The Tom Petty Project

byKevin Brown

InterviewsHistoryMusicCommentary

This is the weekly podcast that digs into the entire Tom Petty catalog song by song, album by album and includes conversations with musicians, fans, and people connected with Tom along the way.Follow me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomPettyProjectFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyprojectThreads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyproject(This podcast is in no way affiliated with the Tom Petty estate.)Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes(40 episodes)

Season 13 - Episode 24

Matt Burke (Have Gun, Will Travel)

Today’s episode is a part of my artist conversation series and is a wonderful chat I had with songwriter for and lead singer of Have Gun, Will Travel. For those of you who were down in Gainesville for the Tom Petty Weekend, you probably say Matt and the guys play their killer set on Sunday afternoon. This one ranges all over the map. We do discuss Tom Petty’s influence on Matt’s songwriting, but we also talk about the band’s fantastic new Voyager Golden EP! We also head into all sorts of interesting side roads leading to Ennio...

Published: Dec 26, 2025Duration: 1h 22m 18s

Season 13 - Episode 23

The Man Who Loves Women

In last week’s outro I’d intimated that I hear a strong resemblance between this song and another favourite band of mine, The Kinks. So first of all, just sonically, if it walks like The Kinks and kinda quacks like The Kinks… it’s most likely inspired by The Kinks. That super cool key change into that second bridge section owes absolutely as much to the type of sharp left turns that Ray Davies would often write into his songs as it does the Sgt Pepper nod that I gave the song. Growing up in England, there’s a nostalgi...

Published: Dec 24, 2025Duration: 22m 23s

Season 13 - Episode 22

10 Questions with Sam Krishnan

Sam Krishnan is back to answer my ten questions! He gives me his "boring answer" (his words!) to the question "Who is your favourite Heartbreaker other than Tom?" and then gives me his deep cut answer. He also surprised me with his answer to which artist he'd like to see cover a Tom Petty song. We chat about Into the Great Wide Open and the production on that album and we basically just fanboy all over Tom, as is our wont! Don't forget to go visit Sam's social media accounts and head over to Bandcamp to pick up is...

Published: Dec 20, 2025Duration: 32m 0s

Season 13 - Episode 21

Sam Krishnan (Bye Lily)

Today’s episode is another bonus artist conversation that I had with a young French songwriter who’s currently based in England, performing under the name “Bye Lily”. Sam Krishnan started out thinking he was probably going to become a rapper, but through a circuitous route, that we discuss, found his way around to Tom Petty, the guitar, and a very contemporary spin on indie folk music. Sam's debut EP, Voicenotes, features a tribute song to Tom which includes a blazing guitar solo from Jake Thistle. We chatted for a good couple of hours and the first part of this con...

Published: Dec 19, 2025Duration: 1h 21m 41s

Season 13 - Episode 20

You and Me is another “Little song”, if we use Ivan Anderson’s brilliant concept of what that means. It doesn’t shoot for the moon, doesn’t explore nuanced or clever or grand themes. It’s a singular expression of companionship and love with a healthy dose of insecurity to humanize it. It’s a simple arrangement with some beautiful piano work and a very cool bass part that moves around that brisk backbeat in a lively fashion.Song and links:You and Me : https://youtu.be/RrdKLxtw2Fo=38 Years Old (The Tragically...

Published: Dec 17, 2025Duration: 24m 33s

Season 13 - Episode 19

10 Questions with Shine

Shine is back to answer my Ten Questions! She draws a brilliant parallel from Fault Lines to big band music, we ruminate on the brilliance of Mike Campbell and Shine shares her experience of being side stage during Speaker Wars' performance at least year's Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville!Song and links:Shine's Insta : https://www.instagram.com/shineandtheshakers/On Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ShineandtheShakersWoman's Plight : https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRNRn4ej4Bc/* Image generously provided by Shawn Murphy of the Tom Petty Trail...

Published: Dec 14, 2025Duration: 23m 17s

Season 13 - Episode 18

Brian Ruskin aka Mental Health Consumer

This special bonus episode of the podcast is a conversation I had with the wonderful Brian Ruskin of the Honest and Unmerciful Record Review Podcast. As well as co-hosting one of my favourite shows, Brian is a prolific musician who has released over a dozen albums of his own material. We're taking a sylistic detour today however as we plunge headlong into the world of electronic music, loops, samples, heavily processed guitars, and found sounds! But don't worry, we have a fantastic guide!We talk about how discovering his music unlocked a part of my musical...

Published: Dec 12, 2025Duration: 1h 47m 46s

Season 13 - Episode 17

From the horse capital of the world to the main stage in Gainesville!This week's episode is a fantastic freewheeling chat that I had with the inimitable Shine, who I had the privilege of seeing perform at the Tom Petty Weekend and the greater pleasure spending an hour and change getting to know over Zoom. Like all the true originals, Shine has a way of expressing herself that imprints on you. She'll make you laugh (we talk about that!) and can make you cry with both her voice and with her intimate relationship with her guitar...

Published: Dec 10, 2025Duration: 53m 33s

Season 13 - Episode 16

For an hour or so, with the sun starting to make it’s way to the basement to sleep, we drove in relative silence. Zoey’s mood seemed to darken with the sky. Or that’s the way it felt. I asked if there was anything wrong, she said, "Nothin' worth talkin' 'bout".And that’s how it was for a while. A blue Sunday, Down the interstate. Blue, with shades of grey, and orange as the light began to fade. After a while, she turned to me and with a serious expression and asked...

Published: Dec 3, 2025Duration: 19m 29s

Season 13 - Episode 15

In a 2006 Rolling Stone interview, Tom credits Ron Blair’s return as being pivotal for the band saying, “The band has a good family atmosphere that wasn't there for a while. It came back about a year or two ago. I think when Ron Blair returned, it really bonded us back together in a weird way. If he hadn't been there, I am sure it would have been the end of the whole thing when Howie died. Ron stepped in and had this huge enthusiasm through the whole thing.” He goes on to say “When he first quit, he didn't q...

Published: Nov 26, 2025Duration: 26m 30s

Season 13 - Episode 14

I’ve always really liked this song as part of the album but never really listened to it closely until sitting down to write this episode. And that has happened a lot over the course of the last four and a bit years of recording this show. Songs you don’t necessarily expect to reveal hidden depths do so with startling regularity. Does this song have a line the equal of “Most things I worry about never happen anyway”? No, probably not. Does it have a dramatic weight to it in the vein of It’s Good to be King”? I w...

Published: Nov 19, 2025Duration: 24m 58s

Season 13 - Episode 13

Tom Petty Weekend 2025 with Pete Nester

I'm joined today by good pal Pete Nester. We're officially ACTUAL friends now, not just Facebook friends, because we've hung out, broken bread together, stood in a crowd and sung our hearts out, and hugged! I thought it would be fun to recap the weekend with Pete to get his thoughts as well as mine. Also included in the episode are chats I had with Maggie Clifford and Jeff Slate. I did chat to Shine and to Jake also, but due to technical difficulties, I couldn't use those recordings! But, I'm lining up a plethora of conversations for the...

Published: Nov 16, 2025Duration: 1h 40m 58s

Season 13 - Episode 12

Tom Petty Weekend 2025 - Day Three

Day Three of the Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville was a perfect way to end a perfect weekend. I can't begin to tell you how much fun I had with the most amazing bunch of people you'll ever be lucky enough to meet. The energy at the Heartwood was electric again and was added to by the arrival of Keith Eveland. We also had some top tier musical performances and I'll go through the ones I saw in this final recap before I do a look back properly at the even later.Follow me on social...

Published: Nov 10, 2025Duration: 14m 42s

Season 13 - Episode 11

Tom Petty Weekend 2025 - Day Two

Day Two of the Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville was an absolutely sensational day of music, laughter, friendship, food, surprises, and warm, warm, warm temperatures!!! I hung out with Maggie Clifford, Shine, Jake Thistle, Jeff Slate, Pete Nester, Brad Gould, and a broad, brilliant cast of characters that are making this weekend so much fun. On and the music.................... holy hell Gainesville, you know how to PARTY!!!!Follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyprojectTwitter...

Published: Nov 9, 2025Duration: 13m 28s

Season 13 - Episode 10

Tom Petty Weekend 2025 - Day One

Day One of the Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville is in the books and man, it was a scorcher! Jake and Jeff, Shine, Nolia Joy and the Ramblers and so many other fantastic musical acts and I met a ton of super friendly, enthusiastic people who were a blast to hang out with and talk to. Being on stage in Gainesville still feels surreal but I enjoyed every single second of it! Oh - and this is the 250th episode!!!!!!Follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if...

Published: Nov 8, 2025Duration: 9m 23s

Season 13 - Episode 9

Six Degrees of Tom Petty - Chapter One

Inspired by the wonderful Brian Colburn from the My Weekly Mixtape podcast, I decided to take a hard left turn this week, as I prepare to fly down to Gainesville, and do something a little different! We're going to take listener suggestions for artists to use as a starting point from which we'll attempt to link our way back to Tom Petty within six degrees of separation! This was a lot of fun and I'm definitely going to do it again!Check out Brian's full Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon episode of My Weekly Mixtape here...

Published: Nov 5, 2025Duration: 34m 8s

Season 13 - Episode 8

When a Kid Goes Bad

In 2013, the Heartbreakers played a five night mini-residency at the Beacon Theatre in New York city. Among the tracks from the archives that the band pulled out during that run was today’s song, When a Kid Goes Bad. In an interview with Relix magazine, Tom says “I will make a point of playing that song because they didn’t listen to me the first time, I didn’t feel like they understood it and I think it speaks for itself. Playing it in the shows is almost chilling - kids are going bad, bad things happen to kids. I’m not...

Published: Oct 29, 2025Duration: 23m 17s

Season 13 - Episode 7

Dan Spiess - Tom Petty Weekend 2025

The incomparable Dan Spiess is back to talk about the upcoming Tom Petty Weekend in Gainesville, from November 7-9! We talk about the lineup for this year's shows including the two brilliant headline acts for Saturday and Sunday. We chat about how organizing for this year has been different from previous years, especially the complications the festival faced last year in the aftermath of two hurricanes! And Dan fills me in on all the bands and artists I don't know about that I'll be enjoying in person (finally!) this year.You can find more information on...

Published: Oct 21, 2025Duration: 33m 13s

Season 13 - Episode 6

This is top tier songwriting for me. When you have a platform and you can take a risk by punching up at people who have power, I think it’s good to do it now and again. If you can take that polemic and wrap it in a powerful, simple, stomping track like Joe, then I’m all in. There’s a theatrical element to the song that you could easily imagine fitting a full broadway production. You could see the lights strobe out on those relentless kicks, while Joe, with crooked yellowing teeth and a Fagin-esque grotesqueness, is lit fr...

Published: Oct 15, 2025Duration: 24m 41s

Season 13 - Episode 5

Tom is hugely proud of this song. In Conversations with Tom Petty, he tells author Paul Zollo, “Dreamville” is one of the best songs I ever wrote. That was about innocence.” And it’s this innocence that contrasts so starkly and so effectively with the corporate interference in The Last DJ, or the commodification of Johnny’s art in Money Becomes King. Without this contrast the more belligerent songs the album could easily take on a petulant tone but in Dreamville, Tom gives us that fleeting Utopian vision to measure cultural decline against. It gives us a baseline and a starting...

Published: Oct 8, 2025Duration: 24m 45s