The Tom Petty Project

From the very first notes of this song I was hooked. It’s just irresistibly fun and cool.

This one is probably one of the most deeply buried treasures in Tom’s catalogue. It was never played live and I’ve never been able to find a single quote by anyone in the band or outside it talking about it. There are a few contemporary reviews at the time, all calling it insubstantial and skippable - as if!

It’s one I don’t often hear even the Pettyheads talking about. You know, if you talk about Two Gunslingers, or It'll All Work Out or The Apartment Song, most fans will have those songs among their favourite deep cuts - and with very good reason. They’re great songs. But this one is right up there with them for me. You could almost pair this with The Apartment Song - the central character in both seems to be a very similar character. A blue collar, no nonsense working guy with a taste for simple things and a pragmatic approach to life.

Song : https://youtu.be/ze_xJn3Liz4

Dave Vermeulen's Voltage covering Candy live : https://youtu.be/HBSQINiQrlk

Tell me what Mojo means to you!

https://tompettyproject.com/mojo.php

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For today's episode, I ended up doing somethign different. My pal - and very long time listener - Dallas Heliker and I were chatting offline and I asked him if he wanted to jump on a call to discuss this song and Mojo in general as I know it's a favourite record of his and that this song in particular strikes a chord. We had a fantastic chat and it was really enjoyable to have a guest for a song episode for the first time since I covered Wildflowers!

I also discovered why the narrator in this song and his buddy would have been heading up to Mendocino! Who knew...

I hope you enjoy this one folks because any chance to chat to a genuine superfan like Dallas is a chance to learn!

Song : https://youtu.be/Gf4IDejQH88

Dallas's first appearance on the podcast : https://pod.link/1580769475/episode/NjE4Yjg0NWFhNmY4MGMwMDEzNmE0YTZh

Tell me what Mojo means to you!

https://tompettyproject.com/mojo.php

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drew Olson writing for OnMilwaukee.com, in a very brief tribute to Howie, quotes Tom as saying "I'd always wanted to deal with Howie's death, and there's some of that in there. One of those embarrassingly revealing songs. It just crept into my mind one day. I was playing the guitar, and it started falling out."

It’s also important to note the wording Tom uses; “there's some of that in there”. So I wouldn’t go so far as to say “This song is about Howie Epstein” but when you dig into the lyrical content, I think you can see a very easy connection to anyone who is dealing with addiction.

Song : https://youtu.be/YFzvaf90OKM

Live (from the Mojo Tour Edition) : https://youtu.be/Lr984UfVCVM

Sue Nelson's art Facebook page, Milkweed Studio : https://www.facebook.com/milkweedstudio

Tell me what Mojo means to you!

https://tompettyproject.com/mojo.php

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is being released on what would have been Tom’s 76th birthday. It was the date very specifically chosen by my guest, Robin Vincent for the release of her latest Robin Shakedown album, "I Don’t Know Lady, I Just Work Here". Robin was on the show back in December after I saw her blow the roof off in Gainesville at last year’s Tom Petty Weekend. Since then, I’ve become a huge fan of both her songwriting and her advocacy, both of which she pours all of herself into.

As usual during these artist conversation series episodes, we dig deep into the background of this album and walk through the songs on it to find out where they come from. We talk intros, I tell Robin my one word synopsis for each song, and we discuss the common preoccupations that underpin this record.! We also disagree on the necessity of the Oxford comma, and I discover that the percussion on this record isn’t what it appears!

Sit back, relax, and enjoy another fabulous conversation that I had with the immeasurably real and endlessly kinetic Robin Shakedown!

Note: There is some conversational profanity in this episode.

You can buy the new album over on Bandcamp at https://robinshakedown.bandcamp.com/album/i-dont-know-lady-i-just-work-here

You can also follow Robin on social media over on

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/robin.shakedown

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557317184142

Threads : https://www.threads.com/@robin.shakedown

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode is the fifth installment The Petty 8ight!

I love talking to Pettyheads, musicians, and other people who have been influenced by Tom or his music in myriad ways, but I thought it would be neat to see what non-fans, or non-hardcore fans think of Tom's music if I threw deeper cuts at them.

My latest #Petty8ight guest is the wonderful radio host, a top notch podcaster, seasoned musician, and gigantic Queen fan, Paul Bradbury.

I met Paul over on my Queen podcast, Seaside Pod Review and over the last few years, we’ve chatted online a few times so I thought, who better to introduce to Tom's music! As a drummer, I wanted to change up the Petty Eight to focus more on drum tracks I hoped Paul might find interesting and/or unusual. We talk all about those eight tracks but first we get into Paul’s musical upbringing, his recent forays into publishing his own original collaborations, and his highly successful Queen podcast, Radio Pod Pod.

Go check out all the cool things Paul is doing at the following links:

Radio Pod Pod : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561062531521

Tell me what Mojo means to you!

https://tompettyproject.com/mojo.php

American English : https://soundcloud.com/american-english

Real Human Beings (Paul's cover band) : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585442585326

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The track comes out firing on all cylinders with those aggressively swept ascending notes. Yet again, we’re being treated to something that’s a million miles from anything we’ve heard before. Mike and Scott Thurston are in complete harmonic lockstep here and Tom tells Mike Mettler, “There are a lot of dual guitars on it, so Scott and Mike worked a long time on the double harmony parts. They rehearsed that a lot.” and you can hear it in the performance. It would probably have been much easier to do if Mike added his part first, with Scott adding in his guitar afterwards so he would have had time to get it right, but the fact that this was done live makes it all the more impressive. Tom actually says “We rehearsed that one on the studio floor for a long time before we even rolled and were finally able to say, "Okay, we're ready to do a take." What we wound up keeping was the second pass. This group tends to play most passionately early in a session. They can surprise me sometimes, but usually it's early. So that's the one we kept.”

Song : https://youtube.com/watch?v=QfEwYYSq1sI

Tell me what Mojo means to you!

https://tompettyproject.com/mojo.php

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here's the second of this special two parter episode. As a reminder, on the day this episode drops, Jake Thistle’s full length label debut album, A Stranger by Design, is now available on all streaming platforms. Part one of this chat saw us catch up since we last chatted and this part of the conversation sees is dig deep into the set of songs that make up the new record. We go through all thirteen songs and Jake gives me background and insights into their writing and recording; this is a great nerd out for Jake and music fans alike.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the second part of my conversation with the always wonderful, Jake Thistle!

You can find "A Stranger by Design" here.

Apple Music : https://music.apple.com/ca/album/a-stranger-by-design/6808386067

Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/album/489tOsGTqiKq8NjLnRuPZL

YouTube Music : https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kPBZCWvH9d7En-EGyLQ9NYUhSZhHhS7jc

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As this episode drops, our pal Jake Thistle has released his full length label debut album, A Stranger by Design. As always, Jake very graciously gave me an overgenerous amount of his time to chat about the album but also about all the things he’s been up to since we last saw talked. This first part of the episode covers the 2025 Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville, his experience during his time on American Idol, and how the new album came together.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the first part of my conversation with Jake Thistle!

You can find "A Stranger by Design" here.

Apple Music : https://music.apple.com/ca/album/a-stranger-by-design/6808386067

Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/album/489tOsGTqiKq8NjLnRuPZL

YouTube Music : https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kPBZCWvH9d7En-EGyLQ9NYUhSZhHhS7jc

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the album finally dropped, people who hadn’t heard this song must have been slightly surprised to be assaulted with a howling harmonica part straight out of the traps. Almost every Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album opens with a volley of guitar. THe guitar is still there, but after Steve Ferrone’s double shot on the snare, it’s Scott Thurston’s blues harp that draws there ear - with Mike’s Les Paul doubling that line. In an interview with Sound and Vision shortly after the album came out, Tom tells Mike Mettler, “I kept handing Scott these assignments: 'Okay, I want you to play harp on this song.' It's not all that easy. So he'd gimme stuff back, and I'd say, 'Wow, I didn't know you played the harmonica that well.'” Now we know!

Song (Official Video) : https://youtu.be/5LAA6lF6uFI 

Parade of Loons : https://youtu.be/o074UPAjFxc

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Episode 300, I figured we should do something a little special. So I called up my pal John Paulsen to combine the two things he does best; fantasty drafts and playlists!

We each had fifteen picks from the Tom Petty deep cuts catalogue. It's a big volume of songs! How did we decide what a "deep cut" is? Well, first of all, the song couldn't have charted on the Billboard 200 chart. Then, we limited it to any song that has fewer than 7,000,000 streams on Spotify (at time of recording). That still left us with a bucketload of songs to choose from! We included Mudcrutch and the Traveling Wilburys as well as Tom's solo and Heartbreakers output.

At the end of the episode we each had a fifteen song playlist and a broader thirty songs that we could present to a casual fan to entice them into exploring Tom's work futher.

This was an incredibly difficult process of whitling and regret!

As the NFL season is upon us - all your fantasy draft folks should really be following John and taking advantage of all sorts of offers for subscriptions to 4for4.com.

You can find John online on:

Twitter: https://x.com/4for4_John and

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/4for4-john.bsky.social

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.