Tom Petty would have turned 70 years old today and his musical legacy continues on as we continue to get releases from the vault.
Last Friday saw the deluxe reissue of Wildflowers plus the new single, "Leave Virginia Alone," has just charted at number-23 in its first week on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart.
According to Billboard, Petty himself rejected including that song on the original Wildflowers, because he felt it was too close style-wise to a previous hit. The song wound up with Rod Stewart, who took the song into the Top 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart and landed just outside the Top 50 on the Hot 100.
Billboard talked to Stewart, who admitted he isn't much of a Petty fan and "had to be persuaded to do it," because he didn't really like it until around his third time through the demo. Stewart says he's now glad he did it.
[courtesy of Classic Hits Today]