Conversations With Tom Petty

“...the notoriously media-wary Petty responds...about his life, career, and craft…” Publishers Weekly Conversations with Tom Petty is the first authorized book to focus solely on the life and work of the man responsible for some of the most memorable rock anthems of our generation, including: American Girl, Breakdown, Don’t Come Around Here No More, I Won’t Back Down, Free Fallin’, Runnin’ Down a Dream, You Don’t Know How It Feels , and many others. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and his work with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, as well as his solo albums and those with the Traveling Wilburys, have been critically acclaimed the world over and have earned numerous Platinum-status awards from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as Grammys, MTV Awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and many other honours. Author, Paul Zollo, conducted a series of in-depth discussions with Tom about his career, with special focus on his song writing. The conversations are reprinted with little or no editorial comment alongside rare photographs of the legend and represent a unique perspective on Tom’s entire career.

OFFICIAL AND AUTHORIZED! The first book to focus solely on the life and work of the man responsible for some of the most memorable rock anthems of our generation. Tom and Paul conducted a series of in-depth discussions about Tomâs career, with special focus on his songwriting. The conversations are reprinted here with little or no editorial comment and represent a unique perspective on Tomâs entire career.

Chronicles Tom Petty's musical career and life for more than three decades, featuring hundreds of unpublished photographs and memorabilia from his personal archives.

The New York Times Bestseller *One of Rolling Stone's 10 Best Music Books of 2015* An exhilarating and intimate account of the life of music legend Tom Petty, by an accomplished writer and musician who toured with Petty. No one other than Warren Zanes, rocker and writer and friend, could author a book about Tom Petty that is as honest and evocative of Petty's music and the remarkable rock and roll history he and his band helped to write. Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little hillbilly in his blood, Tom Petty was a Southern shit kicker, a kid without a whole lot of promise. Rock and roll made it otherwise. From meeting Elvis, to seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, to producing Del Shannon, backing Bob Dylan, putting together a band with George Harrison, Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne, making records with Johnny Cash, and sending well more than a dozen of his own celebrated recordings high onto the charts, Tom Petty's story has all the drama of a rock and roll epic. In his last years, Petty, known for his reclusive style, shared with Warren Zanes his insights and arguments, his regrets and lasting ambitions, and the details of his life on and off the stage. This is a book for those who know and love the songs, from "American Girl" and "Refugee" to "Free Fallin'" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance," and for those who want to see the classic rock and roll era embodied in one man's remarkable story. Dark and mysterious, Petty managed to come back, again and again, showing us what the music can do and where it can take us.

When Tom Petty arrived in Los Angeles in 1974 in search of a record deal for his band Mudcrutch, the Gainesville, Florida native found one almost immediately. While he thought he had found exactly what he was looking for in L.A., it would take years for Petty and his subsequent band, the Heartbreakers, to break onto the pop charts. Within the following two decades, Petty would stay planted in Los Angeles through chart-topping albums, battles with record labels, personal struggles, collaborations with rock and roll royalty, and even an arsonist burning down his home in the San Fernando Valley. From the earliest Heartbreakers concerts in Los Angeles at the legendary Whisky a Go Go and the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, to the band’s final concerts at the iconic Hollywood Bowl, Petty aimed to continue the tradition of the Southern California rock and roll of his musical heroes like the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield in his own fashion. At the same time, Petty’s career often coincided with seismic shifts in the music business, indicated by Petty’s famous refusal to back down in the face of label management, industry conventions, and the changing courses of platforms that helped make him a superstar, like rock radio and MTV. Somewhere You Feel Free: Tom Petty and Los Angeles explores the artistic life of Tom Petty through his career-long relationship with Los Angeles and the many colorful characters and venues that inspired him and his music—including his work with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Johnny Cash, Roger McGuinn, Leon Russell, Rick Rubin, and Del Shannon.

In Hollywood Remembered, a wide array of Tinseltown veterans share their stories of life in the city of dreams from the days of silent pictures to the present. The 35 voices, many of whom have come to know Hollywood inside-out, range from film producers and movie stars to restaurateurs and preservationists. Actress Evelyn Keyes recalls how, fresh from Georgia, she met Cecil B. DeMille and was soon acting in Gone With the Wind; Blacklisted writer Walter Bernstein tells how he transformed his McCarthy era-experiences into drama with The Front; Steve Allen speaks out on how Hollywood has changed since he first came there in the 1920s; and Jonathan Winters relates how he left a mental institution to come work with Stanley Kramer in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Tom Petty: Rock 'n' Roll Guardian is the first intimate portrait of one of rock’s most enduring figures. Songs like American Girl, The Waiting and I Won’t Back Down have touched people from all walks of life because he sung about what he knew – love won, love lost and hardship overcome. Tom Petty’s predisposition to find trouble was always matched by his steely determination to overcome it. After shaky beginnings with his first band, Tom Petty steered his way through bankruptcy, drama and personal loss – including the deaths of his bandmates Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Heartbreakers bassist Howie Epstein – to forge a lasting impact on the world, selling more than 80 million records worldwide. In the wake of his death, this celebratory Omnibus Enhanced edition now features curated Spotify playlists of his early influences, his collaborations and his greatest songs. Additionally, an interactive Digital Timeline of his life charts his uncertain path with video footage of interviews, live performances and more. Born too late to be in the vanguard of rock ’n’ roll first time round, he has nonetheless proved a truly memorable keeper of the flame. This is his remarkable story...

In this lively collection of interviews, storied music writer Jas Obrecht presents a celebration of the world's most popular instrument as seen through the words, lives, and artistry of some of its most beloved players. Readers will read--and hear--accounts of the first guitarists on record, pioneering bluesmen, gospel greats, jazz innovators, country pickers, rocking rebels, psychedelic shape-shifters, singer-songwriters, and other movers and shakers. In their own words, these guitar players reveal how they found their inspirations, mastered their instruments, crafted classic songs, and created enduring solos. Highlights include Nick Lucas's recollections of waxing the first noteworthy guitar records; Ry Cooder's exploration of prewar blues musicians; Carole Kaye and Ricky Nelson on the early years of rock and roll; Stevie Ray Vaughan on Jimi Hendrix; Gregg Allman on his brother, Duane Allman; Carlos Santana, Eric Johnson, and Pops Staples on spirituality in music; Jerry Garcia, Neil Young, and Tom Petty on songwriting and creativity; and early interviews with Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, and Ben Harper.