Tom Petty Hated Country: ‘I Think We Can Dismiss The Genre’

It turns out that Tom Petty believed country music was “crap” and “dreadful,” so he might not have enjoyed the popularity country music currently possesses.

His comments are surprising, considering that his band, the Heartbreakers, were never that far away from country music, having found inspiration in Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers and touring alongside the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

But Petty’s beef with country music wasn’t against the classics we associate with the genre, like Johnny Cash and George Jones, but what happened when pop entered country music storytelling. He didn’t necessarily have a problem with artists like The Chicks, Shania Twain, or Tim McGraw, but the fact that the songwriting was changing to appeal to the masses.

Discussing the evolution of country music, Far Out Magazine has pulled this 1997 BAM interview with Petty from the vault. In it, he said, “I think they probably did that to aim it at a young audience—the people who can’t go for Marilyn Manson, but they’re somewhere in the middle.”

He continued, “So, they feed them this crap. I think it’s just dreadful—like, all them hats and everything. It’s just silly to me. They all look like the same guy. There’s probably somebody still good out there, but, as a whole, I think we can dismiss the genre.”

But Petty didn’t totally hate the genre, and he had good friends in country music—some of whom honoured him in a recently released tribute album. Tom Petty passed away in October 2017.

Last month, the album Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty was released. It features a stacked list of stars singing his songs, including Dolly Parton, Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, Lady A, duets with Wynonna Judd and Lainey Wilson, Willie Nelson and Lukas Nelson, Steve Earle, Thomas Rhett, and many more.

The Tom Petty Estate said of the release, “The album is a country music tribute to Tom lovingly curated by some of his closest friends and collaborators, including great friend and Grammy Award-winner George Drakoulias and Tom's esteemed colleague Randall Poster. 

“Some of the most lauded voices in country music explore the extensive Petty catalogue and put their own personal touches on some of his greatest hits.”

You can check out the tracklist for the album here.