Continuing my look at 1994, first by counting down my own top ten albums of that year.
#1 – Wildflowers – Tom Petty
Naming my favorite album of 1994 was very easy. Wildflowers is one of Tom Petty’s best albums, and one of the best of the decade. It’s a wide-ranging blend of folk, blues and rock that shows Petty in peak songwriting form.
One of Petty’s three solo releases (though it features almost all of the Heartbreakers), Wildflowers sits just behind Full Moon Fever</em, tied with Damn the Torpedoes, as his second most successful album in terms of sales.
First single ‘You Don’t Know How It Feels’ was a hit, reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, but this is mostly an album of resonant deep cuts, including airy acoustic tracks and blistering blues-rock numbers.
Petty released six more albums before his 2017 death, plus two with his old band Mudcrutch, but he never reached these heights again. Of course, few people have.
You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
Sail away, kill off the hours
You belong somewhere you feel free
[Verse 1]
Run away, find you a lover
Go away somewhere all bright and new
I have seen no other
Who compares with you
[Chorus]
You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
You belong with your love on your arm
You belong somewhere you feel free
[Verse 2]
Run away, go find a lover
Run away, let your heart be your guide
You deserve the deepest of cover
You belong in that home by and by
[Chorus]
You belong among the wildflowers
You belong somewhere close to me
Far away from your trouble and worry
You belong somewhere you feel free
You belong somewhere you feel free
Meet Me In Montauk 
Agree with you 100% on this one. Wildflowers is my favorite album from Tom Petty, my favorite for 1994 and one of my favorite albums period.
This album… this song… I’m tearing up as I listen this morning, much as I have each time I’ve heard the opening strains of this song since his death. Gainesville felt a particular kinship with Petty who grew up in the area, so I wasn’t surprised to find a Wildflower mural memorial on the 34th street wall when we visited UF the year Petty died. It remains to this day, and I imagine it will always have a place on that wall.
Seeing Petty perform in Gainesville during his Southern Accents tour was one of my top concert experiences. 💗💗💗