Marty Stuart on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:


"I’ve never made any bones about it. I think Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were the greatest Rock & Roll Band the United States Of America has ever produced."

Wow. Better than The Hawks/The Band (though composed of only one American and four Canadians, I consider the U.S.A. responsible for their formation)? Better than NRBQ, and The Byrds? And Los Lobos? As I consider Marty and his band The Fabulous Superlatives the current best band in the world, his opinions carry a lot of weight with me.

Okay, maybe I’ve been wrong about TP & TH. ;-)
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Showing 1 response by tomcy6

Marty can be effusive in his praise of other artists. 

I remember seeing him introduce Steve Earle on one of Marty's shows.  Steve was just over his heroin addiction and had put on a LOT of weight.  He was huge (not important but it was just a shock to me).  Marty went on and on requesting a warm reception for his good friend Steve, repeating several times that Steve was a close friend of his.  Steve just stood there with his pants hanging about halfway down his butt looking at Marty like he was nuts.  I assume that was because he and Marty were probably not good friends and maybe had never met before the show. 

It was just a funny moment to me but it does illustrate the point that Marty can get a little carried away in his praise of other musicians and that may be what happened with Tom Petty.  Naming his own band The Fabulous Superlatives is another example.

We all know that there is no one best band, but we all have probably used the term at one time or another.