Tom Petty tributes commemorate anniversary of rocker’s death
Published 1:30 am Sunday, October 7, 2018
By Libby Hill / Los Angeles Times
A year after the music world was knocked back on its heels by the sudden death of Tom Petty, a few bands have released cover songs to commemorate last week’s anniversary.
The Lumineers (of “Hey Ho” fame) released their cover of Petty’s “Walls,” with all proceeds from the song donated to MusiCares, a charity of the Recording Academy.
“Tom Petty is a musical hero of mine, and ‘Walls’ is such an incredible song,” Lumineers guitarist and lead vocalist Wesley Schultz said in a statement on Oct. 2.
“When I got married, my wife walked down the aisle to the song,” he said.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart also announced Tuesday that the band is recording a full album cover of Tom Petty’s “Full Moon Fever,” his 1989 solo debut album, which featured signature songs such as “Free Fallin’” and “I Won’t Back Down.”
Though the cover album won’t be released until Oct. 26, the band released its version of Petty’s classic “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” The song is available to stream on SoundCloud.
“(Petty’s) greatness was that he didn’t seem to be too bothered if people thought he was great or not,” guitarist Kip Berman said in a statement.
“What mattered to him was being part of a lineage of timeless rock songwriting.”
For more traditional fans, there is also new music from Petty and his longtime band, the Heartbreakers.
Monday saw the premiere of the video for Petty’s previously unreleased song “Gainesville.” The song debuted in September on “An American Treasure,” a 60-song compilation of previously unreleased recordings, alternate versions of classic songs, rarities, historic live performances and deep tracks from the artist’s archives.
“We can’t wait to share with Tom’s fans this musical portrait of an artist who deeply affected our culture and indelibly touched the lives of fans the world over,” Adria and Dana Petty, Tom’s daughter and wife, respectively, said of the collection in a statement last week.
Adria and Dana Petty are executive producers of “An American Treasure,” which they have described as “a tribute and love letter.” Heartbreakers members Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench and Tom Petty’s studio collaborator Ryan Ulyate are producers and curators of the package.
Petty, whose career spanned more than 40 years, died Oct. 2, 2017, of an accidental drug overdose, at age 66.
Found unconscious at his Malibu home, Petty was taken to the University of California, Los Angeles’ Santa Monica hospital in full cardiac arrest.
An autopsy found that he had several drugs in his system, including fentanyl, oxycodone, temazepam, alprazolam and citalopram.
Petty had just completed an extensive tour to mark the Heartbreakers’ 40th anniversary. It concluded with a three-night homecoming stand that sold out at the Hollywood Bowl.
