Review: Various Artists ‘Petty Country’
By Hal Horowitz
The Sara Lee company, famous maker of grocery store deserts, once had a pithy slogan that ended with “Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” The same catchy double negative could be applied to Tom Petty’s music.
His roots rock songs have found favor in a variety of genres from punk to hard rock, indie rock, folk, blues, bluegrass, and even heavy metal. But it seems that country artists are particularly enamored of his style because his compositions had, among other attributes, authentic, even scrappy musical underpinnings and rebellious lyrics.
So it’s no stretch to see Petty Country (released June 21), a high-profile collection of country music headliners paying tribute to Petty by covering his work. And with the caliber of talent involved, including such living legends as Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and George Strait, along with 17 others, the results are classy, professionally performed and, above all, earnest.
The concept seems impossible to fail. The excellence of Petty’s material played by names and voices almost everyone familiar with country music, and those who may not be, recognizes guarantees an accomplished result. Most of these hit the mark by being faithful to the originals.
But, is this really country?
The immediate answer to that arrives as soon as you push play is a hearty “nope” and Chris Stapleton’s roaring “I Should Have Known It” explodes. This relative obscurity (kudos for plucking it from the underrated Mojo album) gets a searing, taut execution, even more powerful than the original. Stapleton charges into it with a pummeling dose of guitar heavy, swampy intensity. You can practically see fists punching the studio air as he delivers a knockout blow in just under four minutes.
Nothing following quite bests it, yet there are plenty of high points and even the lackluster ones are saved by the superiority of the tunes. Most of Petty’s usual suspects (ie: hits) are represented by good if not transformative interpretations.
Dierks Bentley saunters through a respectful “American Girl” that adds a mandolin to the instrumentation. Luke Combs recreates “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” the Brothers Osborne saunter through “I Won’t Back Down” and Justin Moore adds some vocal twang to “Here Comes My Girl” but otherwise sticks to replicating the original. Ditto goes for Ryan Hurd’s note perfect “Breakdown” (even with Carly Pearce providing vocal accompaniment), The Cadillac Three’s “Free Fallin’” and Midland’s reproduction of “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” These are professional, reverently performed recordings but they basically refashion established classics with different vocals.
Happily others push some boundaries.
It takes the hardest of hearts not to melt hearing Dolly Parton bring her charming, instantly identifiable voice and distinctively Southern accent to “Southern Accents,” imbuing one of Petty’s finest with her trademarked Dolly-ness. Leave it to the innovative Rhiannon Giddens (with Silkroad Ensemble and Heartbreaker Benmont Tench) to twist the psychedelic “Don’t Come Around Here No More” into a cool, ominous folksy East Indian arrangement. Steve Earle injects tough ornery muscle to a gritty “Yer So Bad,” Willie Nelson (with son Lucas) brings his 91 years of experience to the lovely ballad “Angel Dream No. 2” and the always impressive Marty Stuart with his crack band charge through “I Need to Know” like they wrote it.
Props also to Jamey Johnson, digging deep to unearth “I Forgive it All” from Mudcrutch’s second release, and Margo Price (aided by Heartbreaker/co-writer Mike Campbell) who excavated “Ways to be Wicked,” initially recorded by Lone Justice, a nifty Petty rarity.
Conspicuous in their absence is Lucinda Williams who recorded an entire album of Petty songs, any one of which would have been perfect for this set. And sorely missed is the late Johnny Cash’s approach. His searing acoustic “I Won’t Back Down” remains a potent example of how stripping a song to its basic elements elevates it.
Ultimately this well-intentioned tribute from all involved, is a modest success despite, or perhaps because of, the noticeable lack of twang (and pedal steel guitars). More innovative arrangements would have brought fresh perspectives to the final product, but there is plenty here to satisfy Petty fans, most of it of a quality that does justice to these timeless tunes.
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“Southern Accents” Dolly Parton
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