Highway Companion Manhattan KS

Highway Companion

Tom Petty

American Recordings, 2006

http://www.tompetty.com

REVIEW BY: Jason Warburg

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 08/08/2006

Not because of the laconic

Gainesville drawl or the perpetually half-stoned expression, and certainly not because of his staunch anti-corporate views.  But when the word you want to leave in your audience’s heads is “dependability,” Petty is the obvious choice in the rock and roll world.  It’s hard to think of a major artist who’s been as dependably good -- at times great, rarely less than good -- over the past 30 years than Tom Petty.

Highway Companion, Petty’s first solo album sans Heartbreakers since 1994’s Wildflowers and third overall, is dependably solid, a lineup of tunes that chug and jangle and pulse and fall back with a practiced ease born of a lifetime of music-making.  The album’s theme, such as it is, is baldly stated in the title – this is traveling music, energetic in places but more commonly ambling, chummy and unassuming.

Working once again with fellow Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne (see also ELO) and Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, Petty delivers 55 years’ worth of road-weary wisdom stretched out across 12 tracks.  There isn’t a lot of variety here in terms of tone or instrumentation -- Lynne’s trademark sonic palette of acoustic rhythm guitar, rockabilly bass, jangly leads and lush harmonies doesn’t leave a lot of room for experimentation -- yet most of these songs still manage to offer something special somewhere along the way.

In the case of opener “Saving Grace,” it’s the familiar gruffness of the chugging Bo Diddley/ZZ Top beat that anchors this appealing rocker.  On “Flirting With Time,” it's a great singalong chorus, and on “Down South” it's the intimacy with which Petty writes about his Southern roots.