The Tom Petty estate has released an unearthed 1993 demo of ‘You Don’t Know How it Feels’ which is the first track to be taken from the long-awaited ‘Wildflowers’ archival project. The song was the lead single from the album and eventually reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Petty recorded the much more fragile, acoustic take at his home studio, providing a more intimate feel than the original, and it contains a verse that would later show up on the penultimate track on the album, ‘Crawling Back to You.’ The album reflects Petty’s failing 20 years plus marriage to his wife Jane Benyo. “I’m so tired of being tired,” he sings. “Sure as night will follow day/Most things I worry about/Never happen anyway.”
It would have been Tom Petty's 70th birthday yesterday and although a lot of the focus at the moment is on his 1994 solo record 'Wildflowers' due to its rerelease (we have a lovely piece on it in our Classic Americana Albums series tomorrow), one of the lesser known albums…
Tom Petty's first studio album for his new label Warner Brothers found him escaping the uber-producer Jeff Lynne whose hand had influenced every musical decision on his previous 3 outings; twice as a Heartbreaker and once as a Wilbury. He needed a fresh start and by God did he get…
So what am I supposed to tell you about Tom Petty that you're not already aware of? And what is the point of this compilation to an Americana music fan who already has all the albums? It's not going to be enough, I'm sure, to mention that's it a sumptuous…
Editor of Americana UK website, the UK's leading home for americana news and reviews since 2001 (when life was simpler, at least for the first 253 days)
Exquisite. I miss the man so much