A great song has worlds inside of it. And Tom Petty wrote a lot of them. But too often we don't stop to explore, question, consider, knock on a few of the doors that appear down a great song's corridors. In this collection, some thoughtful writers have come together to show us how they did it. It stands as a testament both to the strength of Petty's songwriting and record-making and the possibilities that remain as regards writing about music.  
                                                             
- Warren Zanes, author of Petty: The Biography
 
Maybe because he simply made it all look easy, Tom Petty never received the unanimous critical glory bestowed upon more obvious geniuses. But now that his career is complete, the world is gradually awakening to what his fans have known all along: Tom was plugged directly into the original juice of rock & roll, injecting that authenticity into everything he ever touched. This collection of deeply thoughtful, dimensional essays goes a long way in setting the record straight. In each, the author bears witness to the profound impact of Tom's music on our lives, and also our thoughts. In Tom's spirit, the language is lively, fun and inspired, fusing the colloquial and poetic with stories personal and universal. He was more than a musical hero, he was our friend, and that friendly spirit sings through these pages with generously reverent proclamations bearing his imprint of wisdom, whimsy, mystery, joy and love. A timeless treasure. 
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- Paul Zollo, author of Conversations with Tom Petty 

​Open Court, 2019
Tom Petty would have hated this book. And that's why it's necessary: To give new context to songs and an oeuvre that defied his own explanation. 

- Neil Strauss, contributing editor for Rolling Stone 
 
Seventeen curious, well-tuned writers (they’re fans, too) turn their philosophical attention to Tom Petty in this intellectually rigorous and wildly fun “little box set of big ideas.” In his hits, deep cuts, and videos they find complexity, ideas, and plenty of questions (plus some answers) about the human condition. I need to know, Petty once sang. These writers are really listening. 

- Joe Bonomo, author of Field Recordings from the Inside and editor of Conversations with Greil Marcus 
 
This is a fun appraisal of Tom Petty’s masterful musical works as viewed through the framework of both classical and modern philosophical theory. The collection of essays is recommended for both the fan and student of rock. 

- Nick Thomas, author of Tom Petty: An American Rock and Roll Story 
 
Nothing can fill the void in the hearts of Tom Petty’s fans left by his death. This collection of essays, however, offers them an accessible entree for engaging in a decidedly non-formulaic combination of reasoned and philosophical, yet passionate and personal, reflection on the life and music of a self-made man. He was a man who, as one essayist aptly captures it, carries “timeless cultural resonance.” Simultaneously, Petty was, as two other writers here put it, “one of the most down-to-earth and accessible rockers of his generation” and “an uncompromising defender of his artistic freedom.” Just as no single musical genre easily ensnares Petty’s musical catalogue, this book is - thankfully so - not easily pigeonholed. It spans a wide range of topics. From whether Tom Petty was a feminist to whether the album Echo “displays a situation of distress in Nietzsche’s sense,” there is something here for all Petty fans to ruminate and debate for years to come. And don’t be intimidated by the word “philosophy” in the title; the philosophy and philosophers go down far easier than any classroom lecture. 
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- Clay Calvert, University of Florida professor for “Tom Petty 101" ​
For the first time, serious thinkers explore the work of this towering genius of rock music. For fans of Tom Petty, this volume is an eye-opener, with fourteen music-savvy philosophers looking at different facets of Petty’s artistic contribution. They examine not only Tom Petty’s thoughts but also the thoughts we have while we listen. The authors, all Petty fans, come from every philosophical viewpoint: classical, analytic, postmodernist, phenomenological, and Nietzschean.

Tom Petty’s body of work exists on a continuum between Folk and Rock, between New Wave and Americana, between Southern simplicity and West Coast chic. There is the legacy left to his main backing band, the Heartbreakers, but also bookended by Mudcrutch and his collaborations with his elders, such as Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash.

Tom Petty’s songs hook and they captivate, but they are often profound in their understatement, their stark minimalism. His insight into the human condition conveys a powerful philosophical anthropology with a metaphysics of tragedy, gravity, and levity. His ethics focuses on dilemmas of the outcast, downtrodden, and heartbroken with a view to the fallen and the sinful as our redeemable antiheroes of the everyday.
His political thinking is that of the artist, enlivened by Southern hostilities and Californian futilities, culminating in a personal ethic that puts duty to the fans first. Petty’s theory of knowledge is psychological and interpersonal, both deeply meditative and delightfully skeptical. The dialectic of love and hate, abuse and recovery, poverty and power, triumph and loss provide the genuine objects of knowledge.

Above all, Petty’s songs are the confessions of a poetic mind interpreting a wounded soul. Petty lived his life the way he wrote and the way he played. It was grit, drive, and just enough finesse, to make things nice, where they need to be nice. On stage, he put the schau in Anschauung.

Petty stood up to corporate assholes in a number of precedent-setting legal maneuvers and album concepts, risking his career and fortune, but never backing down. He was the center of a musical community that endured over four decades. His ability to cultivate new generations of listeners while connecting himself backward to the heroes of his own youth have made him universally respected by the widest range of music fans.