The Tom Petty tribute album Petty Country is well on its way to release, dropping on June 21. Dolly Parton recently posted on social media that she is involved in the project, covering Petty’s song “Southern Accents” with a few tweaked lyrics.
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“Southern Accents” served as the title track to the sixth album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in 1985. Parton wrote that she got to know Petty over their years in music, and felt “honored” to be part of the project.
“I was fortunate enough to get to know Tom over the years,” Parton wrote. “He’s such an iconic artist and important songwriter. I’m so honored to be a part of this special album and to be able to share my version of one of Tom’s best songs, ‘Southern Accents.’”
Dolly Parton Covers Tom Petty’s Own Favorite Song for Country Tribute Album
Back in 2002, Tom Petty spoke with the Los Angeles Times about the song, noting that it was one of his favorites. “That may be my favorite among my songs – just in terms of a piece of pure writing,” he said at the time. “I remember writing it very vividly. It was in the middle of the night and I was playing it on the piano at home in Encino. I was just singing into my cassette recorder and suddenly these words came out. I was at the point in my career where I was very much trying to find some new ground, I thought I had used up what I had started with and I wanted a new direction.”
He continued, “We had lived in California for about 10 years at that point and I started thinking about growing up in northern Florida, which is a lot different from Miami Beach. It’s close to Georgia and I came from a real Southern family, and I wanted to address that world. Once I came up with this song, I decided to write an entire album about the theme.”
Other artists on the project include Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett, Justin Moore, Dierks Bentley, Willie and Lukas Nelson, and many more country legends.
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