A cover of a Tom Petty song, “For Real,” which itself was previously unreleased until it was included on the March 2019 The Best of Everything collection, has been released by a unique group of musical talent, led by Willie Nelson. The assembled artists, including Dhani Harrison, Lukas Nelson and Jakob Dylan, share the vocals.
Petty’s social media accounts has previously teased a 15-second snippet of the recording on Oct. 27.
“For Real — For Tom” was released everywhere on December 20 via Dark Horse Records. All net proceeds benefit Midnight Mission — a comprehensive homeless shelter and homeless services provider in Los Angeles — an organization very dear to Petty that he significantly supported throughout his career.
Watch the new cover of “For Real – For Tom”
Several of the participants, including Dhani Harrison and Nelson’s son, Lukas Nelson, had previously shared a group photo last March 6 – at Hen House Studios in Venice, Calif. – with a “coming soon” tag. Other musicians tagged in the Petty social media posts were Jakob Dylan, Amos Lee, and another of Nelson’s sons, Micah Nelson.
The Oct. 27 instrumental teaser clip, with guitar, drums and harmonica, shows still photos of the participants and ends with “stay tuned.” The song premiered on Tom Petty Radio on SiriusXM on Dec. 19. A video has also been produced. It’s not known if the recording is part of a Petty tribute album. (See the snippet below.)
Watch the video of Petty’s own version of “For Real,” directed by his daughter, Adria
The Best of Everything is the first career-spanning collection of all of Petty‘s hits with the Heartbreakers, his solo work and Mudcrutch. In addition to such favorites as “The Waiting,” “I Won’t Back Down” and “Even the Losers,” it included two previously unreleased tracks, one of which was “For Real.”
Listen to the 15-second snippet of the “For Real” cover
.@jakobdylan @DhaniHarrison @amoslee @lukasnelson @jacmnelson3 @WillieNelson pic.twitter.com/Cm3MgyRT2a
— Tom Petty (@tompetty) October 27, 2019
Watch some brief footage of the recording session
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