Tom Petty Won His 1995 Grammy While in a Chicken Shack: “I Was Not in a Good Headspace”

No matter how bright and shiny someone’s success might look from the outside looking in, these soaring professional heights can often be hiding devastating emotional lows. This is a confusing paradox for artists to navigate—looking like you’re on top of the world but feeling like you’re lower than low. Tom Petty found himself in similar circumstances in 1995, fresh from a divorce and the road, having just finished the Wildflowers promotional tour.

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Part of the conditions of Petty’s divorce was that he move out of his house. He began renting a home in the Palisades, lovingly called “The Chicken Shack.” Speaking to Paul Zollo, Petty recalled his rental was “in this place called Peacock Alley off of Sunset Boulevard. Kind of like a cabin more than a house. Very funky. Chickens in the yard. But I loved it. It was really green and overgrown. It was just a small house, and I was living there alone. I thought it was a great place. I stayed there for a few years. This kind of a log cabin kind of place that actually had chickens. Kind of very rural for being in L.A.”

Despite trying to recalibrate post-divorce and post-tour from his bachelor coop, if someone didn’t know any better, they might have thought Petty was at the top of his game.

Tom Petty Found Out About His 1995 Grammy Win From His L.A. Rental

While Tom Petty had fond memories of his Chicken Shack rental in Los Angeles, it was still a difficult time in his life. Adjusting to everyday life after being on the road with a band would be challenging under normal circumstances. But Petty was also having to transition back to the life of a bachelor, which he called a “strange place” while talking to Paul Zollo. Besides his eccentric surroundings, Petty painted a rather desolate picture of his solo life.

“The Heartbreakers weren’t doing anything. We had just done this long, on-and-off tour of Wildflowers. I was not in a good headspace. I won a Grammy then. [The 1995 Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “You Don’t Know How It Feels”.] And [I] didn’t even go to the Grammys. I remember standing outside in the yard when the phone call came and said, ‘You just won a Grammy.’ I didn’t have anything to do.”

Eventually, Petty connected with filmmaker Edward Burns, who was looking for a soundtrack for his upcoming film, She’s the One. After a few awkward attempts to recruit musicians for Burns’ project, Petty decided to record the album himself. Songs and Music from “She’s the One” became the ninth studio album of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, though its soundtrack distinction often leaves it out of most catalogue retrospectives.

Nevertheless, it marks a unique time in Petty’s life when he was simultaneously as high and as low as a man could get, surrounded by chickens in a little rural L.A. hideaway.

Photo by Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images