Tom Petty #3: Highway Companion

Release Date: July 26, 2006

Personnel: Tom Petty (vocals, guitar); Mike Campbell (guitars); Jeff Lynne (bass, guitars, keyboards)

Produced by Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, and Jeff Lynne

List of Tracks: Saving Grace; Square One; Flirting with Time; Down South; Jack; Turn This Car Around; Big Weekend; Night Driver; Damaged by Love; This Old Town; Ankle Deep; The Golden Rose

Highway Companion would be the third and final Tom Petty solo record. While generally not regarded to be at the level of Full Moon Fever or Wildflowers, the record leans into Petty's pop sensibilities making for a listen that goes down easily. 

"Saving Grace" is from the perspective of a weary traveler mystified by post-9/11 America. Mike Campbell's guitar add a hint of unease. "Square One" is a tender acoustic ballad on surviving the long haul. "Flirting With Time" has fun with a catchy chorus, like a jaunty outtake from the Traveling Wilbury sessions. "Down South" muses on southern childhood memories and family ghosts, once again Petty sounds centered. "Jack" offers some muted swamp rock, "Turn This Car Around" evokes Wildflowers with its steady energy and lo-fi qualities echoing '90s Petty.

"Big Weekend" plays as easy going country rock. "Night Driver" is exactly what the title promises, weary driving under a star filled sky. "Damaged by Love" is adjacent in theme to "Freefallin" but more downbeat. "This Old Town" follows a character stuck in a boring town, once again a haunted echo of "Here Comes My Girl." "Ankle Deep" gets a bit derivative, "The Golden Rose" touches on mythical themes of love and time passing.

Highway Companion also failed to produce hits like Petty's two previous solo efforts, perhaps adding to the dismissive attitude of critics. But for a lazy summer afternoon record one could do much worse, perhaps that's what Tom intended.