Tom Petty was always open in his love and respect for country music. Debt, even, with many of his songs a mere pedal steel away from sounding that way. So the new tribute album Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty is not remotely any leap into uncharted territory. And, go figure the number of existing covers of his songs, effortlessly traversing into the full Nashville, Bakersfield or wherever you want to be the center of the genre. And then go figure who is lined up here, with Dolly and Willie, to start with, they who need no surname, right through Steve Earle and Margo Price and to more conventional hat acts like Chris Stapleton and George Strait.
Made with the full co-operation of the Petty estate, and, particularly, the oversight of his daughter, Adria, Petty Country unsurprisingly contains a Heartbreaker or two to beef up the instrumental chops. The songs contained herein also take a good walk through the catalog, unafraid of both picking the obvious candidates and digging deeper.
It is with one such lesser-spotted that the set saddles up with, seeing Chris Stapleton nailing some extra roadhouse grit to “I Should Have Known It,” originally found on 2010’s Mojo. This one finds the erstwhile SteelDrivers’ vocalist as far removed from his bluegrass beginnings as can be, his delivery even more ragged and raw than the original. After that fully amped strong start, Petty Country flips the coin with an all-acoustic celebration of “Wildflowers.” Thomas Rhett gifts it with trilling mandolins and a dancing fiddle. I’m sure there is a pennywhistle in there too, adding a whiff of Celtic. It’s great.
If “Running Down A Dream” strays little from the Petty’s own template, Luke Combs has a voice that carries the lyric convincingly, rather than any slavish recreation. “Southern Accents” has already become a bit of a standard, largely courtesy Johnny Cash’s magisterial version. Dolly Parton doesn’t reach that great height, but she makes a good stab, full fat Dolly, with strings, sequins and steel. (OK, the strings are a bit much, in truth, but, hey, we’re talking country royalty here.)
With “Here Comes My Girl,” Justin Moore is really too much in thrall to the original. His drawling his way through the verses brings an unwelcome reminder of Mick Jagger’s mock-ish Southern accent in “Faraway Eyes.” I had higher hopes for Dierks Bently, not least as he has been gifted with one of the Petty songs, “American Girl.” It’s a good version, but plays little with the speed and style of delivery, however much spiced up (down?) with mandolin, fiddle, steel and honkytonk piano. Did it really need the rock rhythm section?
Lady A clearly channel Stevie Nicks, through Hillary Scott’s vocal, for a marginally slower “Stop Dragging My Heart Around,” which makes it sound even more like Ms. Nicks old band than did ever the original. The keyboards swell with all the AM radio classic rock vibes you could want. (Am I alone in failing to clock that this trio lost the Lady Antebellum handle some four years back?) If you’re craving something purer, Jamey Johnson delivers, and then some, with a terrific “I Forgive It All,” sounding the full lonesome cowboy. This is an old Mudcrutch song, for those striving to seek out the Petty version. The Johnson version is a highlight, the delivery the closest yet to the brief, the campfire harmonica a touch of genius.
The “I Won’t Back Down” cover is another one that takes the too-reverent route. The steel guitar is the only nod away from karaoke, although I will concede that the Brothers Osborne add some lush harmonies. Similarly, Wynnona (who needs her Judd back, at least in this company) copycats “Refugee” and its arrangement, the added mandolin not enough to compete with the organ riff patented by Benmont Tench, which dominates the song. Lainey Wilson adds some additional holler, which allows the pair to trade verses and drop their own names just a little too often. It’s a song that is ultimately too good to destroy, but they are an inch away from doing so.
Willie Nelson is the almost the first one present to sound as if he has never heard the late Floridian. This is, clearly, nonsense, the two having form together, but such is his off-kilter rendition of “Angel Dream (No. 2)” as to render the original forgotten. With son Lukas by his side, Nelson contributes another dealbreaker. Eli Young Band I know not, but we’re back into high class karaoke, for “Learning To Fly.” Same goes for Ryan Hurd’s “Breakdown,” but ahead anyone thinks this is becoming a hatchet job, no, it isn’t, really. The album’s performances are too polished for that, it is just the general failing to take the songs anywhere much different, which then makes the occasional exceptions stand out all the more. Luckily, Steve Earle is on hand to iron on his own identity to “Yer So Bad,” with a convincingly bluegrass hoedown, topped off by his idiosyncratic voice. So, yes, it’s another killer.
Sticking in killer territory, Margo Price imbues “Ways To Be Wicked” with sassy attitude and a side order of grit(s). OK, Mike Campbell is on hand to ramp up the rivets, making it all that much easier. Somehow there is more western swing to this than in the 4:4 R’n’R of the original, uncertain quite how or where that crept in, but I dare say Maria McKee might, she having cut a version of this for the Lone Justice debut. Frankly, ‘”Mary Jane’s Last Dance” isn’t a strong enough song, however hard Midland try to make it one. Their steel player, Phillip Stark, is the best thing about it.
“Free Fallin'” falls again into the bag of overzealous re-creation, despite the best efforts of The Cadillac Three, which even the presence Breland fails to evaporate. (I don’t know whether a rap might have helped, or even if these tainted ears could tolerate that.) Marty Stuart should know better, but even he falls into this same trap, with “I Need To Know” failing to ignite any of my fabulous superlatives. Sure, it would be a cracker, doubtless, in the middle of one of his own shows, but here it gets just a wee bit lost in the shuffle.
Something completely different follows–so different, indeed, it stretches any definition of country, smacking more of West Africa, with a chanted vocal and hand percussion joining in to render it scarcely recognizable. Only the lyric “Don’t Come Around Here No More” gives away the game. Huge kudos to Rhiannon Giddens, here aided and abetted by the Silkroad Ensemble, for doing such a transformative job, not least as it all goes positively Polynesian for the closing coda. I should add that the piano is played, and played well, by Benmont Tench. It’s not how Hank would have done it, but, hey!
This only leaves time for the closer, and the lingering question as to how George Strait might handle “You Wreck Me.” He chooses to handle it with a live recording, a move that always, in this sort of project, smacks of laziness. As does the song, ringing up rent-a-Petty points left and right. Not even lackluster, it’s flat-out boring, especially following Ms. Giddens. Maybe that’s why it was tucked away at the end, ripe for skipping.
Overall, Petty Country is an excellent project and all but one or two acts deliver at least some of the goods. Whether it fulfils a strictly country format probably matters little; the attraction here is more to fans of Petty and of “Southern” rock than to any hardcore country allegiances, although the presence of Parton, Nelson, and even Strait may guarantee some interested crossover sampling. A second volume wouldn’t go amiss. Any chance we could see a few more women tackling the Gainesville guitar man next time?
Petty Country tracklisting:
- Chris Stapleton/I Should Have Known It
- Thomas Rhett/Wildflowers
- Luke Combs/Runnin’ Down A Dream
- Dolly Parton/Southern Accents
- Justin Moore/Here Comes My Girl
- Dierks Bentley/American Girl
- Lady A/Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around
- Jamey Johnson/I Forgive It All
- Brothers Osborne/I Won’t Back Down
- Wynonna feat. Lainey Wilson/Refugee
- Willie & Lukas Nelson/Angel Dream No. 2
- Eli Young Band/Learning To Fly
- Ryan Hurd feat. Carly Pearce/Breakdown
- Steve Earle/Yer So Bad
- Margo Price feat. Mike Campbell/Ways To Be Wicked
- Midland/Mary Jane’s Last Dance
- The Cadillac Three feat. Breland/Free Fallin’
- Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives/I Need To Know
- Rhiannon Giddens with Silkroad Ensemble, feat. Benmont Tench/Don’t Come Around Here No More
- George Strait/You Wreck Me
