Recordings
By Michael D. Clark
Houston Chronicle - Sunday, August 13, 2006
"Highway Companion" | Tom Petty | American | ★★★
At 55 years old and in the midst of the longest hit-single drought of his three-decade career, Tom Petty is taking no chances with weak links on his new solo album "Highway Companion." Opener "Saving Grace" is full of energy, combining a ZZ Top guitar lick with a hand-clap beat that give the song a first-take jam-session feel.
Frills Are Few At Tom Petty's Party
By Kenneth Partridge
Hartford Courant - August 14, 2006
With sly grins and nonchalant strums on his Rickenbacker guitar, Tom Petty always makes it look so easy.
In Hartford Saturday night as part of what's being billed as his last summer tour, at least for a while, Petty and his band, the Heartbreakers, presided over a rollicking party at the Dodge Music Center, giving fans exactly what they've come to expect over the years.
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers rock on for 30 years
By Len Righi
The Morning Call - August 17, 2006
As Mark Twain once said about reports of his death, predictions of Tom Petty's impending retirement are greatly exaggerated.
The 55-year-old Petty recently told the Associated Press that his current tour with The Heartbreakers, which stops Friday at the Tweeter Center in Camden, N.J., "might be the last really extended one."
But, he added, "I didn't mean to imply that we were going to stop playing. Whether or not we'll continue to do the really long ones that take up four or five months, I don't know."
Concert Review: Petty, Allmans play rock 'n' roll fit for a king
By Scott Mervis
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Thursday, August 17, 2006
It's good to be king, sure, but Wednesday night at the Post-Gazette Pavilion, it seemed even better to be Tom Petty.
The legendary rocker arrived on his triumphant 30th-anniversary tour with the Heartbreakers to find what looked like 800,000 people on the great lawn and the air so thick with adoration he was almost speechless.
Petty headlined the classic rock event of the summer, topping a bill that also included the Allman Brothers. Topping the Allmans is no small feat, as Greg is fielding two of the finest rock guitarists in the world: Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks.
In an awe-inspiring display of steamy Southern blues and soul, the big dog and the little pup were repeatedly let loose on the songs, Trucks taking the first solo in his more lyrical manner and then Haynes stepping in to breathe fire.
You can't get enough of Petty
By Regis Behe
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Thursday, August 17, 2006
You drive past the same building every day for 30 years, never taking much notice of it. Then one day, that building has been designated a national landmark.
That's the best way to describe Tom Petty's career: For three decades always there, occasionally ignored, but now, a treasure by any standard. Wednesday night at the Post-Gazette Pavilion in Burgettstown, Petty trotted out his crack troupe of musicians again for what is beginning to seem like an annual event: A jam-packed venue greeting a band at the peak of its powers. And while there are signs, ever so small, that Petty is repeating himself --- the extended instrumental coda of "It's Good to be King," the stripped-down version of "Learning to Fly" with the audience sing-a-long, the sensual build-up of "Don't' Come Around Here No More" that climaxes with frenetic strobe lights, were all reprised from last year's appearance --- that's akin to complaining about the Steelers winning another Super Bowl. One can never get enough of such sterling performances, and few rock bands deliver like the Heartbreakers.
When legends were born
By Alice Wallace
Gainesville Sun - Saturday, August 19, 2006
The Eagles. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The Motels.
They're bands most people have at least heard of - whether or not they've heard the music.
And without certain musicians whose skills were culled in garages, music stores and topless bars in Gainesville during the 1960s and early 1970s, these bands might never have existed.
New Music Releases
Review by John Priest
Truman State University Index - Sunday, August 20, 2006
Tom Petty | Highway Companion | American Records | July 25 | 2/5
As Tom Petty's third solo album and first in a dozen years, "Highway Companion" hopes to be an album reflective of the passage of time, commemorating his 35-year career and recent induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
Petty still has weak spots, but delivers
By Dan DeLuca
The Philadelphia Inquirer - August 21, 2006
It's fashionable these days to champion Tom Petty as the great under-appreciated American rock star; the steady-as-he-goes classicist who has never been given Dylan-Springsteen respect despite serving up hit after hit, year after year, since Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers came out in 1976.
Three decades later, Petty still delivers the goods with his new solo album, Highway Companion. And the 55-year-old Florida native, who brought his Heartbreakers to the Tweeter Center in Camden Friday for a sold-out show, is on what he says might be his last tour.
Isn't it finally time the rocker got his props?
Highway Companion | Tom Petty | 4/5
The Straits Times - August 22, 2006
An exceptional songwriter often mentioned in the same breath with Bob Dylan and Neil Young, Thomas Earl Petty is an iconic American minstrel whose contributions to rock sadly tend to float by unnoticed by many of today's music fans.
It's a shame, especially considering that Highway Companion just might be one of the most exciting rock 'n' roll albums this year.
Petty's tribute to the open road, Highway Companion is immaculately crafted, light-heartedly delivered and eclectic in scope.
But its greatest joy can be found in the emotions that piggyback on Petty's heartfelt tones: From the pulsating blues of Saving Grace to the jangly pop of Flirting with Time, Petty has come up with another mature effort that is nothing short of ear-pleasing.