Southern Accents

After much delay, we finally discussed the podcast's namesake, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Southern Accents, an album infused with Lost Cause angst, dogass 1980s production aesthetics, and oh so much cocaine. For the first part of the discussion, we attempted to the contextualize Southern Accents in Tom's career specifically and Southern history generally with the help of the excellent 33 1/3 book on the album written by Michael Washburn.

See also: MTV's 1985 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers mini documentary (also called Southern Accents).

John and Jared are joined by the insanely prolific singer-songwriter, filmmaker, and author Matt Farley to discuss Cameron Crowe's long lost debut film, Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party.

Dip your toes into Matt's catalog of over 26,000 songs here.

Stream Local Legends, Local Legends: Bloodbath!, or any of Matt's feature films on Vimeo.

Listen to Matt's show, "The Motern Media Informercial Podcast."

Buy Matt's new book, Motern Media No-Jokes Album Guide.

For information on upcoming releases and live shows, check out Matt's website.

This week John and Jared are joined by Hannah Smart (@fowlinghantod), award-winning writer and author of the forthcoming novel Meat Puppets, to discuss Bob Dylan's recent performance in Spartanburg, SC.

You can preorder Meat Puppets (out May 5th) here.

Also check out Hannah's essay "Nothing Ever Happens: 'Mister Squishy' and the Year of the Sentence Diagram" as well as her short stories "City Limits" and "Empty Sets."

Thumbnail Photo Credit: Duncan Hume

This week John and Jared discuss Long After Dark, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' sleazy, synth-heavy fifth album.

This week John and Jared discuss Long After Dark, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' sleazy, synth-heavy fifth album.

Jared is joined by pre-eminent Bob Dylan expert Ray Padgett to discuss the subject of his recent Substack miniseries, Dylan and Tom Petty's unfairly maligned 1986 "True Confessions" tour.

Support Ray's excellent work, linked below.

His Substack about Bob Dylan's live shows, Flagging Down the Double E's

His recent article on the one and only "Weird Al" Yankovic.

His treasure trove of a book, Pledging My Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band Members

His podcast about the covers of, and by, Bob Dylan, Watching the Covers Flow

This week the boys are joined by friend of the show, Nat Hawkins, to discuss the Petty-produced, Heartbreakers-backed Del Shannon comeback album, Drop Down and Get Me.

(If you don't care about South Carolina political gossip, skip to 11:45.)

This week, John and Jared discuss Hard Promises, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' uneven follow-up to their breakout, "Damn the Torpedoes." Is it a misfire? Or an underrated gem? Turns out it's a little of column A, a little of column B.

At long last, John and Jared are joined by Jesse Hawken, old friend and host of Junk Filter, to discuss the "Damn the Torpedoes" episode of the Classic Albums documentary series and the Produce Like A Pro interview with the legendary Shelly Yakus. (To be honest, we just wanted an excuse to talk some more about "Damn the Torpedoes." Is that so wrong?)

Folks, it's the moment you've all been waiting for: this week John and Jared finally discuss Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' earth-shattering third album, "Damn the Torpedoes." Is it their best album? Is it the best album, period? Listen to find out!