode, my willing newbies are Sean and Todd McGinity. The brothers are based in Winnipeg and have a long history of writing, recording and playing shows both together in bands as well as in other projects. They’re also both seasoned podcasters, with their show The SeanGeek ...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 46 min•Season 9Ep. 32
A major change in this cover version is the format of the lyrics. Something in the Air is a fairly ominous call to arms. The original was released in May of 1969 when the Vietnam War was still raging at its most furious. Speedy Keen said that told ZigZag magazine in 1975 of the song "It was a reflection of what I was seeing at the time". But rather than using the overtly observational third verse and the line “Hand out the arms and ammo. We're gonna blast our way through here”, Tom repeats the f...
Mar 20, 2024•21 min•Season 9Ep. 31
When author Paul Zollo asks Tom about the song in his book Conversations With Tom Petty, and mentions that the song had been partially written some years previously, Tom confirms this, saying, “That was one I wrote during the Full Moon Fever sessions. I wrote all but the chorus. I just had the loop going around and around and really had most of the words and everything. And I played the tape for Rick Rubin and he liked it a lot and suggested I write a chorus. There were maybe five years between ...
Mar 13, 2024•28 min•Season 9Ep. 30
In March and April of 1992, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were wrapping up the European final leg of their Into The Great Wide Open tour. This leg saw them play dates in Germany, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Norway, and on April 3rd, they closed out the tour in Malmo, Sweden, playing an extended set of 28 songs to 6000 Swedish fans, closing out with Learning to Fly, Making Some Noise, and then serene lullaby, Alright For Now. Tom couldn’t have anticipated that on his return t...
Mar 06, 2024•25 min•Season 9Ep. 29
Today's episode is my ten questions with the brilliant Peter Nester. I usually put these out as bonus episodes in the same week as my chat with that guest, but Pete's answers to these questions were so thorough, considered, and beautifully expounded, that I felt this needed to be a regular release. I guarantee you'll hear which artist he wants to cover which Tom Petty song and go "Oh, damn, yeh I need to hear that!" and our discussion about which is his favourite album was a particular highlight...
Feb 28, 2024•47 min•Season 9Ep. 28
This is a special non-Petty episode of the podcast. I haven’t recorded one in ages, but when former guest Jeff Slate reached out to me to ask if I’d be interested in talking to him about his new single which is out now and the album it’s from which will drop in May, it wasn’t a hard sell for me as I'm a fan of both his music and his writing. We had a great chat about throwaway lyrics, production differences when you bring in outside voices, and recording an album with people in remote locations ...
Feb 23, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 9Ep. 27
I have two words for you: Yogi Berra. But what does the Yankees catcher have to do with my conversation with Pete Nester? Tune in to find out! Today's episode is a sprawling, hugely enjoyable conversation I had with a fellow music podcaster who I've been listening to for a couple and a half years now. Pete was very supportive of this show right from the getgo and offered me some valuable advice when I was starting up around issues of music usage/rights etc. He's also just a damn fine human being...
Feb 21, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 9Ep. 26
Another long one this season folks! But again there's so much to talk about with this album and we felt we needed to talk about each individual track. John and I had a good discussion about the background to the recording of this album and where this sits in the evolution of Tom's songwriting. We also didn't have a "producer for the day" discussion because we agreed that the album is sequenced pretty much flawlessly. Do check out www.4for4.com if you're into fantasy football and follow John on T...
Feb 14, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Season 9Ep. 25
The lyrics in Built to Last are unambiguously hopeful and quietly resilience. Perhaps it’s Tom’s last attempt to build a creative buttress around his failing marriage. Perhaps its an equal attempt to put up a wall around a band that had gone through a major friction point and were probably still unsure what direction they would be taking. The lyric feels, in some ways, like a more introspective complement to I Won’t Back Down. The sentiment is the same really, but the perspective and the forcefu...
Feb 07, 2024•24 min•Season 9Ep. 24
I know that, because you’re listening to this podcast that you must love rock n roll music. And when you hear the crackle of a cable being plugged into an amp, or that low buzz from the speaker, there’s just something primal and irresistible that happens to you if you love this type of music. Your whole body responds to it in both a physical and emotional way. It’s not “just” music. It becomes like oxygen for your soul. Makin’ Some Noise just captures that rapturous feeling of delight that we al...
Jan 31, 2024•24 min•Season 9Ep. 23
Another simple song, another catchy hook, another memorable idea that Tom puts into our heads and leaves there as a treat. I’m 100% sold on Into The Great Wide Open these days, where I didn’t listen to it front to back very often before. This song is another little forgotten deep cut that does so much with so little, very economically. The core idea is a fairly profound one but it’s wrapped up in a breezy, light little piece of music. Just marvellous. There’s a ton to love about this song, both ...
Jan 24, 2024•26 min•Season 9Ep. 22
Today's episode is my ten questions with the amazing Mark Lindsey. As a veteran of over 40 Heartbreakers shows and as a guy who has seen Mudcrutch, Bob Dylan, ELO, and Bob Dylan live, my questions about opening acts, shows Mark would like to see, and Mudcrutch or the Wilburys became all the more interesting. His picks for people to cover Tom Petty songs were also on the money! Don't forget that Mark runs the Sight and Sound Care charity that provides free vision care, including examinations, con...
Jan 10, 2024•24 min•Season 9Ep. 21
In Conversations With Tom Petty, Tom says “I struggled with the lyrics quite a bit. It was one of those things where you struggle and you always wonder if you got everything out of it that you could.” He does go on to say that during a rehearsal for the song he found that he enjoyed the lyrics, but I think the way they’re crafted belies any notion of uncertainty on his part. I love that alternating point of view in the two halves of each verse and then the two halves of this relationship, in som...
Jan 03, 2024•21 min•Season 9Ep. 20
Today's episode is my wonderful conversation with one of the finest human beings you're going to find anywhere on the planet. As well as being a lifelong superfan of Tom Petty and a veteran of over 40 of his shows, Mark also runs the Sight and Sound Care charity that provides free vision care, including examinations, contact lenses and glasses to musicians and music industry workers all across the US. If you want to find out more about Sight and Sound Care and even make a donation, please visit:...
Dec 29, 2023•52 min•Season 9Ep. 19
Today's episode is a conversation I had with Milwaukee-based musician Trapper Schoepp. We discussed his love of Tom's music, the background behind his cover of Free Fallin' which you can find on all streaming platforms, his co-write with Bob Dylan (yes, you read that right!) and he rapid-fire answered my ten questions, which is why they aren't being broked out into a separate episiode. We were also joined by his wonderful pup, Leroy, who did his best to derail Trapper's tender story! Go find Tra...
Dec 27, 2023•50 min•Season 9Ep. 18
Today's episode is Doc Wiley and Chris Gillette's answers to my ten questions. Doc found a good hack to my question "Which Tom Petty concert from history would you like to have seen" and Chris talked wonderfully about Walls and mentioned that The Waiting played it during their PBS special, which will be airing in January next year. For more info, videos, and performance dates, please check out their website here: https://www.thewaitingmontana.com NOTE: This episode contains a small amount of pro...
Dec 24, 2023•37 min•Season 9Ep. 17
Today's episode is the fourth installment of my #Guestember series of conversations. This one is with the wonderfully funny and insightful Doc Wiley and Chris Gillette, who are the bass player and singer/rhythm guitarist in Montana-based tribute band, The Waiting. Like my previous tribute band guests, The Waiting don't put on wigs and costumes and play the songs note for note, but instead apply their exceptional musicianship to lovingly interpret Tom's catalogue. Their debut PBS special performa...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 9Ep. 16
Maybe she’s the girl who is gonna be picked up in King’s Highway. Maybe the thing she’s finally managed to break free from is a relationship with a self-obsessed movie star who has been pulled into a world of glamour and glitz. Maybe, just maybe, I’m massively overthinking this, but it sure is fun to connect dots and build out the narrative in your own mind! Today’s episode covers the second song on side two of "Into The Great Wide Open", "Too Good To Be True'". You can listen to the song here: ...
Dec 20, 2023•23 min•Season 9Ep. 15
