Tom Petty – “Leave Virginia Alone”

Tom Petty – “Leave Virginia Alone”

Tom Petty recorded a whole lot of songs during the sessions for his 1994 solo album Wildflowers, and many of them never ended up coming out. Before he died, Petty had talked about putting out an expanded edition of the album with those extra songs. And now, three years and two posthumous releases after his passing, it’s finally happening.

Petty’s estate is releasing Wildflowers & All The Rest, a box set put together by his family and his Heartbreakers bandmates Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, next month. We’ve already posted the unreleased tracks “There Goes Angela (Dream Away)” and “Confusion Wheel,” as well as the demo versions of “You Don’t Know How It Feels” and “Wildflowers.” And today, we’re getting another new song.

Petty wrote “Leave Virginia Alone” in January 1993, very early in process of making Wildflowers. After it was cut from the album, he gave it to Rod Stewart, who released his own version of the song in 1995. But now, we’re getting to hear the original song along with a music video, co-directed by Mark Seliger and Petty’s daughter Adria, starring actress and dancer Casimere Jollette.

“We were very resourceful about trying to create a character that could be assigned to anyone. That’s why Virginia in this video is very mysterious but she has her little glimpses of characters,” Adria Petty told David Fricke on SiriusXM’s Tom Petty Radio yesterday. “We really worked to cast someone authentic — that felt like they were really feeling their feelings and someone that you could believe.”

“We really wanted the song to do the heavy lifting in this video, and sort of step out of the way and just give it something to breathe with,” she continued. Seliger added, “The one idea that kept coming back to both of us is that we really want Tom to be narrating the story. We really want to hear his voice as he runs you through this journey that this woman is having.” Watch and listen below.

Wildflowers & All The Rest is out 10/16 on Warner Records. Pre-order it here.

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