For an hour or so, with the sun starting to make it’s way to the basement to sleep, we drove in relative silence. Zoey’s mood seemed to darken with the sky. Or that’s the way it felt. I asked if there was anything wrong, she said, "Nothin' worth talkin' 'bout".

And that’s how it was for a while. A blue Sunday, Down the interstate. Blue, with shades of grey, and orange as the light began to fade. 

After a while, she turned to me and with a serious expression and asked me “You ever found it funny Jack,how a crowd gathers around anyone living life without a net?” Then she let go of the steering wheel and closed her eyes. 

That was the day I met Zoey. There’s a lot more to tell, but I’ll save that for another time.

Song and links mentioned in the episode:

Song : https://youtu.be/jUUpkMNU3_4 

Jake Thistle live stream : https://youtu.be/pTIWCDHC1BY?t=313

Follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyproject

Bluesky: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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

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

Follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyproject

Bluesky: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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

I’ve always really liked this song as part of the album but never really listened to it closely until sitting down to write this episode. And that has happened a lot over the course of the last four and a bit years of recording this show. Songs you don’t necessarily expect to reveal hidden depths do so with startling regularity. Does this song have a line the equal of “Most things I worry about never happen anyway”? No, probably not. Does it have a dramatic weight to it in the vein of It’s Good to be King”? I wouldn’t necessarily say so. But does it hold it’s own as an imperiously patient, superbly constructed gem hidden in the middle of an album that most people forgot about? Absolutely it does!

NOTE: There is one instance of profanity in this episode as part of a direct quote.

Song and links mentioned in the episode:

Song : https://youtu.be/PtcKlCnC6WM 

Judge Timbers : https://youtu.be/l5IzFDVskL4 

Jon Scott - Tom Petty and Me : https://tompettyandme.com 

School of Hip : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579698875642

Follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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

I'm joined today by good pal Pete Nester. We're officially ACTUAL friends now, not just Facebook friends, because we've hung out, broken bread together, stood in a crowd and sung our hearts out, and hugged! I thought it would be fun to recap the weekend with Pete to get his thoughts as well as mine. Also included in the episode are chats I had with Maggie Clifford and Jeff Slate. I did chat to Shine and to Jake also, but due to technical difficulties, I couldn't use those recordings! But, I'm lining up a plethora of conversations for the coming weeks with artists who performed at the Tom Petty Weekend!

I already miss Gainesville and can't wait to come back next year!

Follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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

Day Three of the Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville was a perfect way to end a perfect weekend. I can't begin to tell you how much fun I had with the most amazing bunch of people you'll ever be lucky enough to meet. The energy at the Heartwood was electric again and was added to by the arrival of Keith Eveland. We also had some top tier musical performances and I'll go through the ones I saw in this final recap before I do a look back properly at the even later.

Follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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

Day Two of the Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville was an absolutely sensational day of music, laughter, friendship, food, surprises, and warm, warm, warm temperatures!!! I hung out with Maggie Clifford, Shine, Jake Thistle, Jeff Slate, Pete Nester, Brad Gould, and a broad, brilliant cast of characters that are making this weekend so much fun. On and the music.................... holy hell Gainesville, you know how to PARTY!!!!

Follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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

Day One of the Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville is in the books and man, it was a scorcher! Jake and Jeff, Shine, Nolia Joy and the Ramblers and so many other fantastic musical acts and I met a ton of super friendly, enthusiastic people who were a blast to hang out with and talk to. Being on stage in Gainesville still feels surreal but I enjoyed every single second of it!

Oh - and this is the 250th episode!!!!!!

Follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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

Inspired by the wonderful Brian Colburn from the My Weekly Mixtape podcast, I decided to take a hard left turn this week, as I prepare to fly down to Gainesville, and do something a little different! We're going to take listener suggestions for artists to use as a starting point from which we'll attempt to link our way back to Tom Petty within six degrees of separation! This was a lot of fun and I'm definitely going to do it again!

Check out Brian's full Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon episode of My Weekly Mixtape here: https://myweeklymixtape.com/2025/11/03/the-ultimate-six-degrees-of-kevin-bacon-the-music-edition-playlist/

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/thetompettyproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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

In 2013, the Heartbreakers played a five night mini-residency at the Beacon Theatre in New York city. Among the tracks from the archives that the band pulled out during that run was today’s song, When a Kid Goes Bad. In an interview with Relix magazine, Tom says “I will make a point of playing that song because they didn’t listen to me the first time, I didn’t feel like they understood it and I think it speaks for itself. Playing it in the shows is almost chilling - kids are going bad, bad things happen to kids. I’m not going to sit silently by as that goes on; it’s the duty of every artist to comment on things like that. So sometimes, you find something you wrote that becomes even more relevant.”

Check out the song here : https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TbLIhtGv2pE

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/thetompettyproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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

The incomparable Dan Spiess is back to talk about the upcoming Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville, from November 7-9! We talk about the lineup for this year's shows including the two brilliant headline acts for Saturday and Sunday. We chat about how organizing for this year has been different from previous years, especially the complications the festival faced last year in the aftermath of two hurricanes! And Dan fills me in on all the bands and artists I don't know about that I'll be enjoying in person (finally!) this year.

You can find more information on the Tom Petty Weekend here, including schedules and ticket information!

https://sites.google.com/heartwoodsoundstage.com/tom-petty-weekend/schedule

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/thetompettyproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

Boneless Podcast Network : https://boneless-catalogue-player.lovable.app

The theme song is provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The 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 Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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

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