Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Unveil Rare Live Cover of J.J. Cale’s “Call Me The Breeze”

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have shared a rare live cover of J.J. Cale’s “Call Me The Breeze.”

The track, which is from the legendary 20-show run from the band at the Fillmore in San Francisco, also debuted with a hand-illustrated video from the late Petty’s estate. The video is drawn by educator and filmmaker Scher.

The entire 1997 show, Live At The Fillmore, will drop officially on November 25.

“‘Call Me The Breeze’ is an anthem to freedom,” says Scher, whose body of work includes music videos for Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and others as well as pieces in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Harvard Film Archive, The Centre Pompidou and the National Film Archive of Austria. “The most direct metaphor for me was driving and the joy of unrestricted motion which made me think of the way things blur when they fly past. I was excited to try and recreate that motion blur with paint and pastel. I started with the first shot and just kept adding shots and cutting it together as I went. You might say it just evolved as it grew. Making the video in this way felt like I’d incorporated the spirit of the song into the process of making the video.”

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were long-time fans of the late singer J. J. Cale. The band frequently played his songs in their sets, and Petty often played Cale songs on his acclaimed Buried Treasure show on Tom Petty Radio. “Call Me The Breeze” is one of two J. J. Cale covers on Live at the Fillmore, alongside “I’d Like to Love You Baby.”

Other album highlights include Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” The Rolling Stones’ “Time is On My Side” and more from The Kinks, Everly Brothers, Bill Withers, The Byrds, and Chuck Berry, along with extended versions of original tracks “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” and “It’s Good To Be King.” 

“Call Me The Breeze” is the latest offering from Live At The Fillmore that Petty noted as “the high point of our time together as a group.” An intimate, stripped-down version of “I Won’t Back Down” and “Listen To Her Heart,” with an accompanying video, directed by Peter Sluszka, are also out now. 

Previously unreleased, never-before-seen footage unearthed from the Petty estate vaults was released as part of a short film about the band’s legendary 1997 residency at the historic San Francisco venue. The captivating run included some of the most joyful, inspirational, and prolific experiences of the band’s career, during which they were nicknamed the Fillmore House Band.

Fans can see the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: The Fillmore House Band short film HERE.

Photo by Gary Gershoff / Getty Images