(Credits: Far Out / Songwriters Hall of Fame)
Tue 5 August 2025 20:07, UK
Tom Petty never got into the business to impress anybody.
He was more interested in playing music from the heart, and even if he felt that rock and roll wasn’t the most thoughtful genre in the world, he knew it served the heart a lot better than it did the brain. But he knew he could never pass up the opportunity to work alongside some of the best players in the business when he had the chance.
Then again, Petty always seemed blessed with the friendly demeanour that every classic rock artist loved. He was more than happy to talk about all things rock and roll, and his laid-back attitude towards everything is half why he fit in like a glove working alongside Bob Dylan or managed to hold his own next to the Traveling Wilburys. But that was only him prepping for when he eventually made his own classics.
Despite being knighted in the music community by that point, Petty was only beginning to show people what he was capable of, and as the 1990s dawned, he created some of the most impressive tunes of his career. He already had the Beatles touch under his belt, but his journey from Full Moon Fever to Wildflowers all the way to being the backing band for Johnny Cash etched him into the foundation of American music as well.
But Petty was never willing to simply play for the sake of playing, either. He knew that all great rock and roll needed to mean something, and he knew that country music wasn’t going to satisfy him the same way he did hearing ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ for the first time. He didn’t have much to cross off his bucket list, but bringing in Carl Perkins on one of his songs sealed the deal for the rest of his recording career.
Perkins didn’t receive the same acclaim as people like Elvis Presley did back in the day, but he was treated with the utmost reverence when he walked into the studio to cut ‘Cabin Down Below’ with Petty. The heartland rocker had already become used to calling ‘The Man in Black’ Johnny instead of Mr Cash, but he was beside himself with excitement when the final track wrapped up.
When he finally got to see him in action when the band played at the Fillmore, though, Petty figured he may as well have gone to heaven that night, saying, “It was incredible, really—one of the defining moments of my life, I think [laughs]. But we’ve played before in the studio and stuff. To have him at a gig was just surreal.”
Even if he wasn’t playing anything too outlandish, though, he didn’t really have to. As far as everyone else could tell, they were looking at a piece of rock and roll history before their eyes, and even if the younger fans didn’t know him that well, everyone could feel the band’s excitement playing off of him whenever they kicked into one of their rock and roll favourites.
But now, it seems that the remaining Heartbreakers have found themselves in that position in their elder statesmen phase. They are more than welcome to bow out with grace if they want to, but hearing someone like Mike Campbell or Benmont Tench appear on a new record is the modern version of getting anointed by a rock and roll god in many respects.
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