The Tom Petty Project

It’s a wonderful little piece of fluffy Christmas fare. There’s no big message here, it’s just a nostalgic, whimsical throwback type song and I’m almost surprised that it wasn’t a co-write with Jeff Lynne because it has a bigger ELO feel to it than it does a Heartbreakers feel! And with the addition of all those additional musicians, I do wonder if the rest of the band played on it. One to ask a Heartbreaker if I ever get to speak to one I guess!If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/qPoHul8ngNwDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul Roberts

The second installment of my Artist Conversation Series sees Matt Jaffe return to the show to talk about his fantastic new album, Gone Enough To Miss. It was a joy to nerd out over broad aspects as well as details of the album and our conversation took in some excellent diversions regarding Tik Tok, superstition (not the Stevie Wonder song!) and how to release an album in the Gen-Z era! Matt was incredibly articulate, thoughtful and completely open and generous with his time and insights as always and this was a fantastic chat, which I hope you enjoy. I'd recommend giving the album a listen first if you haven't heard it and you can find links to it below! https://music.apple.com/us/album/gone-enough-to-miss/1769142611 https://open.spotify.com/album/5LOa0kF0TwbGCpMdrFqJe6?si=YQtdVt6STRKWAPzky4nFvg https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n2ngTjPQB1HHTsrfNuEGq82ttxcOFJY6wYou can also buy physical copies of "Gone Enough To Miss", as well as Matt's other releases and mech, from his website, which you can find here: https://www.mattjaffemusic.comDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul Roberts

First of all, Changed The Locks by Lucinda Williams is a fantastic song and her delivery of it is sublime and very intimate - a tone that is enhanced by the arrangement that is used on that recording. The Heartbreakers amp up the anger by speeding  the track up slightly, making the guitar tones heavier, and adding in that extra guitar phrase. So you have an interesting original song with a cool, atypical song structure, interpreted in a raucous, noisy way by members of the opposite sex, in a different musical genre. It’s one of those covers that adds to the original and makes it feel unique and authentic to the artist interpreting it. It’s a very simple song musically and the theme is well-trodden ground, but the way all of it is packaged and delivered really works for me.If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/Zi4FbohLSjsIf you want to check out Lucinda Williams' original version, you can find that here: https://youtu.be/sI6JoY_FrmYAnd if you want to check out the song, "Common People" by Pulp, which I referenced in the episode, you'll find that one here: https://youtu.be/lkpLbEM06qEDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul Roberts

This song was a little bit of a grower for me and it’s one that’s definitely gone up a little since I sat down to pull it apart to see what secrets it’s hiding. The fact that, yet again, there is a density to the guitars on this song along with a real simplicity to the parts themselves all accentuated by Tom’s excellent, at times forceful at times tentative delivery make for a song that com res together to be greater than the sum of its parts. It has a very specific mood and vibe to it that I really enjoy.If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/849zt3HSI_U If you want to check out the live version from Jan 14, 1997 at the Fillmore, you'll find that here: https://youtu.be/979R5fvQpuYDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul Roberts

“You think that you're above me. You think that you're so big. Well, I saw you kick that dog. When the wind blew off your wig” This is Tom’s brilliant whimsy, channeled through Dylan’s cynicism to fantastic effect. It really means nothing at all, just a very broad way of saying “you’re kind of a dick!” Again I’d love to have notes on this one from Tom because I wonder how much of this was written and how much of it was spontaneous. I could see there being about 7 or 8 more variations on these verses, with random thoughts or streams of consciousness coming in and out and the three that we get being taken as the best ones. We’ve all heard Tom messing around singing silly songs with his acoustic, like Them JuJu Beads, or I’m a dumbass baby. There’s a similar energy to this one for me. It’s just straight up rollicking good fun!If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/TmnJIccAAosDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul Roberts

“We grew up fast and no-one seemed to notice. We grew up fast and we grew up alone”. All of us latch key kids can relate very easily to what he’s communicating here. Even though our parents loved and supported us, quite often we were just left to our own devices. During school holidays, once I was 9 or 10 years old we were just left at home, left to sort out our own lunches, let ourselves in and out of the house responsibly and hopefully not burn the place down trying to cook a Christmas pudding in the microwave. Top tip by the way, that doesn’t work! This idea of self-relience then morphs into emotional abandonment in the second half of this verse; “Mom and Dad Were never what we wanted”. And I think about this line differently now that I’m a parent too. We’re all just muddling through as best we can as parents, but we’re just as flawed and insecure as our kids, they just don’t see that!If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/coBgb7Ef9uoIf you'd like to read Phillip Larkin's beautiful "Church Going", you can find that here: https://www.thepoetryhour.com/poems/church-goingNOTE: There is some profanity in the poem, This Be The Verse.Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul Roberts

 “Half of me is ocean. Half of me is sky”. There’s something so brilliantly grand and epic about that line. The ocean and the sky are both vast and hint at the complexity of being human. You also have the contrast between something that is heavy, and anchored to a point in the ocean and the wide open, limitless possibilities of the sky. We’ve all said it before, but this is why Tom is a cut above most writers; his ability to express an idea that complex and that rich in such a seemingly simple yet abstract way is just remarkable.If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/_aoEIA38kTQAnd if you want to check out the fantastic video, you'll find that one here: https://youtu.be/ZfS6Nl962QgDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul Roberts

Pete Nester is down in Gainesville at the Tom Petty Weekend, subbing in for me as I can't be there. He's been doing a fantastic job of connecting me with the weekend via messages, video clips, and photos and he's even gone the extra mile and interviewed a few folks down there! As well as some of the artists, he caught up with some of the amazing crew that make this weekend one of the best festival experiences of the year; Lynne Ellison, Dan Spiess, and Brandon Leavitt.Sit back, relax and enjoy Pete Nester's conversation with Lynne, Dan, and Brandon!Check out the Heartwood Soundstage website here: https://heartwoodsoundstage.comDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul Roberts

Another roving report from our man on the ground out at the Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville. This time, my pal Pete Nester catches up with the main man, Jake Thistle, and also chats to Jared Hart, singer and guitarist with the best-named band you're gonna hear in the next ten years; Lowly Worm and the Fantastic Beverages!Sit back, relax and enjoy Pete Nester's conversation with Jake and Jared!Check out Jake's website here: https://jakethistle.com/homeCheck out Lowly Worm and the Fantastic Beverages here: https://lowlywormandthefantasticbeverages.comDon't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyprojectYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyprojectAll music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.comThe Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".Producer: Kevin BrownExecutive Producer: Paul Roberts