Runnin' Down A Dream

Tom Petty is one of those performers that it seems to me at least that sometimes gets forgotten in the list of great Rock and Roll singers. I think outside of Bruce Springsteen I would have to put him up there as one of the greatest for the last thirty years. That's how long he's been around thirty years. I just spent the better part of my last day off watching a new dvd documentary called Runnin' Down A Dream, directed by Peter Bogdanvich, about Tom Petty's career. It's a four disc set, the first two discs are the doc, while the third is a homecoming concert Petty did at Gainsville Florida and the fourth disc is a cd of some of the songs from the doc. The two disc documentary is over five hours and while it would seem that would be a long time, watching it the time flew by. I didn't realize how much time it was until it was over, this documentary is that good.



Tom Petty was born in Gainsville Florida in 1950. His addiction to Rock and Roll became serious when his Aunt took him to a filming of the Elvis Presely movie Follow That Dream that was being shot there. Petty was introduced to Elvis and after that he knew what he wanted to be. As a youngster he went through a few different groups until he finally settled on a group called Mudcrutch. In this early group were two members that would become part of the Heartbreakers, Mike Campbell and Benmont Trench.


The group moved to Hollywood and eventually landed a recording contract with a small label called Shelter Records. By this point they had changed their name and the focus of the group became Petty. They released their first album but it didn't create any big hits. At least not in the States. Over in England they were huge. The English couldn't get enough of the group.

After their second album was released and went gold they started work on their third album which would become Damn the Torpedos. It was during this time that Shelter Records was bought by the larger company MCA and with it Tom Petty's contract. Petty refused to be bought by another record company without his consent. For nine months he fought the larger company. Eventually MCA agreed to create a label just for Petty and gave him control over his music.



On the release of their third album Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers became stars. This was the album that put them on the map. Their next album Hard Promises was scheduled by their record company to be one of the albums that would feature a dollar more for the price. Petty did not like the fact that they were going to charge more money for his release and voiced his objections. Of course another fight ensured, but eventually the album came out with the regular price and did not cost his fans an additional dollar.



Tom Petty and the Heatbreakers have acted as the backing band for two years for Bob Dylan and also backed Johnny Cash on his first cd produced by Rick Rubin, Unchained. The band has had a few changes over the years, but still maintains the core group that came from Gainsville Florida all those years ago. One member Ron Blair quit the group after a few years and retired from the music business, but after Howie Epstien, the member that replaced him, died from a drug overdose he came back with the group.

Last year Petty released Highway Companion as a solo album, though most of the group appears in different parts of the music. This was one of the best albums of the year and had a great single "Saving Grace" from the album.