Rock-tober 30, 2017

Thomas Earl Petty was born in Gainesville, Florida on October 20, 1950. His musical heritage started early when a family member involved in the film industry invited Petty to Ocala, Florida, where he was doing a location shoot. While there, he met none other than Elvis Presley. The encounter left him starstruck and immediately upon his return home,  he traded his Wham-O slingshot for a friend's collection of Elvis singles. Later, Tom received guitar instruction from Don Felder. If you don't recognize the name, Felder went on to join the Eagles. Petty also cited the appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show as inspiration to form a band.

Home life was tough. Non-athletic Petty was verbally and physically abused by his father. He retreated into music and eventually dropped out of high school to devote his full energy to his band, Mudcrutch. While popular in Gainesville, they were never able to gain traction with a larger audience and eventually disbanded. Shortly after, core members of Mudcrutch along with Petty reformed as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Their debut album, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, was not an immediate hit in the US. However, after a rousingly successful British tour American audiences finally took notice. The album peaked at #55 in 1976 and eventually was certified gold. From that shaky start, Petty and the Heartbreakers released 12 more studio albums, the majority of which have been certified either gold or platinum. Along with 3 solo albums and a stint with the Travelling Wilburys, Petty amassed an impressive musical discography that netted 3 Grammys, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In the midst of all his musical work, he still found time to log a few IMDB entries. Along with over 100 soundtrack credits and voicework on King of the Hill, he played the mayor of Bridge City in Kevin Costner's post apocalyptic tale, The Postman. In the film, Costner's character meets the Bridge City mayor for the first time and does a double take. He stumbles, "You're...famous." Petty as the mayor smirkingly replies, "I used to be."

Tom Petty died earlier this month on October 2nd. Just days earlier he'd completed a very successful 40th anniversary tour with the Heartbreakers.

There was universal agreement that he had more music in him and he had no intention of slowing down. In recent years, he'd reformed Mudcrutch. United with his original band, they released 2 albums and kicked off 2 tours. At the time, Mike Campbell, guitarist with both Mudcrutch and Heartbreakers said, "Tom is in a position where he could do anything he wants with anyone he wants. The beauty of this is that he wants to reconnect with his old friends, not for money, but the pure joy of revisiting the energy that we started with."

Not for fame, not for fortune, but for the love of music and the camaraderie of close friends. Tom Petty was definitely one of the "good guys" of rockdom.