The Tom Petty Project

06/16/2026

When the announcement dropped about this release, the first thing I did was contact my local record store and ask them to bring it in for RSD.

The day before, they messaged me with news that two shipments hadn't arrived and this was in one of them. So RSD came and went and no Petty for me. I was pretty sure the estate would do a follow up release and I'd be able to pick it up at some point, but I was definitely disappointed not to get this varient.

Last week, the shipment showed up out of the blue and my store contacted me to swing by and pick up my copy!

What a band! The energy and attitude on this record is absolutely undeniable; it's a band still fighting hard to "make it" but also a band that are incredibly tight and laser focused. So many of you got to see Tom and the boys in this era and I'm so happy that so many of you share your stories of those times!

Now - I've buried this a little, but it's my AGM at work this week and I'm absolutely slammed with meetings and follow up, so there's no episode dropping this week and I'll be back next week with The Golden Rose!

Take care folks and I'll chat to y'all next week!

06/10/2026

A different sort of episode today folks. As many of you know, I also co-host Seaside Pod Review with my best pal Randy, who does all the music for this podcast, including the theme song.

I wanted to dive back into my most formative musical influences and I had to start at the top of the list. Freddie has always been my favourite singer but he was also a toweringly brilliant songwriter, a very interesting and unique piano player, and of course, one of the greatest front men to ever take to a stage.

I hope you'll indulge me for a half hour as I talk about my first idol.

(Links in the first comment)

06/03/2026

Let’s talk about the lyrics to this one first. Tom tells author Paul Zollo, “You don’t have a lot of room to write a story in a song. So you have to be economical with your lines.” and we’ve remarked on that on so many occasions with Tom’s story songs - he usually gives us brief flashes of narrative before either zooming out, changing the POV or switching to a characters thoughts rather than their actions. This one is a pretty tight, compact three act play though and Tom’s economy works really well.

(Links in the first comment)

06/02/2026

I was never able to find the thing that makes a person love Radiohead. I know they're brilliant, but I've accepted that they're also just not for me.

However, Thom Yorke is ALWAYS worth listening to when he speaks about the industry.

(Starts at the 2:30 mark)

Thom Yorke’s insightful acceptance speech after being inducted into...

05/28/2026

We’ve talked a few times this season about the fact that the album wasn’t finished when Tom played the songs for Paul Zollo. In the book, he tells Paul, “I still haven’t figured out where to put it in the sequence. Right now I have it at the end, but I don’t think it’s the perfect ending.” Earlier, he says “That was written in the middle of all the other things” and I wonder if he hadn’t written The Golden Rose at this point, because that’s the obvious album closer. Had he not written that song, I do actually think This Old Town would be a good way to go out.

(Links in the first comment)