2006’s Highway Companion is the last of the three “solo” Tom Petty albums, and the final Tom Petty album co-produced by Jeff Lynne. While the occasional stock-rock trifle occasionally breaks the spell, Highway Companion’s best songs avoid high-octane panache in favor of nuance and atmosphere. For the most part, Lynne’s production is mercifully restrained, but he still manages to ruin the otherwise great “Big Weekend” by entombing its powerful chorus beneath gratuitous background vocals, attention-stealing drum fills, and disruptive, jejune guitar licks. Elsewhere, the nearly-flawless “Flirtin’ With Time” should please anyone who really, really misses Teenage Fanclub, while “Down South” uses Dylan’s “Love Minus Zero / No Limit” to create the kind of pristine heartland alt-rock Petty has been perfecting for years. Other tunes leave less of an impression, but not for lack of trying: “This Old Town” resorts to self-plagiarism in an attempt to replicate old glories, but lacks the strong melody of “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” its obvious blueprint, while “Saving Grace” attempts the sort of bellicose boogie of John Lee Hooker but only exposes the band’s weakness: they don’t swing. While enjoyable enough in song-sized morsels, too many sluggish, tedious numbers make Highway Companion a bit of a chore.