Tom Petty

Tom Petty is part of rock's gentry, and his recordings with the Heartbreakers are placed in the pantheon of "heartland rock" along with Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger et al. However, he was originally regarded as a part of the "new wave" of the late 1970s for his hooky-but-unadorned pop-rock. Though he began as a Bob Dylan/Byrds acolyte, he quickly became his own man. Along with Dylan, Petty went on to perform with George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne in the short-lived supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys. Both solo and with his top-flight Heartbreakers, Petty became a standard-bearer for roots rock into the 21st century.

• rock
• pop
• pop rock
• 1970s
• 1990s
• 1980s
• 2000s