An unprecedented, exhilarating, and intimate account of the life of music legend Tom Petty.

Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little swamp in his blood, Tom Petty was a Southern shitkicker, a kid without a whole lot of promise. Rock and roll made it otherwise. From meeting Elvis, to seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, to forming his first bands and ultimately his celebrated group The Heartbreakers, to producing Del Shannon, making hits with Stevie Nicks, backing Bob Dylan, putting together a band with George Harrison, Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne, making records with Johnny Cash, and sending well more than a dozen of his own songs high onto the charts, Tom Petty's story has all the dreams, struggle, and triumph of a great American epic, but this one comes with a soundtrack. Now in his mid-sixties, still making records and still touring, Petty, known for his reclusive style, has shared with Warren Zanes his insights and arguments, his regrets and lasting ambitions, and the details of his life on and off the stage. His voice is brought together with those of his bandmates, his family, his producers, managers, and friends, resulting in a nuanced and fascinating account not just of a rock star's life but of the rock-and-roll era, from its beginnings through today.

No one other than Warren Zanes, musician and writer and friend, could author a biography that is as honest and evocative of Petty's music and the rock-and-roll history he and his band helped to write. This is a book for those who know and love the songs, from "American Girl" and "Refugee" to "Free Fallin'" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance", and for those who want to walk through the decades of American musical life that are embodied in one man's remarkable story. Dark and mysterious, Tom Petty manages to come back, again and again, showing us what music can do, and where it can take us.