In a 2006 Rolling Stone interview, Tom credits Ron Blair’s return as being pivotal for the band saying, “The band has a good family atmosphere that wasn't there for a while. It came back about a year or two ago. I think when Ron Blair returned, it really bonded us back together in a weird way. If he hadn't been there, I am sure it would have been the end of the whole thing when Howie died. Ron stepped in and had this huge enthusiasm through the whole thing.” He goes on to say “When he first quit, he didn't quit the band, he quit the whole music thing. He was fed up. But we were all young boys then. When he got interested in music again, he started playing with Mike quite a bit, and so he was just there when we needed a bass player for the last two tracks we did for The Last DJ.”

Song and links mentioned in the episode:

Song : https://youtu.be/7VfxdQMfP0g

Live at the Olympic : https://youtu.be/yLl2_JIlKps?t=1947

The Blue Stingrays - Surf n Burn : https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kAnAc1Opi44iPchcIFZKjyN5lw_i8rR1g

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Follow: https://linktr.ee/tompettyproject

Listen: https://pod.link/1580769475

All music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

A special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research.

The Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way.

Producer: Kevin Brown

Executive Producers: Paul Roberts, Steve Ursell

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