Few things are more comforting on a lazy summer morning than the sound of Tom Petty delivering a lighthearted country ballad.
‘House of Stone’ is a deep cut from the self-titled 2008 debut album by Mudcrutch, a band Petty formed in 1970 as a teenager. They played live gigs in their hometown of Gainesville, Florida, up through southern Georgia, but disbanded a few years later without recording an album. Petty and some Mudcrutch members went on to form the Heartbreakers and the rest is history.
Mudcrutch reunited in the 2000s and released two albums of country rock. Given the overlap in personnel, these records sound a lot like Heartbreakers albums, though with a more laid-back and carefree vibe.
I wouldn’t call either album essential Tom Petty, but they make for a fun listen.
Lives in a house of stone
You better not cuss
You better not roam
She’ll put you out
On your ass all alone
That woman
Lives in a house of stone
Fair lady
Give a drunkard a chance
Got a brand new suit
I got two pair of pants
Easy on the eyes
And I love to dance
I could dance right now
If you give me the chance
I’m waiting for a man
But he hasn’t shown
I’m on the corner freezing
Through my bones
Give me one more week
I’ll make good that loan
To that woman
Up in that house of stone
The deacons in her church
Say to leave me alone
They say my brain
Is in the twilight zone
And maybe I sin
But I ain’t high tone
I’m after that girl
In that house of stone
I’m after that girl
In that house of stone
I remember hearing and enjoying one of the two albums when they were released, but haven’t returned to them.