Spoon Cover Tom Petty’s “Breakdown” and “A Face In The Crowd”

Just off of celebrating the 20th anniversary of their third album Girls Can Tell, and putting finishing touches on a 10th release, Spoon centered around commemorating Tom Petty with covers of “A Face In The Crowd,” off the late artist’s Full Moon Fever and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ 1976 debut “Breakdown.”

The Austin rockers first premiered “Breakdown” during the live streamed 70th Tom Petty Birthday Bash in October 2020—along with Foo Fighters on “Honey Bee,” Chris Stapleton with “Don’t Fade On Me,” Brandi Carlile’s “Wildflowers,” Norah Jones covering “Time To Move On,” and “Listen To Your Heart” by The Flaming Lips—which benefited Save Our Stages.

A previously unreleased song by Petty, “You Saw Me Comin’,” recorded in 1992 for his third solo album Wildflowers, was recently premiered along with a video, directed by Joel Kazuo Knoernschild and Katie Malia. On April 16, Finding Wildflowers (Alternate Versions), a limited edition gold vinyl of alternate cuts from the 1994 album will be available with a special black vinyl release in May.

As a recent guest DJ on SiriusXM’s “Tom Petty Radio,” Spoon frontman Britt Daniel detailed the band’s two covers, his affinity for song’s where Petty speaks the lyrics—tapping songs like “Here Comes My Girl” and even some of Petty’s The Byrds covers like “Feel a Whole Lot Better”—and the late artist’s impact on Spoon.

Recorded at the Catacomb in Austin, Spoon capture the late singer’s soulfulness on both tracks with Daniel’s raspier vocals paralleling Petty’s essence. For Daniel, who also covered “You Got Luck” from Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s 1982 release Long After Dark with his side project Divine Fits, Petty has always been a presence.’

“I am a fan of Tom Petty,” says Daniel, “have been for a long time.”