California

There’s a quality to this song that I’ve only really experienced once before. It makes me homesick for a place I’ve never lived in. The other time this has happened to me was, coincidentally, also California. If any of you are Van Halen fans or even just rock n roll fans with an interest in the Pasadena scene in the 70s, you have to read the superb book Van Halen Rising. Easily the best rock biog I’ve ever read, written by an exceptional journalist and author and a wildly knowledgeable rock historian, Greg Renoff. Rather than being a gratuitous look at the excess of the hedonistic rock n roll lifestyle, Greg very deliberately builds a picture of Pasadena in the 70s in which the band was born and grew into the world famous act they became. Well, this song, in two minutes and thirty eight seconds leaves me with that strange sense of nostalgia and affection for a place that doesn’t shape any part of my life. You almost get that sense of promise and opportunity that California held for the early settlers seeping through the words and music that Tom delivers.

If you want to check out the song ahead of the episode, you can find it here:

To listen to the song, go here: hhttps://youtu.be/nhnDaykQls8

If you want to watch Jack's video for Room at the Top, you'll find it here : https://youtu.be/uF9hyogNurU

And if you're interested in checking out Greg's book, you can find previews of it here : https://tinyurl.com/mr26nxzy

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

Follow: https://linktr.ee/tompettyproject

Listen: https://pod.link/1580769475

All music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

A special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research.

The Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way.

Producer: Kevin Brown

Executive Producers: Paul Roberts, Steve Ursell

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