Tom Petty's "Wildflowers" was released in 1994, but I don't think I discovered it until around 2001 when I was in high school. Up until that point, all the music I loved was my own little rebellion. It was rap and punk and I shunned pretty much everything else. But once I started writing and recording, trying to create and capture that feeling I got as a listener, trying to find an identity as a kid who loved making sounds without anyone to model myself after, Wildflowers changed everything. The songs were simple, they were deep, they were melancholy, they were cocky, they were aloof, they were perfect. They weren't my generation but they were mine. And the recordings. The fucking recordings. I never felt so immersed in a group of friends playing music. It felt like a gift for me and me alone. I remember seeing, on the back of the album: "produced by Rick Rubin with Tom Petty & Mike Campbell." That first name was same name I saw on albums I loved from the Beastie Boys and System of a Down. I saw, for the first time, a path for me. I never felt like I fit into one scene or one sound or one crowd, and Wildflowers was the album that made me realize that was ok. I can do this thing however I want. I've danced and rocked out and scrutinized and learned and copied and been humbled over and over by Tom Petty. I've taken solo drives on Highway 1 up the California coast, tearing up to "you belong among the Wildflowers," the album's opening lyric which he wrote on that same drive. It took a guy from Gainesville, Florida, a generation older than me, singing about my home state, to make me realize how I could fit into this world as a creative person.
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My favorite photo from those sessions by
@sebreephoto .
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"You belong somewhere you feel free."
RIP Tom Petty
![This is my full piano warm up/ practice routine. It is boring to watch. But I wanted to share because people who watch the @livewithmattrad streams often forget that the best way to get good at something is simply to do it over and over. It's not interesting or glamorous but it fucking works. Put in the reps on whatever you're doing and you will improve. Thank you to @wondashow who taught me this simple warm up, which has improved my timing on every instrument (incl vocals) and opened up my vocabulary immensely on piano. also shoutout @oberhofer and @nick_leng who always inspire me to play more piano. [also, this is 65bpm. i started at 45bpm and it broke my brain for the first week, doing it every day. but i just put in the time...]](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6858333530316434625344_0_8a5ff6eaa887fee7900f5366a920d289.jpg?o=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&h=27c8d4158e0704ff545ed4a34d0d2f3e)
