Strait, Lainey, Dierks On Tom Petty Tribute Album
Country superstars like Lainey Wilson, Chris Stapleton, George Strait, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Wynonna Judd, and Dierks Bentley will pay tribute to rock and roll legend Tom Petty. The new album, dubbed Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty, is slated for release later this year.
Dierks has the album’s lead release with his cover of Petty’s “American Girl,” out today (2/23).
Bentley said of the song in a statement, “Petty’s southern roots shined through across his songwriting and storytelling. He might not have ever been considered as country, but you can’t go into a bar in Nashville without hearing this song. It is one of the greatest songs in a life’s work of great American songs.”
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He added, “The spirit of this woman, the idea of such relentless hope – and disappointment – ignites such a spark. Jon (Randall, Producer) and I were driven to make that feeling of American roots stand tall.”
“American Girl” was written by Petty and recorded by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for their self-titled debut album in 1976. While not a big chart success at the time, the song became one of Petty’s most popular songs.
“American Girl” was the last song performed in concert by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They played it to close out the encore of their performance on September 25, 2017, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, the final concert of their 40th Anniversary Tour.
The rock star died of complications from cardiac arrest after an accidental prescription medication overdose on October 2, 2017.
Petty took a swipe at modern country music in 2013 when on stage, he referred to it as “bad rock with a fiddle.” He later told Rolling Stone in an interview, “I don’t really see a George Jones or a Buck Owens or anything that fresh coming up. I’m sure there must be somebody doing it, but most of that music reminds me of rock in the middle 80s, where it became incredibly generic and relied on videos.” But clearly country artists still love and respect his music.
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