Petty : the biography
(Book)

Includes index.

Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little swamp in his blood, Tom Petty was a Southern shitkicker, 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 forming his first bands and ultimately his celebrated group The Heartbreakers, 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 over a dozen of his own celebrated recordings high onto the charts, Tom Petty's story has all the dreams, struggle, and triumph of a great American epic, but this one comes with a soundtrack. Now in his mid-sixties, still making records and still touring, Petty, known for his reclusive style, has shared with Warren Zanes his insights and arguments, his regrets and lasting ambitions, and the details of his life on and off the stage. No one other than Warren Zanes, musician and writer and friend, could author a biography that is as honest and evocative of Petty's music and the rock-and-roll history he and his band helped to write. This is a book for those who know and love the songs, and for those who want to walk through the decades of American musical life that are embodied in one man's remarkable story.--Adapted from book jacket.

Zanes provides an honest and evocative examination of Petty's music, and the remarkable rock and roll history he and his band helped to write. Petty was a kid without a whole lot of promise; rock and roll made it otherwise. His story has all the drama of a rock and roll epic. Dark and mysterious, Petty manages to come back, again and again, showing us what the music can do and where it can take us.