Southern Accents

You don't understand. These are four other brothers from the same acclaimed family of modern troubadours. Esteemed Dylanologist Rebecca returns to discuss the second and final Traveling Wilburys record, 1990's Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. More From Rebecca:Ramblin' Tours, her excellent, insightful Bob Dylan tours of NYC.Definitely Dylan, one of the very best podcasts on the life and work of Bob Dylan.Follow Rebecca on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.Further Reading:Petty: The Biography by Warren ZanesChronicles Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan Further Viewing:The True History Of The Traveling Wilburys Documentary (Free on YouTube)

Writer, filmmaker, and certified L.A. Guy Z.H. joins us to discuss a Certified L.A Album. More From Z.H.Burial Magazine Chongqing Pink Twitter InstagramFurther Reading: Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes Further Listening: "Okie From Muskogee" -- Merle Haggard "Fashion Zombies!" -- The Aquabats!Further Viewing: "Hello CD Listeners"Mike Campbell -- The Guitars

Esteemed Dylanologist Rebecca joins us to discuss The Traveling Wilburys, its members, how they came to be, and their first album.More From Rebecca:Ramblin' Tours, her excellent, insightful Bob Dylan tours of NYC.Definitely Dylan, one of the very best podcasts on the life and work of Bob Dylan.Follow Rebecca on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.Further Reading:Petty: The Biography by Warren ZanesFurther Listening:George Harrison -- "Got My Mind Set On You"Roy Orbison -- "Pretty Woman"Electric Light Orchestra -- "Evil Woman"Barbra Streisand -- "The Very Thought of You"RuPaul -- "Condragulations"Pete Townsend -- "Let My Love Open the Door"Further Viewing:The True History Of The Traveling Wilburys Documentary (Free on YouTube)

This week we discussed the Heartbreakers' "worst" album, 1987's Let Me Up (I've Had Enough), a mostly forgettable record that nonetheless justifies its existence by answering a perennial question: What's Bob Dylan been watching on TV lately?Further Listening: "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" by Cinderella Further Reading:Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes, chapters 16-18.

With the help of our friend and talented music writer, Elizabeth Handgun (Twitter, Bluesky), we revisited Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' album Long After Dark and dug into the archival material from the recent deluxe reissue.Subscribe to Elizabeth's Substacks, synanthrope and fresh hell!Buy Elizabeth's famous (and frequently ripped off) t-shirt: "do not give me a cigarette under any circumstances no matter what i say".

We're joined by illustrious editor, musician, podcaster, and radio host Jesse Brenneman to discuss an album even more ill-conceived than Southern Accents itself (if that's even possible). Why does this record exist? What were Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers trying to achieve? And why oh why did Tom have to wear that damn suit?!Subscribe to Jesse's Substack, Vinyl Odyssey, and tune in to his weekly radio show of the same name at KBGA 89.9 FM every Wednesday from 6-8PM Mountain Time.Listen to Jesse's fake tech podcast, Tech Talk, here on Patreon.Listen to Jesse's music on Bandcamp, or the streaming platform of your choice.

After contextualizing the album in last week's episode, we finally discussed the music of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' Southern Accents. Though the album is a frustrating one that resists easy categorization — it's neither a masterpiece nor a misfire; even "mixed bag" doesn't quite do it justice — it's also home to some of Tom and the band's best material. If nothing else, it's worth a serious listen — and seriously listen we did.Note from Jared: At the top of the episode I meant to say "Confederate flag" not "American flag" — an important distinction!

After much delay, we finally discussed the podcast's namesake, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Southern Accents, an album infused with Lost Cause angst, dogass 1980s production aesthetics, and oh so much cocaine. For the first part of the discussion, we attempted to the contextualize Southern Accents in Tom's career specifically and Southern history generally with the help of the excellent 33 1/3 book on the album written by Michael Washburn.See also: MTV's 1985 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers mini documentary (also called Southern Accents).

John and Jared are joined by the insanely prolific singer-songwriter, filmmaker, and author Matt Farley to discuss Cameron Crowe's long lost debut film, Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party.Dip your toes into Matt's catalog of over 26,000 songs here.Stream Local Legends, Local Legends: Bloodbath!, or any of Matt's feature films on Vimeo.Listen to Matt's show, "The Motern Media Informercial Podcast."Buy Matt's new book, Motern Media No-Jokes Album Guide.For information on upcoming releases and live shows, check out Matt's website.

This week John and Jared are joined by Hannah Smart (@fowlinghantod), award-winning writer and author of the forthcoming novel Meat Puppets, to discuss Bob Dylan's recent performance in Spartanburg, SC.You can preorder Meat Puppets (out May 5th) here.Also check out Hannah's essay "Nothing Ever Happens: 'Mister Squishy' and the Year of the Sentence Diagram" as well as her short stories "City Limits" and "Empty Sets."Thumbnail Photo Credit: Duncan Hume

This week John and Jared discuss Long After Dark, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' sleazy, synth-heavy fifth album.

This week John and Jared discuss Long After Dark, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' sleazy, synth-heavy fifth album.

Jared is joined by pre-eminent Bob Dylan expert Ray Padgett to discuss the subject of his recent Substack miniseries, Dylan and Tom Petty's unfairly maligned 1986 "True Confessions" tour. Support Ray's excellent work, linked below.His Substack about Bob Dylan's live shows, Flagging Down the Double E'sHis recent article on the one and only "Weird Al" Yankovic. His treasure trove of a book, Pledging My Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band MembersHis podcast about the covers of, and by, Bob Dylan, Watching the Covers Flow

This week the boys are joined by friend of the show, Nat Hawkins, to discuss the Petty-produced, Heartbreakers-backed Del Shannon comeback album, Drop Down and Get Me.(If you don't care about South Carolina political gossip, skip to 11:45.)

This week, John and Jared discuss Hard Promises, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' uneven follow-up to their breakout, "Damn the Torpedoes." Is it a misfire? Or an underrated gem? Turns out it's a little of column A, a little of column B.

At long last, John and Jared are joined by Jesse Hawken, old friend and host of Junk Filter, to discuss the "Damn the Torpedoes" episode of the Classic Albums documentary series and the Produce Like A Pro interview with the legendary Shelly Yakus. (To be honest, we just wanted an excuse to talk some more about "Damn the Torpedoes." Is that so wrong?)

Folks, it's the moment you've all been waiting for: this week John and Jared finally discuss Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' earth-shattering third album, "Damn the Torpedoes." Is it their best album? Is it the best album, period? Listen to find out!

John and Jared are joined by UK-based singer-songwriter Jack FR (aka Jack Frayne-Reid) to discuss Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' excellent first two live albums. Give Jack a follow on Twitter and check out his music on SoundCloud!You can find the Official Live 'Leg (including UK-exclusive version of "The Wild One, Forever) here and the 1978 Boston Paradise Theater bootleg here.

This week, John and Jared discuss Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' coolly received sophomore effort, "You're Gonna Get It!", an album with much more to offer than its critical reception would lead you to believe.

This week, John and Jared are joined by Alex (Haus of Decline) to discuss Tom Petty's animated music videos ("Runnin' Down A Dream" and "Never Be You"), his iconic portrayal of Lucky on King of the Hill, Strom Thurmond's hair transplant, Bo Diddley and his legion of imitators, art as a communal experience, death and dying, and much, much more.If you want to support Alex's work, join the Haus of Decline Patreon and listen to her band Anti-Spectacular, whose song "Like A Pidgeon" is featured at the end of this episode.Also, if you're in the area, see Alex perform with Anti-Spectacular at Collective Arts (777 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1V2, Canada) at 8PM on March 5, 2026.

This week on Southern Accents, John and Jared discuss Tom Petty's first band (Mudcrutch), the formation of The Heartbreakers, their exceptional debut album, and its initially muted commercial reception.

Welcome to the first bonus episode of Southern Accents! We got a little carried away on one of our planning calls and ended up having a marathon conversation about Myrtle Beach (South Carolina's mini Florida), seeing Bob Dylan live, failing to blend in at the Chappell Roan show, Tom Petty covers, and, of course, ukuleles.

Welcome to the very first episode of Southern Accents! Enjoy listening to John and Jared discuss professional guru Rick Rubin, rock n' roll thievery, iconic dorm room posters, Columbia recording artist Bob Dylan, male pattern baldness, and (of course) Mr. Thomas Earl Petty.