Tom Petty And Me: My Rock ‘N’ Roll Adventures With Tom Petty is Jon Scott’s account of breaking the first album of and his subsequent decades-long friendship with the recently departed Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers. At times, reads like a mystery novel, alongside a tribute to a friend and iconic American rocker; at other times, it’s more of a deep dive into the music industry of the 70s.
Jon Scott was hired by ABC Records as national head of promotion in 1977, after being fired from MCA for championing too hard for John Mellencamp (known as John Cougar back then, he wrote the forward to the book). Scott literally found Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ first album unlabeled in a closet in his new office. He spun the disc and was hooked. Having worked as a DJ and then promo man for Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Who, and Olivia Newton-John, Scott knew about unique songs and truly gifted artist. When the hairs on his arms started to rise as he was listening to this unknown band, his infallible ears told him he was hearing something special.
What followed was six weeks where Scott was allowed (after begging his boss) a second run to radio and listeners of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, an album that had been released eight months before and wholly overlooked in the U.S. It’s in these first few exiting chapters, where Scott relates what he did to break the band. It only gets better with each turn of the page; I truly couldn’t put it down.
We then get a good look at the long friendship between Scott and Petty, as the promo man saw his popular singing and songwriting buddy through solo albums and the Traveling Wilburys, as swell as the Heartbreakers. There are loads of behind-the-scenes and intimate details only a true friend could ever share. Tom Petty And Me: My Rock ‘N’ Roll Adventures With Tom Petty could easily fall into sentimentalism; Scott and Petty were very close, and Petty’s untimely death certainly affected the author. But this book is mostly an uplifting tale of belief, commitment, and perseverance all for the sake of some very good music. One wonders what other stories a guy like Scott has up his sleeve.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
