Marty Stuart on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:

@bdp24:

" Both The Band and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers toured with Dylan, and live recordings of some shows were released on albums. Compare the two. Both bands are playing similar music, in some cases the same songs. Which band do you think is "better"? Feel free to answer below."

I'd argue that these two bands had quite different perspectives. 

Tom Petty was very journalistic-- he reported on his direct experience of the nitty gritty school of hard knocks. He reported from deep within the belly of the beast and was able to make the listener feel they werer right there with him. He was a great, visceral  communicator of what was happening in the moment.

By contrast, as I see it, The Band viewed American culture as if from a mountain top and they seemed more interested in what might be termed a mythical dimension of America. Robbie Robertson's lyrics have more of the sense of a great novelist who creates and manipulates characters. It strikes me as a more "literary" approach. To what degree this might've been influenced by the fact he's Canadian is a question I'll leave for the more erudite to debate. 

My 2 cents...

stuartk,
I think that your view of these two bands is very interesting and thought provoking. I never thought of it in that way, but reading your words, I have to agree.

Excellent insights into the lyrics of J.R. Robertson, @stuartk!

Speaking of the American aspect: One reason I hold The Band in much higher regard than TP & THB is because of the depth of their musical roots. Organist Garth Hudson is a profound musician with an encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation of American Jazz and European Classical musics. Drummer/singer Levon Helm is deeply rooted in Blues and Hillbilly, having grown up listening to both musics on the radio in Arkansas. His first pro gig was as drummer in 50's Rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins band (the source of course for The Band's first name, The Hawks.)---Robertson's too. Bassist/singer Rick Danko loved traditional Country/Hillbilly, hearing it on The Grand Old Opry way up in Canada. Pianist/singer Richard Manuel had one of the greatest voices in the entire history of Rock 'n' Roll, deeply influenced by Ray Charles, Bobby Bland, and the other 50's black singers.

Not to downplay the talents of TP & THB, but to me they sound far less "substantial". They sound like a "suburban" group to me---the sound of which I am very familiar, if you know what I mean. Individually, they are rather ordinary. Pianist Benmont Tench has almost no style, nothing that makes his playing special .Reminds me of Paul Shaffer ;-) . The bassist and drummer, although sufficient, again: no distinctive style, no personality. Guitarist Mike Campbell is not bad, though I don't much care for his tone (too "thick", too distorted.). And Tom? I really don't like his voice, and the way he writes his songs in keys which require him to strain to reach the highest notes in the song melodies. And he sounds entirely too "white" for my tastes; not much soul or depth.

But that's just me. Sorry for sounding so negative, it's all good. I would say there is no bad music, but then there's Black Sabbath. ;-)

@roxy54:

Thanks for your kind words. In retrospect, I believe I presented the differences in too much of a black-and-white fashion.  After all, every songwriter has to have a "journalistic" eye for detail as well as a sense of how the present moment relates to larger themes. This doesn't mean I've changed my mind about my basic premise, though. 

@bdp24:

Thanks for the positive affirmation. Although I personally prefer the Band's music to T. Petty's, I've never really thought very deeply about why that might be. I'd tend to agree that The Band's traditional influences were much more evident-- whether this means that T. Petty lacked such a foundation, I cannot say. T. Petty pretty much sounds to me like a Rock guy, through and through, whereas The Band sound like many older styles mixed up and fltered through a Country/Blues/Jazz sensibility. They sound like they have very deep roots that go way back before Rock-- perhaps this is my way of expressing something akin to your comments about T. Petty being "less substantial".  

Like anyone else, I have my prejudices and they no doubt prevent me from appreciating aspects of T. Petty that might be obvious to his fans. I've never owned any T. Petty albums but The Band's "brown album" has been a steady companion since the mid 70's, so I'm far from objective!

Agree @stuartk. It just occurred to me that another element to remember is that The Band are actually from a generation before Petty and his guys---The Band of the 50’s, Petty of the 60’s. That was one reason Petty seemed out of place to me in The Travelling Wilburys; Tom seemed like a kid in a group of adults.

By the time of Petty’s debut, I had already followed the musical path back to the origins of what lead to Rock ’n’ Roll: The Carter Family in Hillbilly---onward to Hank Williams and the other late-40’s/early-50’s Hillbilly singers (including Lefty Frizzell, whose "Long Black Veil" The Band included on Music From Big Pink), and the Jump Blues of the 40’s and early-50’s (Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Big Jay McNeely), from which Elvis "borrowed" much of his early sound and style.

And you’re right---The Band’s music reveals all those influences, and more. Petty & THB sound like they had heard nothing before The British Invasion---very shallow roots. I don’t know what it was like in Florida (Petty’s stomping grounds), but in the Bay Area (mine), Roots music was what all serious musicians were diving into.

Jerry Garcia was playing Bluegrass in Palo Alto (just a few miles north on the El Camino Real from my hometown of Cupertino) before forming a Rock band, his future-buddy David Grisman doing the same in Mill Valley (across the bay from San Francisco). In the early-70’s we had Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Asleep At The Wheel, The Electric Flag (with Mike Bloomfield), Charlie Musselwhite (with the great Robben Ford on guitar. He later worked with Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, and George Harrison, and was in The Yellowjackets. Damn!), Maria Muldaur, and so many more superior artists.

After hearing all them live in clubs and on record (plus all the bands and artists Bill Graham brought into The Fillmore Auditorium and Winterland---Albert King and other such masters), Petty seemed like a light-weight! Yet, to me, Twilley doesn’t. He has a distinct-1950’s influence evident in his music that is absent in Petty’s. Perhaps it’s just that I’m more fond of 50’s music, Petty of 60’s.