Tom Petty was officially declared dead tonight, at 8:40 PM PDT, after some initial reports proved premature. I guess it was too much to hope for, that he would pull through. Thank you for all the music that will last forever. Grateful to have met him once, however briefly. Rock in peace.
There was a bit of mandolin in his music, though I'm a bit too out of sorts to dig any up right now. I recall the second bass player in The Heartbreakers, Howie Epstein, also played mandolin, in a striking coincidence with Chris Hillman of The Byrds, a band that inspired Petty's sound, especially early on.
Naturally, I've played a lot of his songs over the years. In fact, my most recent band played "Mary Jane's Last Dance," as had an earlier band. I was reminded of this when the lead singer posted a room recording of us doing it as a memoriam. Here it is for you all.
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