The New York Times Bestseller*One of Rolling Stone's 10 Best Music Books of 2015*An exhilarating and intimate account of the life of music legend Tom Petty, by an accomplished writer and musician who toured with Petty.No one other than Warren Zanes, rocker and writer and friend, could author a book about Tom Petty that is as honest and evocative of Petty's music and the remarkable rock and roll history he and his band helped to write.Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little hillbilly in his blood, Tom Petty was a Southern shit kicker, a kid without a whole lot of promise. Rock and roll made it otherwise. From meeting Elvis, to seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, to producing Del Shannon, backing Bob Dylan, putting together a band with George Harrison, Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne, making records with Johnny Cash, and sending well more than a dozen of his own celebrated recordings high onto the charts, Tom Petty's story has all the drama of a rock and roll epic. In his last years, Petty, known for his reclusive style, shared with Warren Zanes his insights and arguments, his regrets and lasting ambitions, and the details of his life on and off the stage.This is a book for those who know and love the songs, from "American Girl" and "Refugee" to "Free Fallin'" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance," and for those who want to see the classic rock and roll era embodied in one man's remarkable story. Dark and mysterious, Petty managed to come back, again and again, showing us what the music can do and where it can take us.

1976 - 1Introduction 6 1. Family Secrets 10 2. Stranger in the House 17 3. Cowboys and Indians 26 4. Salesmen 42 5. Mud 49 6. Farming 59 7. Chemistry Lessons 70 8. Even the Losers 76 9. Cordell 85 10. Waiting for Leon 96 11. Punching Buttons 106 12. Opening Acts 124 13. Chapter Eleven 139 14. The Album Cycle 149 15. Life Between the Branches Below 164 16. The Veteran in a New Field 177 17. The Backing Band 1941987 - 20718. Gonna Leave This World for a While 211 19. Planned Collisions 225 20. A Boat Out at Sea 237 21. Full Grown Boy 248 22. Half of Me Is Ocean, Half of Me Is Sky 2672006 - 28123 Everything Changed, Then Changed Again 284 24 Somewhere Under Heaven 2962015 - 307Acknowledgments 309 Index 315