Tom Petty is a rock icon, a Hall of Famer, and one of the top-selling artists of all time, but he still seems under-appreciated. The man’s catalog, as a solo artist or paired with The Heartbreakers, The Traveling Wilburys, and Mudcrutch, is simply remarkable.
Song for song, I would stack Petty up against Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, David Bowie, or any of the other accepted rock titans.
Whether in the down-the-middle rockers of his early Heartbreakers era or the thoughtful folk rock of his best solo work, Petty always demonstrated a keen ear for an indelible melody and a monster riff. Lyrically, he was a heartland poet with a rapier wit.
We lost Petty way too soon, like so many musical legends. He left behind a wealth of musical treasures, some of which I’ve written about here.
With The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Songs and Music from “She’s the One”
Solo
With The Traveling Wilburys
Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3
With Mudcrutch
2
My Top Five Tom Petty Albums
#2. Full Moon Fever
#3. Wildflowers
#5. Southern Accents
Superlatives
My #5 album of the 80s: Full Moon Fever
My #12 album of the 70s: Damn the Torpedoes
My #13 album of the 80s: Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
My #17 album of the 80s: Southern Accents
My #1 album of 1994: Wildflowers
My #3 album of 1985: Southern Accents
My #9 album of 2006: Highway Companion
My #8 album of 1991: Into the Great Wide Open
My #10 song of 2010: ‘Running Man’s Bible’
My #17 song of 2014: ‘Red River’
Meet Me In Montauk 
