Southern Accents

After a months-long flirtation, we finally sat down with the hardest working man in rock criticism, Steven Hyden, to discuss his new book, Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise And Fall Of The Strokes (And Rock 'N' Roll). This episode was recorded on the auspicious occasion of the Heartbreakers reunion and opens with an extra 20 minutes of us fangirling over it, free of charge.

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• Buy Is This It

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• Listen to Never Ending Stories and Indiecast

Further Reading:

"Career Arc: Tom Petty" by Steven Hyden

Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes

Our great friend Matt Sitman joins us to discuss his favorite Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album, 1991's Into the Great Wide Open.

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• Buy Precisely Now

Further Reading:

Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes

Further Viewing:

• Petty and Gary Shandling

• Petty and Bo Diddley

• Mike Campbell Teaches American Girl

• "Image of Me"

You don't understand. These are four other brothers from the same acclaimed family of modern troubadours. Esteemed Dylanologist Rebecca returns to discuss the second and final Traveling Wilburys record, 1990's Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3.

More From Rebecca:

Ramblin' Tours, her excellent, insightful Bob Dylan tours of NYC.

Definitely Dylan, one of the very best podcasts on the life and work of Bob Dylan.

Follow Rebecca on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Further Reading:

Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes

Chronicles Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan

Further Viewing:

The True History Of The Traveling Wilburys Documentary (Free on YouTube)

Writer, filmmaker, and certified L.A. Guy Z.H. joins us to discuss a Certified L.A Album.

More From Z.H.

Burial Magazine

Chongqing Pink

Twitter

Instagram

Further Reading:

Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes

Further Listening:

"Okie From Muskogee" -- Merle Haggard

"Fashion Zombies!" -- The Aquabats!

Further Viewing:

"Hello CD Listeners"

Mike Campbell -- The Guitars

Esteemed Dylanologist Rebecca joins us to discuss The Traveling Wilburys, its members, how they came to be, and their first album.

More From Rebecca:

Ramblin' Tours, her excellent, insightful Bob Dylan tours of NYC.

Definitely Dylan, one of the very best podcasts on the life and work of Bob Dylan.

Follow Rebecca on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Further Reading:

Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes

Further Listening:

George Harrison -- "Got My Mind Set On You"

Roy Orbison -- "Pretty Woman"

Electric Light Orchestra -- "Evil Woman"

Barbra Streisand -- "The Very Thought of You"

RuPaul -- "Condragulations"

Pete Townsend -- "Let My Love Open the Door"

Further Viewing:

The True History Of The Traveling Wilburys Documentary (Free on YouTube)

This week we discussed the Heartbreakers' "worst" album, 1987's Let Me Up (I've Had Enough), a mostly forgettable record that nonetheless justifies its existence by answering a perennial question: What's Bob Dylan been watching on TV lately?

Further Listening:

"Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" by Cinderella

Further Reading:

Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes, chapters 16-18.

With the help of our friend and talented music writer, Elizabeth Handgun (Twitter, Bluesky), we revisited Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' album Long After Dark and dug into the archival material from the recent deluxe reissue.

Subscribe to Elizabeth's Substacks, synanthrope and fresh hell!

Buy Elizabeth's famous (and frequently ripped off) t-shirt: "do not give me a cigarette under any circumstances no matter what i say".

We're joined by illustrious editor, musician, podcaster, and radio host Jesse Brenneman to discuss an album even more ill-conceived than Southern Accents itself (if that's even possible). Why does this record exist? What were Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers trying to achieve? And why oh why did Tom have to wear that damn suit?!

Subscribe to Jesse's Substack, Vinyl Odyssey, and tune in to his weekly radio show of the same name at KBGA 89.9 FM every Wednesday from 6-8PM Mountain Time.

Listen to Jesse's fake tech podcast, Tech Talk, here on Patreon.

Listen to Jesse's music on Bandcamp, or the streaming platform of your choice.

After contextualizing the album in last week's episode, we finally discussed the music of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' Southern Accents. Though the album is a frustrating one that resists easy categorization — it's neither a masterpiece nor a misfire; even "mixed bag" doesn't quite do it justice — it's also home to some of Tom and the band's best material. If nothing else, it's worth a serious listen — and seriously listen we did.

Note from Jared: At the top of the episode I meant to say "Confederate flag" not "American flag" — an important distinction!