The legacy of Tom Petty was something most cherished to his daughter, Adria – the artist and director who shot videos for Beyoncé and Regina Spektor. She produced the documentary Somewhere You Feel Free in tribute to his father’s solo album Wildflowers.
During her visit to New York, she recently did an interview with Vulture talking about Petty’s legacy. Indicating that her favorite work of her dad was Wildflowers:
“Somebody puts Full Moon Fever in front of you, or Damn the Torpedoes, or the first Heartbreakers album, and you’re like, This is the greatest album. But Wildflowers is the greatest album, I think, from a songwriting perspective…It’s a confessional, novelistic, Americana masterpiece…It’s his autobiography. It’s his beautiful autobiographical work. It’s my favorite album in terms of feeling the closest to my dad.”
Petty had an incredible team who had helped him make decisions with his Art and Music:
“The way we’ve been doing it has been pretty organic. It starts with the music and we take it to the band and all of the confidants, which we internally call the Council of Elders. [Laughs.] It’s the band members, roadies, engineers, and our favorite A&R guy at Warner Bros.”
He was never political:
“Every Republican politician wants to use ‘I Won’t Back Down’ while campaigning. That’s pretty much a definite no.”
Tom was always open about his music to be used in a “diverse and inclusive” way – even commercially.
“I think there’s a sacredness to the work that the band did that we’re really protective of. But still, my dad was like, ‘Look, when I die, if you guys want to do commercials, please don’t think that I’ll be pissed. Do it.’ It’s our job to be great students and gentle handlers, not egomaniacs.”
Tom Petty’s family is open to anything “as long as it’s contributing to humanity, and it’s something of quality.”
“Do I personally want a jukebox musical about Tom Petty on Broadway? Not really. But if somebody’s got an amazing take on it, if it gets the music to a lot of people, if it gets people rocking out to the music in a cool way, and if it’s done with quality? Absolutely.”