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Backstage Country

Blake Shelton + Members of The Eagles Cover Tom Petty

Last year, Blake Shelton joined the Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh for a classic Tom Petty cover. The version of Petty’s 1989 hit “I Won’t Back Down” also…

Blake Shelton Joins Music Legends To Help Women
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Last year, Blake Shelton joined the Eagles' Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh for a classic Tom Petty cover. The version of Petty's 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down" also features former Guns N Roses drummer Matt Sorum.

The cover was done to help support Miraculous Love Kids. It's a nonprofit music school launched in 2015. The school aims to protect and educate impoverished young women living in conflict zones and facing gender discrimination and violence. A message opens the video: "For the girls and women of Afghanistan, 'We won't back down' until you are free."

Many artists have joined the cause to help support Miraculous Love Kids. Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello covered Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" for the organization. And other cover featured Sammy Hagar's take on the Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like an Eagle."

Shelton told ET Online this week that while he is currently on tour and is not in California, where the big storms are with his wife Gwen Stefani and her boys, and he's concerned. He said, "It's terrible. Right now, they're having bad storms back in California, and I hate not being there. Not that anything bad is happening. But I know they're kind of freaked out, and it'd be nice to be home."

Shelton says his 2023 tour is only a month and a half. That's because he simply wants to stay home with Gwen. He offered, "I don't do a lot of these. I think we're doing 18 of these shows this year. I try to limit it as much as I can because the whole reason I'm even stepping away from The Voice is so I can just be there more, and that's what I'm gonna do." Blake announced his retirement from the show after 23 seasons of being a coach. This season is his last.

Tom Petty: His 50 Best Songs, Ranked

Tom Petty was a bit like Tom Hanks: he was so great that after a while you almost took his greatness for granted. When compiling this list, we kept in mind that the man was putting out great music up until the very end, and we wanted to recognize some of his gems that didn't get as much love as they should have, including some of his final recordings.

We decided that anything he wrote was fair game: obviously his songs with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, as well as his three solo albums. We also included songs from Mudcrutch, his pre-Heartbreakers band (which included Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench) who broke up in 1975 after recording a few songs; they reunited in 2007 and released a pair of albums. Of course, we included the Traveling Wilburys, focusing on the songs where Tom was the main singer, as well as the songs he wrote for Stevie Nicks, Roy Orbison and Roger McGuinn. We mostly went with studio recordings, but nevertheless, we still heartily recommend the 2008 box set The Live Anthology. We also decided against including covers (although we love his Byrds covers "So You Wanna Be A Rock And Roll Star" and "Feel A Whole Lot Better," his cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" and his duet with Stevie Nicks on Jackie DeShannon's "Needles and Pins," to name a few). It's worth noting that we frequently referenced Paul Zollo's excellent book, Conversations With Tom Petty often, and we'd definitely recommend that book, as well as Warren Zanes' Tom Petty: The Biography.

Did we miss a few songs? Sure - Petty had waaaaay more than 50 great ones (and we're sure you'll let us know on social media what we missed). But for now, enjoy these, there might be some that you forgot about or some that you haven't even heard.

50. “Don’t Come Around Here No More” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ‘Southern Accents’ (1985)

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49. “Jammin’ Me” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough)’ (1987)

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48. “You Took My Breath Away” from the Traveling Wilburys’ ‘Vol. 3’ (1990)

tom-petty-traveling-wilburys-3.jpgConcord Records

47. “King Of The Hill” from Roger McGuinn’s ‘Back From Rio’ (1991)

tom-petty-roger-mcguinn.jpgSony Legacy

46. “Walls - Circus” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Songs And Music From The Motion Picture “She’s The One”’ (1996)

tom-petty-shes-the-one-1-1.jpgWarner Brothers

45. “Red River” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hypnotic Eye’ (2014)

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44. “I Should Have Known It” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Mojo’ (2010)

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43. “Last Night” from the Traveling Wiburys’ ‘Vol. 1’ (1988)

tom-petty-traveling-wilburys-1-.jpgConcord

42. “The Wrong Thing To Do (live)” from Mudcrutch’s ‘Extended Play Live’ EP (2008)

tom-petty-mudcrutch-EP.jpgWarner Brothers

41. “Saving Grace” from Tom Petty’s ‘Highway Companion’ (2006)

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40. “Runnin’ Down A Dream” form Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘The Live Anthology’ (2009)

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39. “The Last DJ” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘The Last DJ’ (2002)

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38. “Wake Up Time” from Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ (1994)

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37. “You And I Will Meet Again” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ “Into The Great Wide Open” (1991)

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36. “You Got It” from Roy Orbison’s ‘Mystery Girl’ (1989)

tom-petty-roy-orbison-mystery-girl.jpgSony Legacy

35. “It’s Good To Be King” from Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ (1994)

tom-petty-wildflowers-1-2.jpgWarner Brothers

34. “Learning To Fly” from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ ‘Into The Great Wide Open’ (1991)

tom-petty-into-the-great-2.jpgUniversal

33. “Hungry No More” from Mudcrutch ‘2’ (2016)

tom-petty-mudcrutch-2-1.jpgWarner Brothers

32. “A Wasted Life” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Long After Dark’ (1982)

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31. “I Will Run To You” from Stevie Nicks’ ‘The Wild Heart’ (1983)

tom-petty-stevie-nicks-wild-heart.jpgRhino

30. “Insider” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hard Promises’ (1981)

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29. “Deliver Me” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Long After Dark’ (1982)

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28. “Letting You Go” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hard Promises’ (1981)

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27. “Into The Great Wide Open” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Into The Great Wide Open’ (1991)

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26. “The Wild One, Forever” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ (1976)

tom-petty-1-1.jpgRhino/Warner Brothers

25. “Echo” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Echo’ (1999)

tom-petty-echo.jpgWarner Brothers

24. “Angel Dream (No. 4)” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘She’s The One (Songs and Music From The Motion Picture)”

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23. “I Forgive It All” from Mudcrutch ‘2’ (2016)

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22. “I Need To Know” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ “You’re Gonna Get It” (1978)

Tom-Petty-youre-gonna-get-it-1-1.jpgRhino/Warner Brothers

21. “Don’t Do Me Like That” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ (1979)

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20. “Scare Easy” from Mudcrutch’s ‘Mudcrutch’ (2008)

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The highlight of Mudcrutch’s debut/reunion album (they only recorded a few singles before breaking up in the early ‘70s). Unfortunately, many wrote Mudcrutch off as a side-project. Had Petty kept “Scare Easy” for the Heartbreakers, it could have been a huge hit. He never played Heartbreakers songs with Mudcrutch, and vice-versa, which is a shame. And it’s kind of funny, in retrospect: if the Heartbreakers played Traveling Wilburys songs (including “Handle With Care”) -- reproducing parts by Dylan, Orbison and Harrison -- you’d think they could have pulled off Mudcrutch songs live (given the fact that ⅗ of Mudcrutch were also Heartbreakers).


19. “You Got Lucky” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Long After Dark’ (1982)

tom-petty-long-after-dark.jpgUniversal

18. “Here Comes My Girl” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ (1979)

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17. “A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me)” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hard Promises’ (1981)

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16. “Waiting For Tonight”: outtake from Tom Petty’s ‘Full Moon Fever,’ released on 1995’s ‘Playback’ box set

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15. “Built To Last” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers; ‘Into The Great Wide Open’ (1991)

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14. “The Best Of Everything” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Southern Accents’ (1985)

tom-petty-southern-.jpgUniversal

13. “You Don’t Know How It Feels” from Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ (1994)

tom-petty-wildflowers-1-1.jpgWarner Brothers

12. “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Greatest Hits’ (1993)

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11. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” from Stevie Nicks’ ‘Bella Donna’ (1981)

tom-petty-stevie-nicks-bella-donna.jpgRhino

10. “I Won’t Back Down” from Tom Petty’s ‘Full Moon Fever’ (1989)

tom-petty-full-moon-1.jpgUniversal

9. “Breakdown (live)” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Pack Up The Plantation: Live’ (1985)

tom-petty-pack-up-.jpgUniversal

8. “Refugee” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ (1979)

tom-petty-damn-1-1.jpgUniversal

7. “Listen To Her Heart” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘You’re Gonna Get It’ (1978)

Tom-Petty-youre-gonna-get-it-.jpgRhino/Warner Brothers

6. “For Real” - recorded by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in 2000, and released on ‘The Best Of Everything’ in 2021

tom-petty-the-best-of-everything.jpgUniversal

5. “Wildflowers” from Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ (1994)

tom-petty-wildflowers-.jpgWarner Brothers

4. “Free Fallin’” from Tom Petty’s ‘Full Moon Fever’ (1989)

tom-petty-full-moon.jpgUniversal

3. “The Waiting” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hard Promises’ (1981)

tom-petty-hard-promises.jpgUniversal

2. “Even The Losers” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ (1979)

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1.”American Girl” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ (1976)

tom-petty-1.jpgRhino/Warner Brothers
Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.