Petty Country (A Country Music Celebration Of Tom Petty)

Various Artists

Released on 21/06/2024 by Big Machine Records
Main artist: Various Artists
Genre: Country

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In 2013, Tom Petty called modern country music "bad rock with a fiddle." The genre hasn't held it against him, though, and a killer roster of Nashville heavy hitters is paying tribute to Petty's catalog. "I Should Have Known It" has always been a deliciously nasty piece of work and Chris Stapleton broadens the song's dimensions, churning out a hard-stomping version with a scorching final minute that has as much in common with Black Sabbath as the original's classic Southern rock. Dolly Parton turns in a soaring take on "Southern Accents" with Nashville Sound strings; it's a lovely showcase for the huskiness that now gently darkens her songbird soprano. Reimagined as a duet for Wynonna and Lainey Wilson, "Refugee" is a punch in the gut and a total delight. Sweetly jangling "Angel Dream (No. 2)," from the 1996 movie She's the One, proves pretty perfect for Willie Nelson and his son Lukas, who should keep it in their live repertoire. Rhiannon Giddens remakes "Don't Come Around Here No More" as art rock, stripping away Dave Stewart's '80s production and adding an earthy vibe with flute, Celtic harp and Heartbreaker Benmont Tench himself on keyboards. Thomas Rhett plays up the inherent country aspect of "Wildflowers" with help from fiddler Jenee Fleenor; while Petty's version is tender and awed, Rhett is more celebratory and jubilant. And "I Forgive It All," a Mudcrutch number, is well suited for grizzled Jamey Johnson who, with producer Dave Cobb, turns it into an outlaw ballad—complete with Willie's longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael adding levity. Hillary Scott of Lady A deserves credit for bringing a discernible Stevie Nicks quality to "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" but not trying to overdo it. Powerhouse Luke Combs plays it subtle but ends up smoothing out the weirdest edges of "Runnin' Down a Dream," though Rob McNelley does a fine job on Mike Campbell's memorable guitar riffs. Like many before them, the Cadillac Three and Breland try to catch lightning-in-a-bottle magic of "Free Fallin'" but sound sanitized. Dierks Bentley, however, understands that it's impossible to recapture the caged-animal energy of the original "American Girl" and opts instead to turn the song into a party with mandolin, fiddle and banjo. In 1985, Petty and Campbell gave "Ways to be Wicked" to Lone Justice, opening the door for a 20-year-old Maria McKee to make a cowpunk feast of it, before releasing it themselves many years later. Margo Price pays tribute to Lone Justice's version, hitting those McKee high notes like a champ, and it's a goddamn knockout. Steve Earle is no stranger to choosing covers that suit him, having released tribute albums to Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker and his late son Justin Townes Earle—and his rusty barbed-wire voice is just right for "Yer So Bad." And a hat tip to whoever decided to unleash Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives on punky "I Need to Know" from 1978. It's a bloody-raw hoot and a holler that raises the question: What if Stuart released a whole album of Petty covers by himself? © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

Petty Country (A Country Music Celebration Of Tom Petty)

Various Artists

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I Should Have Known It

Chris Stapleton

00:03:56

Chris Stapleton, Producer, Vocalist, MainArtist, ElectricGuitar - Phillip Smith, RecordingSecondEngineer - Ted Jensen, MasteringEngineer - Vance Powell, MixingEngineer, RecordingEngineer - Tom Petty, ComposerLyricist - Mike Campbell, ComposerLyricist - Dave Cobb, Producer, ElectricGuitar - Gena Johnson, RecordingEngineer, MixingSecondEngineer - Michael Fahey, MixingSecondEngineer - J.T. Cure, Bass - Derek Mixon, DrumKit - Koehn Terry, MixingSecondEngineer