The Tom Petty Project

Saving Grace is the work of a middle-aged man who fully knows himself and knows how to articulate the past and the present in three very vivid dimensions. Critical to retaining the song’s pathos though, Tom doesn’t project a future down this new path. It’s important that Square One is here and now. It’s important that being present in a moment and recognizing that every day and every minute is a chance for rebirth and reinvention i...

“You keep running for another place To find that saving grace” probably doesn’t hit in the same place for most Pettyheads as “Most things I worry about never happen anyway” but I think there’s a comparable profundity to it. That search for spiritual, or social, or emotional redemption is a journey and one that can often feel just out of reach and unattainable, but you run on anyway. Maybe it isn’t given equal billing with the sensa...

There’s a languidity that floats through a lot of this record; Square One, Night Driver, Turn this Car Around, This Old Down, and The Golden Rose... These are songs to cruise to. They’re songs to be chewed on and savoured rather than hastily gulped down. You can feel the evening sun warming your skin as you drive, with the top down, listening to this album before arriving at a house in the woods, where you the songs become much mor...

The wonderful John Paulsen is back to talk all things Last DJ! John actually saw one of the two dates at the Olympic, so I get to ask him about that, we dive into the potential reasons why we've never had any previously unreleased tracks surface from this album (including the mysterious Maggie song!), and why half a concept album might not have landed with a wider listening audience. As always, this was an incredibly enjoyable chat...

Everything about this song appeals to me. The soft-loud dynamic of the verse and chorus, coupled with the 4/4 3/4 switch from verse to chorus, along with the minor to major switch. It’s just perfectly internally oppositional. The bridge is one of my very favourites that we have in the entire catalogue with that swinging half funk groove and that outro is just absolutely fire. Can’t Stop the Sun brings in all the conflict and anger ...

It’s that time of year for me to look back at what I was listening to in the past twelve months and give you some recommendations! I’ve listened to a ton of music in the past year, plenty of which was new to me. Gainesville exposed me to a ton of new indie artists, some of whom I’ve had the good fortune to speak to. I did decide to limit this to only vinyl albums I bought this year, rather than being albums that were released this ...

Steve Ursell is back to run through my ten questions and give me his thoughts on his favourite album, which version of Walls he prefers, and which song he'd want to cover with the Heartbreakers. Steve picks a fantastic British artist to cover a Tom Petty song, he picks a great gig to want to go back to see, and a certain autobiography may have coloured his choice for favourite Heartbreaker, other than Tom.

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This week, before we wrap up the last song from The Last DJ, I’m sharing a conversation that I had with an English gent that I met through my Queen podcast and someone I’ve gotten to know a little over the last two or three years named Steve Ursell.

Steve has kinda been discovering Tom’s catalogue in real time through this podcast, so I thought it would be really interesting to talk to someone who wasn’t a Pettyhead three years...

Robin Vincent is back to give me her answers to my ten questions. You wouldn't necessarily think that World of Warcraft would play a significant role in defining Robin's favourite album, she drops a bombshell on me about a couple of singers she just doesn't jive with and her answer to my question about which song she'd join Tom and the boys on stage for is perhaps the best answer anyone's given yet to any question I've asked! Oh an...

Today’s bonus episode is a fantastic chat with another artist I was very fortunate to see perform down at the Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville. Robin Vincent, whose band, Robin Shakedown was one of the most vibrant, energetic and very very cool acts from the weekend. I had to reach out to see if she’d be willing to talk to me about her love for Tom and his music and subsequently, found and fell in love with her latest EP, Floor God...

The DJ comes back and the ditch he’s digging, to keep the flames from the temple, are the songs and the culture he’s trying to build around his freeform station to stop outside corporate influence from burning down his integrity and his artistic vision, which are his temple. He’s the Last DJ: he’s digging this ditch around rock and roll to protect it from the superficial and the formulaic and he’s digging this ditch for all of us!

Ten questions, ten answers. Matt Burke is back to let me know which artists he'd most like to see open for Tom and the Heartbreakers and he throws a little love Joe Walsh's way while he's at it! His cover song is an interesting choice and he wonders if subconsciously he picked it because it's already happened and we sign off with three VERY good words to describe Tom Petty!

Don't forget to check out the new Voyager Golden EP fro...

Today’s episode is a part of my artist conversation series and is a wonderful chat I had with songwriter for and lead singer of Have Gun, Will Travel. For those of you who were down in Gainesville for the Tom Petty Weekend, you probably say Matt and the guys play their killer set on Sunday afternoon. This one ranges all over the map. We do discuss Tom Petty’s influence on Matt’s songwriting, but we also talk about the band’s fantas...

In last week’s outro I’d intimated that I hear a strong resemblance between this song and another favourite band of mine, The Kinks. So first of all, just sonically, if it walks like The Kinks and kinda quacks like The Kinks… it’s most likely inspired by The Kinks. That super cool key change into that second bridge section owes absolutely as much to the type of sharp left turns that Ray Davies would often write into his songs as it...

Sam Krishnan is back to answer my ten questions! He gives me his "boring answer" (his words!) to the question "Who is your favourite Heartbreaker other than Tom?" and then gives me his deep cut answer. He also surprised me with his answer to which artist he'd like to see cover a Tom Petty song. We chat about Into the Great Wide Open and the production on that album and we basically just fanboy all over Tom, as is our wont! Don't fo...

Today’s episode is another bonus artist conversation that I had with a young French songwriter who’s currently based in England, performing under the name “Bye Lily”. Sam Krishnan started out thinking he was probably going to become a rapper, but through a circuitous route, that we discuss, found his way around to Tom Petty, the guitar, and a very contemporary spin on indie folk music. Sam's debut EP, Voicenotes, features a tribute...

You and Me is another “Little song”, if we use Ivan Anderson’s brilliant concept of what that means. It doesn’t shoot for the moon, doesn’t explore nuanced or clever or grand themes. It’s a singular expression of companionship and love with a healthy dose of insecurity to humanize it. It’s a simple arrangement with some beautiful piano work and a very cool bass part that moves around that brisk backbeat in a lively fashion.

Song...

Shine is back to answer my Ten Questions! She draws a brilliant parallel from Fault Lines to big band music, we ruminate on the brilliance of Mike Campbell and Shine shares her experience of being side stage during Speaker Wars' performance at least year's Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville!

Song and links:

Shine's Insta : https://www.instagram.com/shineandtheshakers/

On Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ShineandtheShakers

Woman's ...

This special bonus episode of the podcast is a conversation I had with the wonderful Brian Ruskin of the Honest and Unmerciful Record Review Podcast. As well as co-hosting one of my favourite shows, Brian is a prolific musician who has released over a dozen albums of his own material. We're taking a sylistic detour today however as we plunge headlong into the world of electronic music, loops, samples, heavily processed guitars, and...