The Evening: Deal on N. Ireland, Covid Origins, Petty Outtakes, and More

Smiles

“Cadillacs and Rust, Diamonds and Dust.”

In a career that spanned four decades, Tom Petty wrote more than 450 songs and covered countless others. Since Petty’s death in Santa Monica six years ago, unreleased songs have emerged and his late career work, vastly underrated, has been re-explored. This week, I want to unearth some of these amazing tunes that sit outside of Petty’s cannon.  

If you’ve lived in the United States and listened to the radio, you have most certainly heard Petty classics like “American Girl,” “The Waiting,” “Refugee,” and “Running Down a Dream.” And so many others. But have you heard the track “Leave Virginia Alone,” an outtake from the “Wildflowers” sessions? The Petty estate released it a couple of years ago with the remarkable set “Wildflowers and All the Rest.” Petty had thought the song wasn’t good enough to make the original “Wildflowers” record. Instead, his manager gave the song to Rod Stewart who had a minor hit with it. This Petty outtake with its vibrato guitar effect and with Mike Campbell’s slide guitar toward the end makes it hard to believe that he gave this song away.