No, Tom Petty Did Not Hate Country Music
You almost hate to even broach this subject from fear of giving it too much oxygen. But no, Tom Petty did not hate country music. He loved country music. Tom Petty was a roots rocker from Florida that was heavily influenced by country music.
If Tom Petty emerged today and was releasing albums like Wildflowers and Full Moon Fever, his music would probably be classified as country, or at least Americana. Tom Petty commonly performed the song “The Image of Me” in concert that was written by Wayne Kemp, and popularized by Conway Twitty.
It was Tom Petty’s appreciation and respect for country music that inspired him to speak out about what was happening with the genre in 2013. This is when Bro-Country and acts like Florida Georgia Line were just getting hot, and causing a lot of consternation about the direction of country music both inside and outside of the genre. While speaking with Rolling Stone in 2013, Tom Petty said,
Well, yeah I mean, I hate to generalize on a whole genre of music, but it does seem to be missing that magic element that it used to have. I’m sure there are people playing country that are doing it well, but they’re just not getting the attention that the shittier stuff gets. But that’s the way it always is, isn’t it?
But I hope that kind of swings around back to where it should be. But I don’t really see a George Jones or a Buck Owens or any 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 Eighties where it became incredibly generic and relied on videos. I don’t want to rail on about country because I don’t really know much about it, but that’s what it seems like to me.
These comments have since been taken out-of-context by numerous people to make it seem like Tom Petty hated country music, period. But the whole reason Rolling Stone reporter Patrick Doyle asked Petty about country music is because he saw Petty perform at the Beacon Theater in New York where Petty explained to the audience the depth of his country roots after playing a version of The Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil.”
Petty told the Beacon Theater crowd that the country music he listened to growing up was “not like it is today, like bad rock with a fiddle.” Then Petty and The Heartbreakers played Conway Twitty’s “The Image of Me.”
Tom Petty was not alone in criticizing modern country at the time. 2013 is when multiple artists both inside and outside of country music started speaking up about the direction of the genre in what Saving Country Music coined at the time the Season of Discontent. This included Alan Jackson, Gary Allan, Kacey Musgraves, and others. But none of these people “hated” country music. They hated the direction it was going and its modern superstars.
Recently the website Country Chord published an article titled, “Apparently Tom Petty Didn’t Like Country Music And That Just Doesn’t Sit Right With Luke Combs.” The article highlights an interview Combs did with Bobby Bones did in 2020, though it was a clip posted by a Bobby Bones-affiliated Tik-Tok account in July that lead to the re-emergence of this clip.
Combs says in the clip, “I just have this thing that hurts my heart a little bit about Tom Petty because I know he hated country music, and that hurts me a lot.”
But of course, this isn’t true.
It won’t come as a surprise to anybody that Bobby Bones then makes the situation even worse by characterizing Tom Petty as a “punk guy.”
“Ronnie Dunn was recently talking about him and Tom Petty … because Tom Petty was like a punk guy. He talks about Tom Petty when he met him as being a guy who was playing punk music.”
@nashvillepodcastnetwork @Luke Combs ♬ I Won't Back Down – Tom Petty
Now we’re really getting into the weeds, but apparently Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn did meet Tom Petty in 1976 while Petty was recording his debut album on Sunset Blvd., and Dunn was introduced to him as a “punk” musician. But to characterize Tom Petty as “punk guy” in 2024 feels like quite a stretch, especially to attempt to excuse why Tom Petty didn’t like country music.
What both Bobby Bones and Luke Combs go on to say is that if Tom Petty were around today, he probably would be classified as country. This is indeed true. Heartbreakers members Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench are regular collaborators in the country world these days with Marty Stuart and others. If Tom Petty hadn’t died in 2017, he might have made his own country album.
But let the record reflect that Tom Petty did not hate country music. This is a canard that needs to be squashed right here, right now. Tom Petty loved country. That’s why like other artists or even an outlet like Saving Country Music that rose to prominence due to the hatred of Bro-Country, Tom Petty spoke up, and put his foot down. It’s also one of the many reasons that in the coming years, country music would reject Bro-Country as the dominant influence in the genre.
This story has been updated to reflect that the original Bobby Bones and Luke Combs interview was from 2020.
Dennis Reynolds
August 10, 2024 @ 8:04 am
What’s the story with Bobby Bones? Coming from the UK I know nothing about him other than seeing him presenting the Opry shows. He seems fine on those but the wording of this article suggests he’s not well liked!
Trigger
August 10, 2024 @ 8:11 am
As someone from Austin, TX where Bobby Bones emerged, Bobby was a pop DJ who got foisted into the biggest position on radio in country music, immediately started causing chaos because he had no idea about anything in country music, and then took out billboards that read “Go Away Bobby Bones” to try to create sympathy for himself. This is how insecure and diabolical he was.
His “Tom Petty was a punk guy” comments are perfect Bobby Bones. Luke Combs was wrong too, but it’s the job as the interviewer to scrutinize the situation as opposed to try and fit reality around the falsehood.
I will say that Bobby Bones seems like a thoughtful person who is trying to grow personally. But even after a decade in country music, he’s still out of his depth.
I think he’s terrible on the Opry too.
Howard
August 10, 2024 @ 8:52 am
The way you wrote this — “Dunn was introduced to him as a “punk” musician.” — I thought that somehow Bones had told Petty that RONNIE DUNN was a punk rocker!
TJ
August 10, 2024 @ 9:04 am
I mean he’s worn a lot more black leather than Tom Petty ever did…
Trigger
August 10, 2024 @ 9:59 am
I’m just trying to transcribe the Bobby Bones word salad as he tried to somehow justify why Tom Petty hated country music.
hoptowntiger
August 10, 2024 @ 8:38 am
My God, those reunion Mudcrutch albums (specifically the one in 2008) got me excited about country music again. People talk out their butts with very little knowledge of what they are talking about.
From the beginning, I wished the Twisters soundtrack album roster was switched with Petty Country roster, because it was apparent and the latter had no business recording Petty’s songs
hoptowntiger
August 10, 2024 @ 8:58 am
Wouldn’t this be the perfect country song on radio today? Petty was trending country before he passed…
https://youtu.be/YAWvlDOn0uY?si=0zZ0OUl8Lk6N3CJU
Jake
August 10, 2024 @ 11:11 am
Hell yes, those Mudcrutch albums were phenomenal. And I don’t care about genre, “Full Moon Fever” and “Wildflowers” are great albums that were probably huge influences for a lot of the artists who are covered on this site.
TwangBob
August 10, 2024 @ 8:42 am
Yeah, those “dumb from not really knowing” comments from Bones and Combs are totally out of context. Ha! Bones and Combs…. sounds like a new ‘country’ duo! Ha ha! Actually, Bobby Bones is the punk.
Your suggestion “If Tom Petty hadn’t died in 2017, he might have made his own country album” is a musical path that Petty probably would have taken, at least for one album. Everyone knows there was so much more music in Tom Petty… all of his forever fans are hoping for more unreleased songs and performances.
Cheers & Twangs!
Trigger
August 10, 2024 @ 10:04 am
It’s important to appreciate that one of the whole reasons this got spread is because a Bobby Bones-affiliated Tik-Tok account took this moment from a bigger interview out-of-context and put it out there autonomosly. This is what led to Country Chord writing an article about it, and who knows how many people going, “Huh, I didn’t know Tom Petty hated country music, but okay.”
We all make mistakes. I make mistakes. But to highlight those mistakes and put them out there for greater public consumption is pretty wild.
the pistolero
August 10, 2024 @ 3:30 pm
It’s kind of disturbing how this sort of thing is starting to happen more and more. In another recent example, a sports website called Essentially Sports ran a story on rapper Pitbull possibly divesting himself of ownership of Trackhouse Racing, the NASCAR race team he owns with Justin Marks. EssentiallySports based this story entirely off a Reddit thread about Justin Marks changing some information on his Twitter profile with NO further investigation. This story was eventually picked up by Newsweek who based their report entirely off the Essentially Sports ”story.” Marks eventually had to correct the record via his own Twitter account.
bigtex
August 10, 2024 @ 8:51 am
How would one classify Petty’s performances in The Traveling Wilburys? Quite a few of their songs are Americana at its best, and some, such as “Handle Me With Care” might well be classified as country.
My opinion: Petty liked country music, and don’t try to convince me otherwise, for I WON’T BACK DOWN!
Kevin Smith
August 10, 2024 @ 9:35 am
Right on Tex. You beat me to it. Absolutely agree on The Traveling Wilburys. Additionally, listen to Unchained by Johnny Cash . It’s the second album in the American Recordings series. The backing band was…wait for it…Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Plus Marty Stuart and a few others. Cash considered Petty a friend. He even recorded I Won’t Back Down and Southern Accent, in fact Petty loved his takes on those songs.
Petty also was on a Carl Perkins tribute album called Go Cat Go, that featured Cash and Willie and a bunch of others. Unquestionably, Petty loved American roots music, and more specifically, Country music.
Johnny Cashless Society
August 10, 2024 @ 9:18 am
If Tom Petty hated country music so much, why did he and the rest of the Heartbreakers serve as Johnny Cash’s backing band on the “Unchained” album – which Petty once claimed was one of the best records they ever did?
Chucky Waggs
August 10, 2024 @ 9:41 am
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers backed up Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins on studio recordings…I feel like it’s kind of the responsibility of Bones and Combs to know this if they’re going to speak on the subject at all.
Jimmy
August 10, 2024 @ 9:43 am
“If Tom Petty hadn’t died in 2017, he might have made his own country album.”
I respectfully disagree with this comment. I think had Petty lived longer, he would have continued to do what he always did, create good music that defied boundaries.
Also, Gary Allan bitching about the state of country music is hilarious. Other than his debut album his music was the music Petty was talking about. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like some of Allan’s music, but it’s nothing more than warmed over ’70s and ’80s rock.
As far as the tribute album Petty Country goes, it’s a shame they didn’t have more country artists on the album. Four artists can be considered country. A lot of it sounds like the shit Tom was talking about in the quotes this article shares. The George Strait track is brutal.
The demos on the deluxe version of Wildflowers & All The Rest are more country than anything coming out of Nashville today.
WuK
August 10, 2024 @ 10:11 am
Only the Rolling Stone could interpret the words Petty used and conclude that he hated country music. It is a publication that has fallen far in terms of any real credibility. It seems clear from Petty’s word that he had a real appreciation of country music. Whatever, it matters not, he was a great artist!
Trigger
August 10, 2024 @ 10:50 am
Though I would generally agree with you about “Rolling Stone,” they are not at fault here. Patrick Doyle who was responsible for the original quotes did everything right. It was Bobby Bones not clearing up the misconception, and then a clips account affiliated with him reposting the moment from a 4-year-old interview that led to all of this.
Luke Combs also stepped in it, but since this was 4 years ago, who knows if he hasn’t corrected his own mindset.
WuK
August 11, 2024 @ 12:45 pm
Point taken. Fair comment. I have heard of Bones but do not know much about him.
Rich
August 10, 2024 @ 10:26 am
Dammit I miss TP so freakin much. And the Petty Country tribute album sucks in comparison to the Stones one. How do they not include “Louisiana Rain” on that? If there was ever a Petty song that could so easily be countrified it’s that one.
Thanks for getting this out there Trigger. Nobody shits on Tom. Especially a dork like Bobby Bones.
J.J.J. Schmidt
August 10, 2024 @ 12:56 pm
Anyone who thinks Tom Petty hated country music is not a Tom Petty fan and is irrelevant.
David:The Duke of Everything
August 10, 2024 @ 4:16 pm
Yea seems like a stupid take when you read the totality of it. Now personally i love pettys music though i didnt follow every release. Would i consider him a country artist, no. Do i think he had country influence, yes i do. Could he have made a great country album, i think he could have, whether he would have if he had the chance, i doubt it. He was an artist that made the music he wanted and was secure in that, if he had wanted to make a country album, im sure he would have.
William
August 10, 2024 @ 5:09 pm
Tom playing and talking about country.
https://youtu.be/Ik_ciMowBq0?si=blr_IkWggHurTYb8
Matsfan/Jatsfan
August 10, 2024 @ 7:23 pm
This is fantastic! Thank you for sharing.
rano
August 10, 2024 @ 7:04 pm
Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels” got tons of rock and adult contemporary airplay back in the day despite being more country than anything on Cowboy Carter. So while Tom Petty didn’t hate country music, it is clear that Rolling Stone did, does and always will. And yes, we can blame Rolling Stone for their part in this, as that magazine has always done their level best to stir up negativity and controversy against country music artists and their fans. Rolling Stone doesn’t care about preserving traditional and legitimate country music from corporate interests and interlopers. They just hate country music – all of it – and will gladly solicit and amplify any negative comments about it and its fans and culture from any one for any reason. That’s the way that they’ve always been.
Strait
August 10, 2024 @ 11:51 pm
I’m fairly certain that if Tom Petty were alive today he wouldn’t like Luke Comb’s music. I understood Tom Petty’s sentiment when I first saw his remarks. I also said this when I commented on this the other day.
Steven
August 10, 2024 @ 11:58 pm
Almost all the stuff Petty made, is boring MOR music for boomers. Even if he hated country, why should anyone care?
Strait
August 11, 2024 @ 12:13 am
Strongly disagree. Tom Petty is brilliant in that he could have easily went with a sound that was insufferable and annoying because of how his voice is. But he wrote songs that perfectly fit his voice that are hard for other artists to copy. And his songwriting is great. Listen closely to ‘Even the Losers.’ He is very good with minimal lyrics. His stuff is well thought out and has a tight but still kinda loose sound – similar to the Rolling Stones.
Neil Young has an annoying voice and makes annoying music. (I don’t say this because of his ass-holery online but because I genuinely hate his music)
Steve M.
August 11, 2024 @ 2:23 am
This may be the dumbest thing I have read this year. Well done youngster for proving stupidity shows no boundaries in age, gender, nationality or creed.
Steven
August 11, 2024 @ 3:55 am
You’re welcome! I’m originally from the punk rock scene, maybe that explains my feelings about Petty.
Thanks for calling me a youngster.
Keepin’ it Country
August 11, 2024 @ 6:02 pm
Funny how you’re a nobody and everyone knows who Tom Petty is.
Steven
August 12, 2024 @ 12:58 am
And who are you again? We’re all nobodies here in the comments section. That doesn’t mean we cannot give our opinion. Or are you saying that only Petty’s peers have the right to criticize him?
Nick
August 12, 2024 @ 6:08 am
What an awful take. I understand if you personally don’t like Petty’s music, but writing it off as boring (or writing Petty off as unimportant) is just silly. There is a reason that so many artists cite him as one of their biggest influences.
CountryKnight
August 12, 2024 @ 8:38 am
Agreed.
If Petty hated country music, why would it matter? Sammy Kershaw was right. Country is the only genre that hates itself and constantly seeks validation from the outside.
Steven
August 13, 2024 @ 2:30 pm
The way some people really really wanted Beyonce to come out as country, was really depressing. Country is never going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but bloody hell, it produced and still produces great music and characters. It doesn’t need to change or get with the times. It just needs people that possess talent and a sense of pride in what they are doing.
CountryKnight
August 14, 2024 @ 3:39 pm
Country music is that average girl at the dance who wants the homecoming king and can’t appreciate that she still had plenty of devoted suitors.
Her fans are the same way. I am fine with not being accepted by the mainstream who thinks “WAP” and other garbage is good music.
Strait
August 11, 2024 @ 12:07 am
Side rant: Bobby Bones is such a terrible interviewer. I am genuinely confused as to how he got to his position. He reminds me of that freshman who stood outside a gas station randomly blurting out “Is that a Honda GRX 25 with the turbo?!” In all of the clips I’ve seen of him talking he has asked the most generic low-IQ questions ever. Maybe spend 4 hours on Youtube watching old clips of Letterman of Dick Cavett interviewing musicians.
He also comes off as wanting to be viewed and treated as if he’s on the same level as the artists he is interviewing.
Recently heard Justin Moore’s version of ‘Here Comes My Girl’ off that new Petty tribute album – It’s freakin’ awful.
Tom Petty was definitely under appreciated for his level of talent as a singer and songwriter. I have never heard of anyone not liking Tom Petty. However you can always find people who are not fans of any other major artist. He obviously had a direct line of contact with whatever cosmic force gives artists songs.
Scott S.
August 11, 2024 @ 6:49 am
“Now we’re really getting into the weeds, but apparently Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn did meet Tom Petty in 1976 while Petty was recording his debut album on Sunset Blvd., and Dunn was introduced to him as a “punk” musician.”
Seems strange now, but I get the “punk” musician description. Petty’s debut came about at a time when disco was becoming the big thing, and punk was taking off. Petty didn’t really fit in with the big hard rock names of the time like Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple. His debut didn’t really fare that well other than some radio play for Breakdown, but as he started to emerge as a bigger artist, he was often lumped in as part of the New Wave genre that grew out of punk with bands like the Cars and Talking Heads.
I was pretty young and never really thought much about where Petty fit in back then. I didn’t consider him really New Wave, but he wasn’t Zeppelin, or like other bands played on rock radio back then like Sabbath or Yes or other hard rock/progressive rock type bands. He also didn’t sound like the Southern Rock of Skynyrd or the Allman Bros. So I could see why he was initially taken for punk, or New Wave.
I just thought of him as plain rock, similar to John Cougar, Bryan Adams, or other bands of that type that sprouted up at that time. I suppose looking back that the term Heartland Rock is as good as any in describing these guys.
Daniele
August 12, 2024 @ 2:32 am
correct, as strange as it may sounds today his label was trying to squeeze him in the new wave/ punk scene at the beginning…..
John L.
August 13, 2024 @ 10:55 am
I grew up in this era. What you have written is exactly the way things felt to me back then. Tom Petty, John Cougar, The Cars, The Ramones, Elvis Costello had one thing in common – they sounded different. And for me and my friends, that was what “New Wave” meant in that moment. There were dozens of other bands in this category and some of them led me right here to what was once called alt-country. And that led me to more traditional country. We all take a unique path, no better, no worse than any other path. Tom Petty had an appreciation for all kinds of music. I still listen to his Buried Treasure shows and find amazing music I never knew even existed.
Wilson Pick It
August 11, 2024 @ 8:13 pm
Arguably punk music has more in common with country than pop music does. People have been saying that since at least the 1980’s when stuff like Mojo Nixon and Jason and the Scorchers was around.
trevistrat
August 12, 2024 @ 5:35 am
At the time punk/new wave/rockabilly revival was a rejection of the bands of the time (Styx, Journey, etc,) I guess it was a back to basics attitude and a do it yourself approach…which is something Nashville has NEVER known anything about!
CountryDJ
August 12, 2024 @ 8:22 am
Tom Petty was a very talented artist and forged his own musical identity. He deserves all of the accolades that he has ever received.
But if Tom Petty’s music can today be considered as “country” it only shows how far country music has gone off-track.
The fact that even horrible rap music can be considered as “country” is further testament to country music’s demise.
Country music as I knew & loved it in the 20th century is gone. Thank God for vintage country records & CD’s that keeps tradition alive. Lately Sam Meyers Classic Country is my favorite online station- they play the good stuff.
https://sammeyersclassiccountry.com/
CountryKnight
August 12, 2024 @ 9:56 am
The Overton window is real.
Thanks for the website recommendation.
Tango_Whiskey
August 12, 2024 @ 1:55 pm
Brother, Southern Accents is a country song. It’s about as country as it gets. Listen to Ryan Bingham’s cover of it and tell me that it’s not a country song.
Ian
August 12, 2024 @ 12:14 pm
Imagine being stupid enough to A) think a guy from Gainesville who cut The Stories You Could tell and wrote Southern Accents and Rebel dislikes country, or B) that his quote which is very specific and name-drops country legends indicates that he “hated country”! Fuck, he sang a duet with Willie Nelson on Circle three and as others have mentioned backed Johnny Cash in studio along with Marty Stuart.
KA
August 12, 2024 @ 3:28 pm
Check out the TP documentary “Runnin’ Down a Dream” in which TP discusses being lumped in with New Wave/Punk in early days. There is also a great video of TPATH covering Hank Williams – at the end he says “Isn’t that a great f—-in’ song?”
https://youtu.be/Ik_ciMowBq0?si=CTSGbyKwIlQkew1Y
Mike
August 13, 2024 @ 1:44 pm
There’s no artist I admire more than Tom Petty. He had a lot of integrity.
It’s a shame to see his name and legacy scuffed by the asinine and clickbait-y claim he hated country. Kudos to Trigger for this article and to the commenters who have pointed out so many ways in which he honored it – still barely scratching the surface.
There are articles and quotes from his final years where he seemed concerned about the lack of new bands ready to take over the rock-n-roll flame. But I think he would’ve been really energized by a lot of the new artists we’ve been blessed with in the country scene in recent years, songwriters like Tyler Childers as well as rockers like the Red Clay Strays and 49 Winchester. It’s a shame he’s not around for it. I miss Tom Petty.
joiedehandsomecowboybrady71
August 14, 2024 @ 7:12 am
Who in their right mind believes Tom Petty (a Floridian who SOUNDED Country) hated Country music,and why is it an actual topic ? RIP,Tom,you were great !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gram-pee
August 21, 2024 @ 2:45 pm
Pretty sure TP and the Heartbreakers were cashes studio band on his last record with rca,and cash wanted to take them on the road. What would you call Traveling Wilburys
Robert Cornelius
September 1, 2024 @ 1:19 pm
Tom Petty is among the greatest songwriters that have ever roamed this earth. The proof is in the songs. While they’re deceptively simple, clever, and intricate, they are not difficult to learn. However, they are incredibly difficult to perform because they are singular to the guy who wrote them. His songs are a text book into the art of song craft. No one writes songs that well without understanding song craft. Take “You Got Lucky” for example. A keyboard laden track from the eighties. Pull out a flattop, learn its chord progression, it makes a damn fine country song.
Then there’s his gift for turning a phrase. The man was a great songwriter plain and simple.
And the company he kept, from George Harrison, and Bob Dylan, to Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. Then there’s the Heartbreakers, a self contained unit, whose roll cannot be underestimated in the growth of Petty’s songcraft.
The Beatles were probably the first self contained, roots rock band. Once again songwriting craft comes to the fore. And the Beatles, dare I say, were influenced by: Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, and Little Richard.
“Country music and the Blues had a baby, they named it Rock n Roll”
Tom Petty and the Heartbreaks were the grandchildren.
Without country music, none of this music would exist as we now know it.
Thank you Carter family, Hank, George, Johnny, Buck, Doc, Merle, Elvis…et all.
Thank you Country Music!
Best,
Always