Tom is hugely proud of this song. In Conversations with Tom Petty, he tells author Paul Zollo, “Dreamville” is one of the best songs I ever wrote. That was about innocence.” And it’s this innocence that contrasts so starkly and so effectively with the corporate interference in The Last DJ, or the commodification of Johnny’s…

Tom is hugely proud of this song. In Conversations with Tom Petty, he tells author Paul Zollo, “Dreamville” is one of the best songs I ever wrote. That was about innocence.” And it’s this innocence that contrasts so starkly and so effectively with the corporate interference in The Last DJ, or the commodification of Johnny’s…

This disconnect between the artist and the audience is one of the subjects that Tom uses to explore the theme of greed that was the overarching construct behind the album. So this leads me to another quote from Tom in that 2002 interview that really does just get down to the nub of the matter….

The specificity of the song got Tom into a little bit of trouble and the single was banned on a lot of stations who didn’t reach for the deeper meaning and saw it as a direct attack on radio itself. In 2010, Tom told Mojo UK, “Radio was just a metaphor. ‘The Last DJ’ was…

I didn’t want to start the new season in earnest while I was away as I knew I wouldn’t have as much time to prep and barely any to record and edit, so I wanted to get a special episode and was trying to think of what to do to ease into the season. These…

Today’s episode is a fantastic chat I had with my friend Eric Senich, who has been on the show previously, back in October of last year. As well as being an outstanding podcaster and rock historian, Eric also spent a large part of his early career as a DJ, so I thought it would be…

Rich is back to share his answers to my 10 questions? He’s in cover bands that deal with Tom, Jeff Lynne, and George Harrison’s musical output, so that question is a slam dunk, right? Which gig will he want to travel back in time to see? And which song is he going to duet on?…

Today’s episode is a fan chat with a musician who’s be following along with the podcast for a while now and is a fellow Northern Englishman. Rich Gibson is a singer, songwriter, and musician as a solo artist and with the bands Spring and Indigo Slink, as well as being part of three different Wilbury’s-related…

Well, we’ve covered all the songs on Echo now, so that can only mean one thing! That’s right. It’s time for John Paulsen to join me again to wrap up the twelfth album and dig into the vinyl age, whether fifteen songs is too many, and of course, a whole lot of back and forth…

“One more night, God I’ve had to fight. To keep my line of sight on what’s real”. That opening line really acts as a double underline on the pain and weariness that Tom has explored lyrically throughout much of his twelfth album. When author Paul Zollo mentions this in Conversations with Tom Petty, asking “Can…