At a time when many aspects of Tom Petty ’s world were falling apart, he took refuge in the studio. The deeply personal Wildflowers album was the result, and despite all the chaos and confusion that fed into it, it’s the one he regarded as his best.

The album that TOM PETTY considered to be his career peak arrived during the most traumatic period of his life – as self-doubt, a broken marriage and record company wrangles threatened to engulf him. As a sumptuous new book illuminates Petty’s creative processes, former bandmates and collaborators hail his creative rebirth with Wildflowers. “It’s such a personal record,” one eyewitness tells Rob Hughes. “Brutal at times, but kind, deliberate and honest.”

Tom Petty Somewhere You Feel Free: The ...

STARS/WRITERS TOM BASDEN AND TIM KEY ON EXPANDING THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND

Basic Country Mustard

I guess my main preoccupations at 16 were just trying to stay out of trouble. I was incredibly unsuccessful with finding girlfriends and things like that. Really, very, very unsuccessful. I think I wa