The Tom Petty Project

“I was doing fine on my own, selling from my own website privately, and right at the same time Tom Petty contacted me and told me he’d been secretly collecting my work, and wanted me to design an album cover for him. He and his wife have 6 paintings or so.”Robert Deyber never became a household name in the manner of Dalí or Warhol, but within contemporary gallery circles he developed an exceptionally loyal following who appreciated that his paintings were technically accomplished, immediately understandable, and humorous without being superficial. Thousands of private collectors acquired his paintings and limited editions, including other notable figures from the entertainment industry.Links and sources from this episodeIn the Studio : https://youtu.be/gnvkPiQ7fYY Bellevue Reporter interview : https://www.bellevuereporter.com/2009/02/08/artist-robert-deyber-plays-on-words/ Unlocking Connecticut interview : https://unlockingconnecticut.com/2016/09/artist-robert-deyber/ Artsy interview : https://www.artsy.net/article/martin-lawrence-galleries-robert-deyber Profile on the Martin Lawrence Galleries website : https://martinlawrence.com/collections/robert-deyber

Leading into the last verse, there’s some back masked, slightly distorted guitar, again over that suspended fourth chord before the arrangement drops back to let Bridgers’ voice really punch home the line “Now the wind is high and the rain is heavy and the water’s rising in the levee”. I talk lots on the show about “moments” in songs and THIS is the moment in this song for me. The slight tremolo added to the vocal on the words water’s rising and how she pushes her vocal forward more and gives it more oxygen, really punctuate this sense of being completely overwhelmed by emotion that is being metaphorically expressed.The series, talking about other people’s interpretations of Tom’s songs will be limited to a specific criteria. I want to listen to and comment on covers that take the songs into different areas. So I’m not going to touch on very straight, very faithful covers like Chris Stapleton’s I Should Have Known It. These episodes will be limited to artists who change, adapt, or inhabit Tom’s music and make it their own in some way. I’ll also be putting a call out to all you listeners to recommend covers that fit the criteria!Song : https://youtu.be/CDOaIcgUVEc Live from Toronto in 2018 : https://youtu.be/UuVJFVszo-4 Original : https://youtu.be/mVEXkLht6hQ

Today's episode is a wide ranging conversation that I had with my friend Josh Caldwell. Josh and I met through a mutual love of Van Halen and the superb And the Podcast Will Rock, cohosted by my good pals Corey Morrissette and Mark Camire. We get into the weeds about guitars and guitarists and talk about what makes Mike special and why he was an indispensible part of the Heartbreakers formula! If you want to find Josh's excellent podcast, The Engine Room, you can check it out here: https://pod.link/1859462144And if you want to check out And the Podcast Will Rock, you'll find that one here: https://pod.link/1595995181

We often talk about album openers and closers and I’m sure my pal John Paulsen and I will get into that next week, but of all the songs that were included on this record, the opener and the closer just scream at you on Highway Companion. Both Saving Grace and The Golden Rose have momentum and hit that theme of travelling perfectly, but they do it in very different ways. Saving Grace soars above the scenery and exhilarates as it takes you on its journey. The Golden Rose on the other hand floats, almost without the aid of any manual propulsion.Song : https://youtu.be/762qbtPsKlkADDITIONAL LINKSJudge Timbers' tutorial: https://youtu.be/Mf7AJJH55Gs

I’m thinking of this as part of a new occasional series that I can return to called “Origins” and will be about the songwriters and/or musicians that have shaped my musical tastes. Future episodes will definitely include people like Ray Davies of The Kinks, Edward Van Halen, Justin Currie of Del Amitri, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle, and Paul McCartney, as names that spring immediately to mind. To be honest, I can easily see Brian May also getting his own episode at some point! I don’t have any sort of plan for how frequently these episodes will drop, I’ll just sit down to write them when opportunity and desire overlap at the right time.To kick off the "Origins" series, I need to talk about the guy who stands at the top of the musical mountain for me; Freddie Mercury. Songs : https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9JRklgBG7NzIJ5_KbvGMNbc0Yh859gL4

Let’s talk about the lyrics to this one first. Tom goes on to say “You don’t have a lot of room to write a story in a song. So you have to be economical with your lines.” and we’ve remarked on that on so many occasions with Tom’s story songs - he usually gives us brief flashes of narrative before either zooming out, changing the POV or switching to a characters thoughts rather than their actions. This one is a pretty tight, compact three act play though and Tom’s economy works really well.Song : https://youtu.be/OGWiNlHXiYQADDITIONAL LINKSJudge Timbers' tutorial: https://youtu.be/PwACALHy878

We’ve talked a few times this season about the fact that the album wasn’t finished when Tom played the songs for Paul Zollo. In the book, he tells Paul, “I still haven’t figured out where to put it in the sequence. Right now I have it at the end, but I don’t think it’s the perfect ending.” Earlier, he says “That was written in the middle of all the other things” and I wonder if he hadn’t written The Golden Rose at this point, because that’s the obvious album closer. Had he not written that song, I do actually think This Old Town would be a good way to go out.Song : https://youtu.be/psD0J-C11u8ADDITIONAL LINKSJudge Timbers' tutorial: https://youtu.be/hgWAwudaj-A

Specifics create dynamics. I love this idea.I watched Ethan Hawke talking about this in regards to acting and pretty much immediately thought, “The same applies to lyrics!” and figured that, as I have a podcast, I should figure out some thoughts on the topic! So what I want to do is go through a few examples again of times that this type of specificity crops up in Tom’s lyrics where perhaps it isn’t even needed, but improves the song so much.