Southern Accents is the sixth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on March 26, 1985, through MCA Records. The album's lead single, "Don't Come Around Here No More", co-written by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song "Southern Accents" was later covered by Johnny Cash for his Unchained album in 1996.

Southern Accents
Studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Released	March 26, 1985 (1985-03-26)
Recorded	1983–1985
Studio	Sound City, Village Recorder, Sunset Sound (all in Los Angeles) Church (London)
Genre	Heartland rock Southern rock
Length	39:54
Label	MCA
Producer	Mike Campbell Jimmy Iovine Tom Petty Robbie Robertson David A. Stewart
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers chronology
Long After Dark (1982) Southern Accents (1985) Pack Up the Plantation: Live! (1985)
Singles from Southern Accents
"Don't Come Around Here No More" Released: February 1985 "Rebels / Southern Accents" Released: March 1985 "Make It Better (Forget About Me)" Released: June 1985

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Blender	[2]
Chicago Tribune	[3]
Christgau's Record Guide	B−[4]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
The Essential Rock Discography	6/10[6]
MusicHound	4/5[7]
Rolling Stone	(favorable)[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[9]

Background

Originally conceived as a concept album, the theme of Southern Accents became somewhat murky with the inclusion of three songs co-written by Stewart, and several others originally planned for the album left off. Songs cut from the track list include "Trailer", "Crackin' Up" (a Nick Lowe cover), "Big Boss Man" (a Jimmy Reed cover), "The Image of Me" (a Conway Twitty cover), "Walkin' from the Fire", and "The Apartment Song". The first two were released as B-sides, while the two remaining covers (and a demo version of "The Apartment Song") were later released on the Playback box set. A studio version of "The Apartment Song" appeared on Petty's first solo album, Full Moon Fever, released in 1989. "Trailer" was later re-recorded and released in May 2016 by Petty's other band Mudcrutch, on its second studio album, 2.[10] "Walkin' from the Fire" was eventually released on the posthumous box set An American Treasure in 2018. The song "My Life/Your World" from Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) included several of the song's lyrics rewritten.

While mixing the album's opening track, "Rebels", Petty became frustrated and punched a wall, severely breaking his left hand. Subsequent surgery on his hand left him with several pins, wires and screws holding his hand together.

The album cover features an 1865 painting by Winslow Homer titled The Veteran in a New Field.

The album would prove to be the last album to have any involvement of bassist Ron Blair until 2002, with Blair featuring on the track "The Best of Everything". A new version of the song with a different arrangement and a previously unreleased verse was released as a single in 2018, before the release of the upcoming eponymous compilation album.

Critical reception

In a three-out-of-five star review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic commented that while "occasionally, the songs work" and "Don't Come Around Here No More" and "Make It Better (Forget About Me)" expand [the band's] sound nicely", the record was too often "weighed down by its own ambitions".[11]

In the Los Angeles Review of Books, Connor Goodwin said the album is "deeply embedded in nostalgia for the Lost Cause."[12]

Track listing

Personnel

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

• Tom Petty – lead vocals (all tracks), electric guitar (tracks 2, 9), acoustic guitar (track 6), 12-string guitar (1, 7), tambourine (track 2), piano (tracks 3-4), OBX drum machine (track 8)
• Mike Campbell – electric guitar (tracks 1-3, 5, 7, 8-9), Dobro (track 4), slide guitar (track 6), bass guitar (track 1), keyboards (tracks 1-3), piano (track 8), backing vocals (track 2)
• Benmont Tench – keyboards (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9), piano (tracks 2, 4), electric piano (track 6), vibraphone (track 8), backing vocals (track 1)
• Howie Epstein – bass guitar (tracks 3, 5, 6-8), backing vocals (tracks 1-3, 7, 8), harmony vocals (4, 6, 8)
• Stan Lynch – drums (all tracks), percussion (tracks 3-4, 8), backing vocals (track 1)

Additional musicians

• David A. Stewart – bass guitar (track 2), electric guitar (tracks 2, 5), backing vocals (tracks 2,3), sitar (track 3), keyboards (track 3)
• Bobbye Hall – tambourine (tracks 1, 7)
• The Heart Attack Horns - horns (tracks 1, 7)
• Malcolm 'Molly' Duncan – saxophone (tracks 1, 5)
• Greg Smith – baritone saxophone (track 2)
• William Bergman – tenor saxophone (track 2)
• John Berry Jr. – horns (track 2)
• Rick Braun – trumpet (track 2)
• Jim Coile – tenor saxophone (track 2)
• Marilyn Martin – backing vocals (track 3)
• Daniel Rothmuller - cello (track 3)
• Sharon Celani – backing vocals (track 3)
• Dean Garcia – bass guitar (track 3)
• Jack Nitzsche - string arrangement (track 4)
• Clydene Jackson – backing vocals (track 5)
• Phil Jones – tambourine (track 5)
• Dave Plews – trumpet (track 5)
• Stephanie Spruill – backing vocals (track 5)
• Julia Tillman Waters – backing vocals (track 5)
• Maxine Willard Waters – backing vocals (track 5)
• Marty Jourard – saxophones (track 8)
• Jerry Hey – horn conductor (track 9)
• Garth Hudson – keyboards (track 9)
• Jim Keltner – percussion (track 9)
• Richard Manuel – harmony vocals (track 9)
• Ron Blair – bass guitar (track 9)

Production

• David Bianco – engineer
• Steve Breitborde – photography
• Mike Campbell - producer
• Joel Fein – engineer
• Winslow Homer – artwork, cover painting
• Jimmy Iovine – producer
• Dennis Keeley – photography
• Stephen Marcussen – mastering
• Tom Petty - producer
• Robbie Robertson – producer
• Don Smith – engineer, remixing
• Steele Works – design, cover design
• Tommy Steele – art direction, design, cover design
• David A. Stewart - producer
• Alan "Bugs" Weidel – engineer
• Shelly Yakus – engineer, remixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Singles

Notes

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