This week we will be talking about and listening to Tom Petty’s album “Wildflowers” from 1993.

Tom left this world in 2017, but he left an incredible legacy of pop/folk music which has stood the test of time. “Wildflowers” was one of his most critically acclaimed but lesser-known albums.

Many will be familiar with the “Full Moon Fever” album in 1989, which garnered his greatest hit, “Won’t Back Down” which was followed by “Into the Great Wide Open” in 1992, which included another of his best-known songs, “Learning to Fly”. The video of the eponymous song featured Johnny Depp and Faye Dunnaway.

So where does “Wildflowers” fit into the panoply of Petty’s work? Perhaps what was happening in his person al life at the time is the best place to start.

Between the summer of 1992 and spring 1994, while Petty recorded Wildflowers, his 22-year marriage to Jane Benyo was in collapse.

The drummer who had been part of the driving rhythm section of Heartbreakers, Stan Lynch, got the boot.

Petty severed ties with MCA, the record company that had looked after him for 12 years and subsequently moved to Warner Brothers.

He also shifted course from using Jeff Lynne, the producer who had brought him Grammys, The Travelling Wilburys and a second act to using Rick Rubin to produce the record.

Petty was quite clear that he didn’t want another Wilbury’s sounding record.

Rubin’s production is integral to the album. There were apparently 30 songs which were recorded but only 12 made it onto the album. Petty’s voice is right there out in front almost confessional. There are no anthems on this album – Petty said that he would leave the anthems to younger folk.

Nonetheless there are some bangers on the album such as “You don’t know how it feels”, “It’s Good to be King” and “Crawling Back To You”.

Tune in to “The Album Show” on 88.0 HEPFM on Saturday morning at 10.00am to hear the album in its entirety.