The Sunday Six

I hope everybody is spending a groovy Sunday. To all the mamas, Happy Mother’s Day! None of us would be here without you! And to the papas and the kids, remember mothers are superheroes working hard every day, so please do not only be kind to them today but also during the remaining 364 days of the year!

Why don’t we all, the mamas, the papas and the kids, have some fun with another music time travel trip? As always, the magical time machine will take us to six different decades to listen to six tracks in different flavors. Let’s fasten our seatbelts and go!

Lester Young/There Will Never Be Another You

Our first stop today is June 1954 and what feels like a bar late at night with some relaxing jazz music by Lester Young. The American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist was born in Woodville, Miss. in 1909 and grew up in a musical family. By the age of ten, he already had learned the basics of the trumpet, violin and drums and joined the Young Family Band, touring with carnivals and playing in regional cities in the southwestern U.S. He first picked up the tenor saxophone in the 1920s and left the Young Family Band at the age of 18, since he no longer wanted to tour in the racially segregated Jim Crow South. Eventually, Young settled in Kansas City in 1933 and gained prominence playing in Count Basie’s band. Over the next 10-plus years, he also was in various other bands and recorded with Billie Holiday and Nat “King” Cole. In the ’50s, Young recorded a series of albums as a leader. Sadly, he passed away at the age of 49 in March 1959 from internal bleeding resulting from alcoholism. There Will Never Be Another You, a popular song with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Mack Gordon, was included on Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio, one of two compilation albums with that title released in June 1954. They were subsequently combined with music from a third album, The President, and reissued in 1956 as The President Plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio.

The Tragically Hip/Bobcaygeon

Next, we set our time machine to July 1998 and music by alternative rockers The Tragically Hip. Max from PowerPop recently featured the celebrated Canadian band, who in turn had been brought to his attention by Canadian fellow bloggers Dave from A Sound Day and DeKE from deKe’s Vinyl Reviews & More… – lots of cross-pollination happening in our blogger community, which is an important reason why I dig music blogging as much as I do! The Tragically Hip, formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, were the best-selling band in Canada between 1996 and 2016, yet they were much less recognized in the U.S. And, yes, you can call that a tragedy! During their 33-year run, which ended in October 2017 after the death of vocalist Gord Downie, the group released 13 studio albums, one live album, one compilation album, two video albums, two extended plays and a boxed set – Wikipedia had to count them all! There were also 54 singles. Nine of the Hip’s studio albums topped the Canadian charts and eight reached Platinum or multi-Platinum status there, not to mention Canada’s Walk of Fame, Canadian Music Hall of Fame, multiple Juno Awards and all the other accolades they received – a truly extraordinary record! Bobcaygeon is a great track off the Hip’s sixth studio album Phantom Power, which appeared in July 1998. Credited to the entire band, the tune also became one of the album’s five singles and is among their most enduring and beloved signature songs.

Cream/Outside Woman Blues

On with the trip to the ’60s and music by what may well have been the best power trio of all time. In November 1967, Cream released their sophomore album Disraeli Gears, less than a year after their debut Fresh Cream. During their short, less than 2.5-year recording career, Jack Bruce (bass), Eric Clapton (guitar) and Ginger Baker (drums) released four albums. By the time their final release Goodbye came out in February 1969, they already had disbanded. Given the oftentimes violent fights between Bruce and Baker, it’s actually a miracle they lasted as long as they did and all came out alive. In case you wonder why, you can watch the 2012 documentary Beware of Mr. Baker, which I did again the other day. It’s a fascinating and pretty sad film! Let’s hear Outside Woman Blues, written by folk-blues guitarist Arthur Reynolds who also first recorded it in 1929 as Blind Joe Reynolds. Mr. Slowhand did a nice job rearranging the tune for Cream.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers/Change of Heart

Time to pay a visit to the ’80s and one of my favorite artists of all time, who sadly has been gone for five-and-a-half years: Tom Petty. It’s safe to assume most if not all readers have heard about the guitarist and vocalist who hailed from Gainesville, Fla. where in 1976 he formed Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, together with Mike Campbell (lead guitar), Benmont Tench (keyboards), Ron Blair (bass) and Stan Lynch (drums). Campbell and Tench had been members of Petty’s previous group Mudcrutch, which he had started in 1970. At the time, they only released one poor-selling single before disbanding in late 1975. Petty ended up reviving Mudcrutch more than 30 years later and releasing two albums with them, Mudcrutch (2008) and Mudcrutch 2 (2016). Petty passed away in October 2017. His death was subsequently declared as “multisystem organ failure due to resuscitated cardiopulmonary arrest due to mixed drug toxicity.” Only a week earlier, Petty, who had been on potent painkillers for knee problems and a fractured hip and was also battling other health issues, had finished the final show of the Heartbreakers’ 40th-anniversary tour at the legendary Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Change of Heart, written by Petty alone, appeared on Long After Dark, the fifth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released in November 1982. The tune also became one of three singles. Here’s a terrific live version I couldn’t resist using!

The Staple Singers/I’ll Take You There

For our next stop in the ’70s, we don’t need to set our time machine and instead can rely on The Staple Singers to take us there. Our specific destination is February 1972. That’s when the gospel, soul and R&B vocal group put out Be Altitude: Respect Yourself, which became their second-charting album, hitting no. 19 and no. 3 on the Billboard 200 and Soul charts (today known as Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums). At that time, the family group already had existed for 24 years and issued close to 20 albums. Be Altitude: Respect Yourself featured family patriarch Pops Staples and his children Cleotha Staples, Mavis Staples and Yvonne Staples. All have passed except for Mavis Staples, an amazing lady who remains active at 83 years and just embarked on a summer tour with dates until mid-September, mostly in the U.S. and a few in Europe! I’ll Take You There, written by Alvertis Isbell, became one of two no. 1 singles the group scored on the Billboard Hot 100, beating Respect Yourself, the other hit single from that album, which “only” reached no. 12 on the pop chart. Take us there!

The Lone Bellow/Gold

We have time for one more stop. Let’s finish our trip in the present, specifically in November 2022. The Lone Bellow are an Americana and roots trio that began as a song-writing project for Zach Williams (guitar, lead vocals). Following his wife’s temporary paralysis that resulted from an accident, Williams started writing a journal to cope with the situation. Urged by friends, he picked up the guitar and turned his journal entries into songs. After performing as a solo act in New York City, he joined with Brian Elmquist (guitar, vocals) and Kanene Donehey Pipkin (mandolin, bass, keyboard, vocals). In January 2013, the trio released their eponymous debut album. Fast-forward nearly 10 years to Love Songs for Losers, their fifth and most recent album. Here’s Gold, a roots rock tune with a dose of pop – quite catchy music and neat harmony singing!

This Sunday Six wouldn’t be complete without a link to a Spotify playlist of the above tracks. Hope there’s something that tickles your fancy!

Sources: Wikipedia; Mavis Staples website; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Welcome to the final 2022 installment of The Sunday Six! I can’t believe I’m writing this. But, yep, not only is this year quickly coming to an end, but this blog will also be on a short holiday hiatus. I’m going back to Germany next week to spend Christmas with my parents and planning to resume posting shortly after my return close to the new year.

Michael Brecker/I Can See Your Dreams

Always curious to learn about new jazz saxophone players, I asked my friend Phil Armeno the other day. Phil plays saxophone in Good Stuff, a great band celebrating the music of Steely Dan, Sting, Stevie Wonder and Gino Vannelli (I previously covered them here.) The first sax player Phil mentioned was Michael Brecker. The name sounded vaguely familiar and no wonder – Brecker, who was active from 1969 until his untimely death in 2007 at the age of 57, collaborated with many music artists outside the pure jazz realm, including Steely Dan, Dire Straits, Joni Mitchell, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon…the list goes on and on! Brecker began studying the clarinet at age six before moving on to alto saxophone in eighth grade and finally settling on what became his main instrument, the tenor saxophone, in his sophomore year. While his recording career as a sideman started in 1969, his solo eponymous debut album didn’t appear until 1987. I Can See Your Dreams is a beautiful Brecker composition included on his seventh studio album Nearness of You: The Ballad Book released in June 2001. Check out that sweet sound!

Mink DeVille/Each Word’s a Beat of My Heart

Let’s kick up the speed a bit with a great 1983 pop tune by Mink DeVille: Each Word’s a Beat of My Heart. Formed in 1974, Mink DeVille was a band to showcase the music of frontman and versatile singer-songwriter Willy DeVille. While initially associated with New York’s early punk scene, the group’s roots were in R&B, blues and even Cajun music. Between 1977 and 1985, they put out six albums. After their breakup, DeVille continued to release a series of solo albums as Willy DeVille until February 2008. In early 2009, he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, followed by a pancreatic cancer diagnosis a few months thereafter. DeVille passed away in August of the same year, shortly prior to what would have been his 59th birthday. Each Word’s a Beat of My Heart, penned by DeVille, was included on the band’s second-to-final album Where Angels Fear to Tread. The tune also appeared separately and became their only single to chart in the U.S. (no. 89). While both the band and DeVille were more successful elsewhere, overall, their chart success was moderate.

The Beatles/Day Tripper

Time for a stopover in the ’60s and The Beatles with a great tune featuring what I feel is one of their best guitar riffs: Day Tripper. Written primarily by John Lennon and credited to him and Paul McCartney, as usual, the non-album single was released in December 1965, paired with We Can Work It Out. According to Wikipedia, the single was the first example of a double A-side in Britain where it became the band’s ninth no. 1 on the Official Singles Chart. Elsewhere, it also passed the audition, reaching the top of the charts in The Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. In the U.S., it peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Songfacts notes the lyrics were Lennon’s first reference to LSD in a Beatles tune and can be viewed as him teasing Paul about not taking acid.

John Prine/Take a Look At My Heart

Our next stop is the ’90s. For the occasion, I have a perfect country rock-flavored tune I came across recently: Take a Look At My Heart by John Prine. It appears the more songs I hear from him, the more I dig his music, and the better I understand why he was held in such high esteem by many other artists and music fans. Take a Look At My Heart, co-written by Prine and John Mellencamp and featuring Bruce Springsteen on backing vocals, was included on Prine’s 10th studio album The Missing Years. Released in September 1991, it won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. In spite of this recognition, it didn’t make the charts – incredible! But Prine’s music cannot be measured by chart success in the first place. Of course, the same can be said about other music artists!

Rainbow/Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll

Fasten your seatbelt for this next kickass hard rock tune. We’re going back to April 1978 and the title track of Rainbow’s third studio album Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll. The British-American band was formed in 1975 as Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow after the guitarist’s departure from Deep Purple. In addition to Blackmore, the short-lived original line-up included killer vocalist Ronnie James Dio, Micky Lee Soule (keyboards), Craig Gruber (bass) and Gary Driscoll (drums). Blackmore was extremely difficult to work with and frequently fired members from the band. By the time Rainbow recorded Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll, Soule, Gruber and Driscoll were gone. Cozy Powell had already taken over on drums for Driscoll later in 1975. Unfortunately, Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll was the final Rainbow album for Dio. Starting with the successor Down to Earth, Blackmore steered the group to a more radio-friendly sound that apparently was inspired by his liking of Foreigner. I’ve always loved Long Live Rock ‘n Roll, which was co-written by Blackmore and Dio.

Mudcrutch/The Wrong Thing to Do

This brings us to the final destination of our last music time travel excursion of 2022. Prior to forming the Heartbreakers in 1976, Tom Petty had another band, Mudcrutch, he co-founded in 1970 with Tom Leadon in Gainesville, Fla. With Petty on bass and vocals and Leadon on guitar and vocals, the group’s line-up also included Jim Lenehan (vocals), Mike Campbell (guitar) and Randall Marsh (drums). By the time they relocated to Los Angeles in 1974 to seek a deal with a major record label, Leadon and Lenehan had left and been replaced by Danny Roberts (bass, guitar, vocals) and Benmont Tench (keyboards). After signing with Leon Russell’s independent label Shelter Records, Mudcrutch released a single, Depot Street, in 1975. It went nowhere, and the group disbanded later that year. Petty went on to form the Heartbreakers, together with Campbell, Tench, Ron Blair (bass) and Stan Lynch (drums). Fast-forward 32 years to August 2007 when Petty decided to revive Mudcrutch. Apart from his Heartbreakers bandmates Campbell and Tench, the line-up featured original Mudcrutch members Leadon and Marsh. Off their first full-length eponymous studio album, released in April 2008, here’s the Petty-written The Wrong Thing to Do. The group’s second album, Mudcrutch 2 from May 2016, is the last studio material Petty recorded prior to his tragic death in October 2017.

Last but not here’s a Spotify playlist featuring the above tracks. Hope you dig it and will join me for more zigzag music journeys in 2023.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3oW0MQvU8DzlZy5lDmKHbK?si=2170fff0dbe24f39

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube; Spotify

New Tom Petty Box Set Works Because It’s Not A Greatest Hits Or Typical Anthology Compilation

When you see a box set being issued one year after the death of a widely beloved music artist like Tom Petty, you can’t entirely escape the cynical notion that somebody is trying to make a quick buck here. And while I’m sure Reprise Records wouldn’t mind, should An American Treasure turn out to be a hot seller, this box set is neither a greatest hits compilation nor a typical anthology, and that’s a good thing! Instead, the career-spanning collection focuses on previously unreleased alternate song versions, live performances and deep cuts. Is it going to gain Tom Petty additional listeners post mortem? Probably not. Are longtime fans going to like it? I certainly do and think others will as well.

An American Treasure, which dropped on September 28, is the first release following Tom Petty’s untimely death on October 2, 2017 at age 66 – just one week after the triumphant conclusion of his 40th anniversary tour with the Heartbreakers. I hate to sound like a broken record, but it still hurts and like so many other longtime fans, gosh, I miss him!

According to the official press release that announced the box set in July, Adria Petty and Dana Petty – Tom’s daughter and wife, respectively – were the key drivers behind this new collection. They teamed up with former Heartbreakers guitarist and keyboarder Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, as well as Ryan Ulyate, one of Petty’s studio collaborators. Campbell, Tench and Ulyate co-produced the box set, while Adria and Dana Petty served as executive producers.

“Everyone involved in this project chose each track with tremendous care and deep respect for the body of work Tom Petty created over the course of 40 years,” Adria and Dana Patty stated.  “He also accumulated a wealth of unreleased music in his vaults, and we have collectively uncovered one gem after another that will keep us all listening and discovering new facets of Tom’s talent for many years to come. We can’t wait to share with Tom’s fans this musical portrait of an artist who deeply affected our culture and indelibly touched the lives of fans the world over.”

Time for some music. Lost In Your Eyes is a previously unreleased single recorded during sessions in 1974 with Mudcrutch, Tom Petty’s band that preceded the Heartbreakers and included future members Mike Campbell (guitar) and Benmont Tench  (keyboards). Tom Leadon (guitar and vocals), the brother of former Eagles lead guitarist Bernie Leadon; Jim Lenehan (vocals); and Randall Marsh (drums) rounded out the lineup. Petty was on bass and vocals.

Keep A Little Soul is a previously unreleased tune from the 1982 sessions for Long After Dark, the fifth studio album Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released in November that year. It also appeared as the collection’s first single back in July when the box set was initially announced. Here’s a video featuring rare never-before-seen footage of the band.

In 1984, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers recorded a demo with Stevie Nicks called The Apartment Song. Perhaps it was motivated by the Petty/Campbell co-write Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, which had appeared in July 1981 on Nicks’ studio debut Bella Donna, generating a U.S. hit that peaked at no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The tune, which must have been recorded around the same time the band was working on their sixth studio release Southern Accents, did not make that album or any other records, as far as I know.

Another collaboration on the box set is King Of The Hill, a song Roger McGuinn co-wrote with Petty. It became the lead single to McGuinn’s sixth studio album Back From Rio released in January 1991. The version on the box set is an early take from November 1987 – great tune!

In April 1999, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came out with their 10th studio album Echo. One track that was recorded during the sessions for the record but not included on the album or released separately is Gainesville, an autobiographic song about Petty’s home town: Home-grown, in the headphone/Sandy loadin’ up the van/Singin’ through the speakers/You’re alright anywhere you land/Gainesville was a big town/Gainesville was a big town…

The last track I’d like to highlight is another song related to Petty’s home state of Florida: Bus To Tampa Bay, yet another previously unreleased tune. It was recorded during the sessions for Hypnotic Eye, the final studio album Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released in July 2014.

An American Treasure is available in various formats: A Super Deluxe Limited Edition 4-CD set, a 6-LP Vinyl Edition and a 2-CD Standard Edition. All of the recordings have been mixed by Ryan Ulyate from transfers of the original studio multitrack masters. They have been re-mastered by Chris Bellman, a sound engineer at Bernie Grundman Mastering, who has worked with artists like Diana Ross, Neil Young, Carole King, Duran Duran and Van Halen, among others.

Sources: Wikipedia, Tom Petty website, YouTube

In Memoriam of Tom Petty

I still cannot believe that Tom Petty, one of my long-time favorite music artists, is gone. At 66 years, he was even younger than Walter Becker and Gregg Allman, two other giants who recently passed away at 67 and 69 years, respectively. Sure, let’s be honest here – all of these guys did drugs at some time in their lives, but as far as I know, they all had become sober long before they died. I also believe it is not known whether drugs may have had any role in Petty’s cardiac arrest, which preceded his untimely death.

Sadly, Petty’s death also illustrates the frenzy of today’s media world. TMZ broke the news Monday afternoon that Petty was taken to UCLA Santa Monica Hospital on Sunday night after he had been found unconscious and in full cardiac arrest at his Malibu, Calif. home. CBS News prematurely reported his death Monday evening, hours before he actually passed, apparently based on wrong information from the Los Angeles Police Department. E! News, Rolling Stone and other media outlets promptly picked up the story. This triggered immediate condolences from Bob Dylan and others from the entertainment world. It also reportedly prompted a blistering Instagram post from AnnaKim Violet Petty, one of Petty’s surviving three children. Very sad.

Thomas Earl Petty was born on October 20, 1950 in Gainesville, Fla. He had a difficult childhood with an apparently abusive father. School wasn’t his thing, but he discovered his love for music early on and got his first guitar at the age of 12. One of his first guitar teachers was then-fellow Gainesville resident Don Felder, who later became a member of the Eagles. In the mid-’60s, Petty joined his first band, the Sundowners, playing local shows in the Gainesville area.

In 1970, Petty co-founded Mudcrutch together with guitarist and vocalist Tom Leaden. Among the other members of the line-up were Mike Campbell (guitar) and starting from 1972 Benmont Tench (keyboards), who together with Campbell later became part of Petty’s longtime band The Heartbreakers. Originally, The Heartbreakers, which Petty formed in 1976, also included Ron Blair (bass) and Stan Lynch (drums). Petty who had played bass and was the backing vocalist in Mudcrutch switched to guitar and lead vocals.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers released their eponymous debut album in November 1976. At first, the record received little attention in the U.S. That changed when it entered the U.K. charts in the wake of a British tour. Breakdown became a top 40 single in the U.S. The album also included American Girl, one of my favorite early Petty tunes that became a staple on rock radio. Here’s a cool clip from the Heartbreakers’ 2002 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction performance. I love Petty’s Rickenbacker guitar!

The band’s third record Damn the Torpedoes, which appeared in October 1979, brought significant commercial success in the U.S., reaching Triple Platinum certification and peaking at no. 2 on the Billboard albums chart. Among others, it included the Petty tune Don’t Do Me Like That, as well as Refugee and Here Comes My Girl, both co-written by Petty and Campbell. All three tracks were also released separately as singles and charted in the Billboard Hot 100. Here’s a nice clip of Refuge from Farm Aid 1985.

In November 1982, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers released their fifth album Long After Dark. It featured another Petty-Campbell co-write that is one of my favorites: You Got Lucky. The song also became the album’s lead single and climbed to no. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. Here is a clip recorded in Newark, N.J. in June this year during the band’s 40th anniversary tour, which only concluded last week in Los Angeles. I saw the band twice, once in the late ’80s in Germany, and a second time in September 2014 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J. I had thought about catching them a third time during the 40th anniversary tour – now I wish I would have done it!

Another highlight in the Heartbreakers’ discography is Southern Accents, the follow-on to Long After Dark, which appeared in March 1985. The album generated three singles: Don’t Come Around Here No More, Rebels and Make It Better (Forget About Me). The first was co-written by Petty and the Eurhythmics’ Dave Stewart, while the last two were penned by Petty only. Rebels is my favorite of the three tunes. Here’s a clip of the studio version.

In 1988, Petty joined George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan in The Traveling Wilburys, a true “supergroup” that was initiated by Harrison. They released their debut album Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 in October 1988. In December that year, Orbison passed away. The remaining four members recorded a follow-on album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3, which appeared in October 1990. Here is a clip of Last Night, which was included on the first album and featured Petty and Orbison on vocals.

Petty also released three solo albums, the first which of which came out in April 1989. Recorded with members of both The Heartbreakers (Campbell, Tench and bassist Howie Epstein) and The Traveling Wilburys (Lynne, Orbison and Harrison), Full Moon Fever became Petty’s most popular record in the U.S. It reached no. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was certified five times platinum. The album spawned various singles, including the hits I Won’t Back Down and Free Fallin’. Both songs were co-written by Petty and Lynne. Here’s clip of Free Fallin’.

In 2007, Petty convened his former Mudcrutch bandmates to record their belated debut album. The furthest the band had gotten in the ’70s was to tape some demos. Mudcrutch was released in April 2008 and entered the Billboard 200 at no. 8. A second Mudcrutch record, Mudcrutch 2, came out in April last year. Petty supported both albums with tours. Here is a live clip of Scare Easy from the first album, which was captured during the band’s tour in Nashville last May.

Petty’s 13th and last studio album with The Heartbreakers Hypnotic Eye appeared in July 2014. Here is a clip of Red River, which was written by Petty and became the record’s second single. It was released on June 10 that year, ahead of the album.

Over his 40-year-plus career, Petty was nominated for multiple awards and won various of them. Among others, he won Grammy awards in 1990 (Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group; with Traveling Wilburys for Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1), 1996 (Best Rock Album; for Wildflowers solo album) and 2009 (Best Music Video, Long Form; with The Heartbreakers for Runnin’ Down a Dream). In 2002, Petty and The Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Following are some reactions from other music artists to Petty’s death. “It’s shocking, crushing news,” Dylan told Rolling Stone. “I thought the world of Tom. He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him.”

Separately in Rolling Stone, long-time J. Geils Band lead singer Peter Wolf wrote in an exclusive remembrance: “I first met Tom when he and the Heartbreakers were the opening act on a J. Geils tour back in 1977. It was a full circle honor for me to be his opening act on the 2017 Heartbreakers’ 40th anniversary tour…he worked very hard at everything he did and always with a deep passion and a great sense of dignity. He certainly carved his own way and always stayed one of the good guys!”

Various artists also took to Twitter:

Bon Jovi: “I’m crushed… Praying for all those affected by Vegas last night. And now the loss of one of my great influences Tom Petty today.”

Ringo Starr: “God bless Tom Petty peace and love to his family I’m sure going to miss you Tom.”

Peter Gabriel: “Very sad to say goodbye to Tom Petty, he was a kind and generous man, an excellent musician…”

Steven Van Zandt: “Man this cannot be happening. Not Tom Petty please. Our deepest love and condolences to his family and band. A brother and true believer.”

The last word of this post shall belong to Petty. “Music is a real magic,” he told NPR’s All Things Considered in 2014. “It affects human beings, it can heal, it can do wonderful things. I’ve had two people contact me in my life about coming out of comas to their family playing a song to them of mine, that they had liked before they were injured. They credited the song having something to do with that. I find that fascinating. A lot of people have told me, ‘This music got me through a really hard time,’ and I can relate to that.”

Sources: Wikipedia, The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone Fox News, YouTube