Various Artists – Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration Of Tom Petty (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:16:49 minutes | 971 MB | Genre: Country, Country Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Big Machine Records
2024 release. Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty is a country music tribute to Tom lovingly curated by some of his closest friends and collaborators, including great friend and GRAMMY Award-winner George Drakoulias and Tom’s esteemed colleague Randall Poster. Some of the most lauded voices in country music explore the extensive Petty catalog and put their own personal touches on some of his greatest hits. Includes tracks by Dolly Parton, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, Thomas Rhett, Willie Nelson & Lukas Nelson, Dierks Bentley, Luke Combs, and more.
In 2013, Tom Petty called modern country music “bad rock with a fiddle.” The genre hasn’t held it against him, though, and a killer roster of Nashville heavy hitters is paying tribute to Petty’s catalog. “I Should Have Known It” has always been a deliciously nasty piece of work and Chris Stapleton broadens the song’s dimensions, churning out a hard-stomping version with a scorching final minute that has as much in common with Black Sabbath as the original’s classic Southern rock. Dolly Parton turns in a soaring take on “Southern Accents” with Nashville Sound strings; it’s a lovely showcase for the huskiness that now gently darkens her songbird soprano. Reimagined as a duet for Wynonna and Lainey Wilson, “Refugee” is a punch in the gut and a total delight. Sweetly jangling “Angel Dream (No. 2),” from the 1996 movie She’s the One, proves pretty perfect for Willie Nelson and his son Lukas, who should keep it in their live repertoire. Rhiannon Giddens remakes “Don’t Come Around Here No More” as art rock, stripping away Dave Stewart’s ’80s production and adding an earthy vibe with flute, Celtic harp and Heartbreaker Benmont Tench himself on keyboards. Thomas Rhett plays up the inherent country aspect of “Wildflowers” with help from fiddler Jenee Fleenor; while Petty’s version is tender and awed, Rhett is more celebratory and jubilant. And “I Forgive It All,” a Mudcrutch number, is well suited for grizzled Jamey Johnson who, with producer Dave Cobb, turns it into an outlaw ballad—complete with Willie’s longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael adding levity. Hillary Scott of Lady A deserves credit for bringing a discernible Stevie Nicks quality to “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” but not trying to overdo it. Powerhouse Luke Combs plays it subtle but ends up smoothing out the weirdest edges of “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” though Rob McNelley does a fine job on Mike Campbell’s memorable guitar riffs. Like many before them, the Cadillac Three and Breland try to catch lightning-in-a-bottle magic of “Free Fallin’” but sound sanitized. Dierks Bentley, however, understands that it’s impossible to recapture the caged-animal energy of the original “American Girl” and opts instead to turn the song into a party with mandolin, fiddle and banjo. In 1985, Petty and Campbell gave “Ways to be Wicked” to Lone Justice, opening the door for a 20-year-old Maria McKee to make a cowpunk feast of it, before releasing it themselves many years later. Margo Price pays tribute to Lone Justice’s version, hitting those McKee high notes like a champ, and it’s a goddamn knockout. Steve Earle is no stranger to choosing covers that suit him, having released tribute albums to Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker and his late son Justin Townes Earle—and his rusty barbed-wire voice is just right for “Yer So Bad.” And a hat tip to whoever decided to unleash Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives on punky “I Need to Know” from 1978. It’s a bloody-raw hoot and a holler that raises the question: What if Stuart released a whole album of Petty covers by himself? – Shelly Ridenour
Tracklist:
1-1. Chris Stapleton – I Should Have Known It (03:56)
1-2. Thomas Rhett – Wildflowers (03:15)
1-3. Luke Combs – Runnin’ Down A Dream (04:07)
1-4. Dolly Parton – Southern Accents (04:27)
1-5. Justin Moore – Here Comes My Girl (04:43)
1-6. Dierks Bentley – American Girl (03:03)
1-7. Lady A – Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (04:18)
1-8. Jamey Johnson – I Forgive It All (04:26)
1-9. Brothers Osborne – I Won’t Back Down (02:58)
1-10. Wynonna – Refugee (03:50)
1-11. Willie Nelson – Angel Dream (No. 2) (02:29)
1-12. Eli Young Band – Learning To Fly (03:25)
1-13. Ryan Hurd – Breakdown (03:09)
1-14. Steve Earle – Yer So Bad (02:58)
1-15. Margo Price – Ways To Be Wicked (03:27)
1-16. Midland – Mary Jane’s Last Dance (05:04)
1-17. The Cadillac Three – Free Fallin’ (04:35)
1-18. Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives – I Need To Know (02:38)
1-19. Rhiannon Giddens – Don’t Come Around Here No More (04:36)
1-20. George Strait – You Wreck Me (Live) (05:16)
