Marty Stuart on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:

Can't say I'm a big Tom Petty fan, but the man and the band are extremely well respected by other musicians.  They have contributed to a wide range of other artists' recordings.  Additionally, longevity (or should I say survival) at the top of the rock heap is not to be underrated.  Petty and the Heartbreakers did that for three decades.  I prefer the Blasters, Little Feat, Parliment/Funkadelics or Los Lobos, but that's just my personal taste.

One thing that caught me interest in Petty as a person was the whole "Southern Accents" record and tour.  It was a quasi-concept album about Petty's vision of the South.  The tour prominently featured the Confederate battle flag and people coming to his concerts wore it, displayed it and waved it too.  Petty later came to regret his use of the flag and then actually asked his fans to not bring it to his concerts.  Here's a link to an article about this.

... and of course, there have always been players who've had a more scholarly/musicological bent--  Bloomfield and Garcia, for example. 

I've seen R. Ford a half dozen times. The only time I saw J. Mitchell was when I lived in Santa Barbara-- I saw the show with Metheny, Brecker, et al that was released as "Shadows and Light". Never saw Albert but saw Freddie and BB. Saw the Dead just a few times-- '73, '74, '77, '78 and a couple times in the eighties in Maine (don't recall the years). I was fortunate that Santa Barbara in the mid-70's was a paradise for live music. Everything from Leo Kotke to Ravi Shankar to Otis Rush to Oregon to Les McCann, Return to Forever, Bonnie Raitt, Santana, Bill Evans (the piano player), Jean Luc Ponty, Pat Metheny, Emmy Lou Harris. . . the list goes on and on. 

I'm not familiar with D. Twilley's music. I was born in '56 and when I think of "50's music" I tend to think of Sha Na Na type stuff. 

@onhwy61: The Blasters---now we’re talkin’! I saw them live many times, including in the mid-80’s when they backed Big Joe Turner on his last appearance in L.A., at Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd.. Little Richard’s tenor sax man Lee Allen was in the band then, as was of course Blasters lead guitarist and songwriter Dave Alvin. The last time I saw them was in 2003, at an outdoor Rockabilly festival held in SoCal , complete with a Vintage Car show. Lots of pompadours (on the guys), short bangs (on the gals)---Rockabilly chicks are SO hot ;-) , tats, piercings, and cuffed jeans were plentiful amongst the audience members. I performed on a smaller stage in an instrumental trio at that show prior to The Blasters set.

And Los Lobos: Also in the mid-80’s I went to see Peter Case’s pre-solo career group The Plimsouls at a tiny "club" on Ventura Blvd. named The Garage (it was an actual garage, a converted car repair shop). My gal and I got there in time to hear the opening act---whose name was unfamiliar to me---start their set. As soon as they did. she and I looked at each other in utter disbelief, our mouths agape. They were INCREDIBLE! It was of course Los Lobos, of whom I became an instant fan. By the way, their upcoming new album---due out shortly---is a tribute to THEIR roots. Can’t wait to hear it!

Speaking of a roots-tribute album: The Band’s 1973 album Moondog Matinee is comprised of recordings of songs they had performed in their early-60’s live shows, when they were named The Hawks. An "oldies" album unlike any you’ve heard before or since. Even after becoming The Band, they continued to perform Little Richard’s "Slippin’ And Slidin’’’ and Marvin Gaye’s "Baby Don’t Do It" (an incredible version opens their great live album Rock Of Ages) in their live shows. Can you picture Tom Petty singing either of those songs? ;-)

But hey, a favorite artist of mine---Lucinda Williams---thinks highly enough of Petty to record an album of his songs.

Ummm, look it has validity and don’t get me wrong, I was a massive early days supporter of Tom and the band, so early that I saw them play to 200 people audiences and personally met the band a few times along the way. Ironically, they were probably even better early days than they were 10 years later. Don’t get me wrong they were never positioned as some super group, but thankfully they did ultimately receive the audience they always deserved. Tom was as prolific as anyone on the songwriting side. The band is clearly missing their fearless leader. Best ever? Certainly near the top, but I think as a contemporary of the era, Springsteen and E Street probably cross the line before Tom. That does not diminish my love for Petty & Co.  

@bdp24:

"And Los Lobos: Also in the mid-80’s I went to see Peter Case’s pre-solo career group The Plimsouls at a tiny "club" on Ventura Blvd. named The Garage (it was an actual garage, a converted car repair shop). My gal and I got there in time to hear the opening act---whose name was unfamiliar to me---start their set. As soon as they did. she and I looked at each other in utter disbelief, our mouths agape. They were INCREDIBLE! It was of course Los Lobos, of whom I became an instant fan"


I saw Los Lobos on their "Will the Wolf Survive" tour at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. What particularly shocked me was what great Blues players Rosas and Hidalgo were.