The Tom Petty Project

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 we came back into the sun after that.”And this idea of a darkness hovering over this period in Tom’s life definitely permeates through elements of this record.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

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 we need two versions of two different songs? What about the covers? Tune in to find out!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

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 is hugely interesting in two different, very interesting ways. First of all, I’m pretty sure (given the credits in the album liner notes) that Tom didn’t play on it. Second, given that the melodic contributions would almost certainly have come spontaneously from the mind and fingers of Benmont Tench, it’s really curious to me that he isn’t at least co-credited on this one!If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find the official video here: https://youtu.be/P5RbW82PVqsIf you want to check out Benmont Tench's fantastic new album, The Melancholy Season, you can find that here : https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kRJEygrs-WJ4ZzS39uwMLTJSUGArR8qDoDon'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

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 the heavy lifting. It’s almost like Mike’s more reserved guitar part. We do get a little shine and sparkle in a couple of places, but its part of the ensemble rather than taking a starring role.If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here : https://youtu.be/bSl9ykaiNvwDon'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

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 make it without losing an ounce of its beauty.Long time listeners will know that when I wrote one of my ten questions; which version of Walls do you prefer, I was astounded to find that most people picked Circus. And I’ve since talked about the fact that I definitely listen to that one way more than I ever did before I started the podcast, but I have to tell you, I think No 3 is still ever so slightly ahead of Circus for me. The harmonica solo and the really raw, stripped down arrangement still carries an emotional weight that the big, bold, multi-layered approach on Circus doesn’t achieve.If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here : https://youtu.be/UHksHuZd_gw You can find the Circus version here : https://youtu.be/_aoEIA38kTQThe PBS live is here : https://youtu.be/zJl0pe-DWy8And the Fillmore 97 live version is here : https://youtu.be/gX65I6FnR0sDon'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

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 this into a full orchestral string arrangement with some timpani or other percussion added, it could have been a pretty amazing piece of music in its own right. As it stands, it’s an absolutely perfect piece of music for this portion of the movie and shows that had Tom decided he wanted to score more movies, he would have been perfectly capable of doing so.Note: There is some profanity in the movie clip that is included in this episode.If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here:To listen to the song, go here: https://youtu.be/uk5pFlnfDZUDon'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