Like Songs and Music for She’s The One, somewhere around half of the songs on Echo were never played live. Tom tells Paul Zollo “I was kind of glad to get to another place after Echo. I was kind of glad to get somewhere else. I don’t know why, but I kind of felt like…

After a little bit of a false start, John and Kevin settle into a fun chat about soundtrack composition, how Ed Burn managed to lock in Wildflowers era-Tom Petty to be his musical director, why Tom took over the project wholesale and why this may just be the most underappreciated album in Tom’s catalogue! Do…

Airport is a tight little bundle of keyboard virtuosity from Benmont Tench with a lazy, groove-soaked accompaniment from Howie Epstein and Chris Trujillo in the rhythm section. This piece may be completely unique in the catalogue in two different, very interesting ways. First of all, I’m pretty sure that Tom didn’t play on it. Second,…

It’s curious that the two songs that reference California were both left off the final Wildflowers release; perhaps Tom being self-conscious about being too prescriptive and direct in that vein. Hung Up and Overdue has a very simple, very direct lyric which sits atop a wonderful arrangement and doesn’t need to do too much of…

I don’t think I’ve ever hidden or tried to hide the fact that Walls is one of my very favourite Tom Petty compositions. I think it’s essentially a perfect song. And this version is, as I say, an exercise in showing how to simplify and condense an arrangement to be as tight as you can…

I would love to know if an extended version of this arrangement exists anywhere on the cutting room floor. I know that there was only one violinist, Lili Haydn, who I’m hoping to have on the podcast as it happens, and two cellists, Gerri Stutyak and Michael Severens. But I think if you kept building…

John and I got together to discuss the Petty Country and Bad Monkey Soundtrack releases and built a 16 track playlist that gives you a good idea of what to expect from each disc. We discussed what makes a good cover version, which contemporay artists are doing the best job of interpereting Tom’s work and…

There’s a quality to this song that I’ve only really experienced once before. It makes me homesick for a place I’ve never lived in. The other time this has happened to me was, coincidentally, also California. If any of you are Van Halen fans or even just rock n roll fans with an interest in…

This one begins with piano as the main melodic focus, with Benmont Tench playing a lounge player style lick over top of a sumptuously dark and foreboding rhythm section. The drums are dry and present and Howie Epstein’s bass guitar adds the bottom end colour to a scene that feels like a dimly lit hotel…

Beck’s Asshole is quite tender in places with a certain rustic charm and it’s not something you’d expect a middle aged rocker to want to explore. But when you really delve into it and rummage around in there, you discover its hidden depths and while at first it can come across as unappealing, a close…