Highway Companion

The best rock’n’roll traditions

To date Tom Petty’s music career has reached the thirtieth year and by this time the popular American musician has written 14 albums, only some of which are solo works and the others have been made with his band The Heartbreakers. Highway Companion is the third solo album produced by Jeff Lynne, who’s also produced Petty’s successful first solo creation Full Moon Fever and released on the same label, Warner Bros. Records, as the second one, Wildflowers. The new album is recorded in the best traditions of rock’n’roll and the topics of songs are connected with Tom Petty’s favorite things in life – travelling, bars and relations between people. The singles Saving Grace and Big Weekend released in the beginning of July this year have already become highly popular in the United States and abroad. Tom Petty has once again made the audiaence a pleasnt surprise with his great creative skills clearly felt on melodious songs and smart lyrics throughout Highway Companion. For a man who has already celebrated half a century he sounds quite wise, sencere and experienced remaining a confirmed optimist.

All songs on Highway Companion are linked to the theme of road

Highway Companion is an album written by a real master of rock’n’roll songwriting. Moreover, all the songs are linked to the theme of road as a symbol of life. The first single Saving Grace cheerfully opens the record giving the basic feel for the following tracks. A gorgeous ballad Square One contains Tom Petty’s deep reflections on his life and a happy conclusion that he has little to regret about, all over a calm, relaxing acoustic guitar. On reassuring track Flirting With Time he shares an optimistic approach to the fact that nothing is eternal in this world and thus it is important to enjoy the life that can end any time. Tom opens his heart on the inmost composition Down South singing about his roots and relations with his father. Another single Big Weekend is one of the album’s standouts, full of passion and desire to escape from routine. The funniest and most country-like track on Highway Companion is Ankle Deep due to its witty absurd lyrics and a clunky chorus. The Golden Rose is final track of the album completing it on a melancholically light note claiming a deep confirmation that whatever happens in one’s life it leads to the best.

One of Tom Petty’s best creations

The road is one of the most widely used symbols used in literature, music and other arts and it always comes home to the audience. Tom Petty takes us on a trip to the past, future and present, and his travel is full of hope, gladness and enjoying life. Up-tempo rock numbers and slow ballads on Highway Companion come in a well thought succession, just like it happens with the intensity of events in life. The topic of time goes hand in hand with the idea of motion and on the whole most of the tracks reveal Petty’s evaluation of the past and present, for he is not a young man, and still he bravely looks into what’s awaiting for him in the future. The instrumentation and arrangement on the record is quite simple as the accent is made on the melodies and the sense of the songs. Thus Highway Companion is not a simple collection of tuneful songs in Tom Petty’s typical style. It is a conceptual album, making the hearers think of what they have behind, ahead and with them them now. Suitable for listening at home and while traveling by car and having such a deep implication Highway Companion is one of Tom Petty’s best creations and since he is full of inspitation, probably, not the last one.