tavis: good evening from los angeles. i am "the tavis smiley show." tonight a conversation with the legendary rock musician, tom petty. he was inducted into the rock 'n roll hall of fame back in 2002. he and the band have reteamed this year for their first project in eight years. the new c.d. is called mojo. we are glad you joined us. a conversation with tom petty coming up right now. >> all i know he is name is james, and i needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> thank you. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and the empowerment that comes with it.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] >> i am pleased to welcome tom petty to this program. the rock 'n roll hall of famer has reteamed with the heartbreaker for theirs first c.d. in eight years. the c.d. is called mojo from the project. this is "i should have known it." ♪

♪ >> you have been rock fog a long time. are you having fun yet? [laughter] >> i am always have fun. playing is fun, music is fun. >> after all these years still? >> it has to be. i love the music. i am never ever tired of playing it. now traveling, some of those things get a little wearing. but i love to play. i love the audience. it is still just as much fun, i think. >> no matter how long you are around, there are certain classics that the audience always wants to hear. do you ever get tired of playing those classics?

>> well, not if i can play something new as well. i think ps important to always offer something new, because i don't feel that we have come to a point where we just want to rest on our laurels. but no, i don't get tired of them. if 20,000 people start to sing, you tend to go along with it. [laughter] so i don't really -- i wouldn't want to get stuck being an oldy-goldie group. but i think all the trouble you go through these days to go to one of these concerts, i owe them what they want to hear me. >> back in 1981, if i recall this correctly, you had a little spat with your record company at the time. speaking of the difficulty we were paying to get in. back in 1981 they were raising

the price of records by a dollar, and you had a problem with it. do you remember this? >> yes. i had a much-anticipated album at the time. i found out just before it was going to be released that they were going to raise the price a dollar. now in these days -- in those days it would have been $8.98, which seems good now. i didn't feel that i needed the extra buck, and i thought this was going to set a trend of pricing the music out of the the normal consumer's range. so i refused to deliver the album unless they lowered the price. and eventually i got my way, and i think it held down the price of records for a long time. they wanted to go to $9.98, and i wanted it to stay at $8.98.

now looking at it, i feel more right than ever. because i think if they had -- part of the bullet that shot the music industry in the foot was price. a c.d. was over $20. i think since then they have reduced the prices. but you can't make music even elitist game. i think it's for the people and should be affordable. tavis: that raises two questions for me. let me put this one first. that was in 1981. if tom petty were to walk into a record company today and do that, what would happen? [laughter] you would be on the sidewalk looking through the window? >> i don't think they wanted to know what i had to say. they didn't want to know then.

tavis: so that wouldn't work. the second thing is if your music is that good, if tom petty is all that and then some, and obviously he is, and you can get the extra dollar for respect record and tavis and his friends will paying you the extra dollar, your art deserves that? yes or no? >> i deserve to be paid fairly, and i am paid well. that was my position at the time. we were certainly making a lot of money. tavis: but people always want to make more money. >> but if you look around at america, that is one of its biggest problems. you have corporations that can never be pleased at a profit no matter what they make. they reckon they should still make more. if you come up with the human being that can feel satisfied at what he is making, and that is not many people, but the

people in say the top 1% that obama wants to tax, and rightfully so, i think. this idea that any dollar that is my dollar is a good dollar is a great deal of the problem we face right now. listen, i like making money like anybody else, and i'm paid well. but i think there's a point at which you can outprice your audience or your base. these corporations are finding that out now. i think it's a dangerous way to live. it's a dangerous way to think. tavis: i was talking to some kids the other day, tom, and one of them was asking me how i recommend that he go about trying to discover what his gift was, what his talent is, what his purpose of being here on planet earth is.

i said to all the students in the classroom is my sense of it is if you can answer this one confer, you can figure it out. the question is what is the one thing that if i had to do it for free for the rest of my life, i would. i like getting paid like anybody else, but if i had to do this free for the rest of my life, i would still do it. that is your calling, purpose and passion. >> that is it right on the money. >> i raised that because if you weren't paid back in the day, you would have still done it? >> i said the same thing to people who asked me should i go into the music business or say law school. i am kind of interested in both. i say well, if you have a choice, you shouldn't go for music. [laughter] tavis: you have to be pulled all the way in. >> this has to be something you've got to do. you've got to do it. when i decided to be a

musician, i reckoned that that was going to be the way of less profit, less money. i was sort of giving up the idea of making a lot of money. it was what i loved to do. i would have done it anyway. if i had had to work at tauble, i would have still been out -- at taco bell, i would have still been out at night playing music. i tell my kids find something that you love, and within that, you'll find some job that you can do, and you'll always be happy. you will go to a job that you want to go to. >> how did you know that music was your gift? >> it just hit me over the head one day. around the age of 10 i just fell in love with record collecting and listening to really old 1950's records. this would have been around

1960 or 1961. it took me a few years of just being an after i had record fan. i think when the beatles came on the ed sullivan show for the first time, millions of garage bands came from that, and i was one of those guys that got a guitar and learned to play, and it was just like being addicted to it. i had to do it, and it became my whole life, and still is pretty much. i didn't ever have a choice. i was just taken over by it. i was infatuated by music, and that is what i wanted to do. didn't know if i would be any good at it or not, and probably wasn't when i started. but you work and work. people say how do you make yourself work so hard. it doesn't really seem like work when you're doing it because you're so caught up in what you are doing.

i have been very fortunate. >> after all these years, do you have any idea of what it is that -- about your style or about your substance that has connected with your audience that has created such a loyal fan base for you? do you know what that is at this point? >> really good luck, i think. i don't know. we have never really kept an eye on what was current or what was going on at the time. we just tried to make music that we felt was honest, and it had a fairly timeless quality to it. we never really wanted to sound like we were on a particular bandwagon. maybe that had something to do with it. but we tried really hard, and every show we went for it and gave it all we had. i think staying with the heartbreakers has been a big part of building a fan base

over the years. i really can't be sure. i am so grateful that they are still out there and want to hear us. tavis: when one digs into your past and to the start of your career, i didn't realize that you were actually a big hit overseas before you caught on here, which is kind of weird. there are artists around the world who make it big in their country and then comes to america. here you are, an american who makes it big in europe before he caught on in the states. >> we had a good year where england and europe were paying the bills. they were the first. england, the press, took great notice of us, and it really helped us break america, because of the press coming back across the ocean. so yeah, it took a little time to get off the ground, but there you go. tavis: tell me about the new

record, mojo, the new project? >> mojo we are really proud of. this is our first heartbreakers album in eight years. tavis: where have you been? >> well, we have been busy. we have been on the road a lot. we did a film with peter bogdonavich. we did the super bowl halftime. we did our 30th anniversary tour. we put out a seven-record live box set. so we haven't been sitting around. we got into the studio with this one and had a ball. this album is really who we've grown into being. it's a more blues-based album. i have always had a great love for the blues, and we are very proud of it. i hope people get to hear it. >> when you stay out of the

studio that long, what happens when you go back inside? i ask that against the backdrop that, to my ear at least, i am a music lover, but that the music business can change with the speed of light or the speed of sound. once somebody comes out with a sound that is a hit, everybody wants to emulate that, and then they want to move on to something else, and it changes quickly sometimes. when you stay out for eight years, and come back in, the experience is like what? >> it was a heavenly experience. we are not caught up in the music of the moment. we are just doing what we like. and that has always been my strategy, is let's make this record for us, what we would like to hear today and what would move us. if you move yourself, then the odds are there is going to be quite a few people that hear it that way, too.

tavis: how do you know that what you and the band think sounds good is going to resonate with your audience? >> we don't. tavis: a gamble? [laughter] >> i've never had any idea that it resonates with the audience, and am pleasantly surprised when it does. this is about a long musical journey. sometimes maybe you're going to connect with the audience more than others, but the journey is about getting all there is to get out of this group of people. i feel like we have a great deal more music in us. i think when you hear this album, you will say wow, they are getting better. they are getting better as musicians, and the songs are good. but it is truly just what we love to do. we never really worry too much about what other people are doing. >> when you have been doing

something as longs you can do it, is that humility speaking that we can get better or are getting better, or do you really believe after all these years that you are still getting better? >> i absolutely do believe that we are getting better. i believe we are refining what we do. i believe our art is becoming more refined. i am interested to see -- i don't think that i have -- you know, i am going to be 60 this year. that is a little bit intimidating. but i think that the job can still be done and that i have still a lot to offer, and i am trying all the time to get better at it. i am not being too hum -- humble, no. tavis: 60 intimidating for you why? >> it's old. [laughter] tavis: but why is 59 not old and 60 is old?

>> you're right. it's the same. if you're not getting older, you're dead. when i was a kid and i thought of someone 60, i thought well, it's pretty well wrapped up. tavis: and now 60 is the new 40? >> yeah. 60 is the new 40. that is the baby boomers for you. they refuse to die. tavis: when you're on stage, since you raised the issue of being 60 this year, and happy early birthday, when you're on stage, in terms of your instrumentation -- this is really inside baseball -- but in terms of the way you play, your style, your stage presence that you have found yourself adjusting because of your advancing age? >> well, i don't leap off the piano any more. tavis: stopped doing that?

>> stopped taking long jumps. [laughter] tavis: but in terms of your playing? >> i'm actually better on the guitar than when i started because i have had so much time with it. i still practice, and i love to do it, and i love to sing. so i don't think we have lost a lot there, no. tavis: when you are -- and i'm always amazed. this is one of the things i love. i love going to music, and i love going to concerts for all kinds of people. one of the things i love, i may appreciate the artist, and i want to go see them perform, but i'm not like a die-hard fan. i respect their craft, and i want to go see them. and every time you go to a concert, there are these die-hard fans as a group. the hardcore fans know everybody in the group and their back stories. tell me about this group of

guys you have been playing with for years and how that group stays together for so many years? >> you know, the core of this group started playing together around 1970. i think first of all we stayed together because we really respect each other's ability. it is very much like a family. they become your brothers when you have spent at much time in each other's pockets as we have , as many rooms and airplanes. we are always together. maybe we don't hang out as much together, but i was just telling this to someone. say saturday night we took a five-hour plane ride together, and we had a lot of time to talk. i think we are friends basically. i think we are friends, and the big reason, i suppose, that we don't break up is i personally -- there's nowhere i think i

could go and things would be better musically. i am really satisfied with the people i play with, and in very in awe of mike and ben. you're not going to find anything better than that. i was just very lucky. i think to be successful, you have to work really hard, but you also have to have a little bit of luck. i think i was very lucky that these two pals of mine just happened to be now some of the greatest musicians in the world. so i have been very lucky that way, but we still have our spats and stuff. but i don't think there's anything -- in a way, the band to us has become bigger than us in that we all respect it, and i don't think we would want to do anything that would tear it down. tavis: when you first got started, tom, was it your dream and goal to be a front man, or did that happen in some unique

way? >> i have never been comfortable being the front man. tavis: never? >> never. tavis: you have been doing it for a while. you might want to settle into this. [laughter] >> well, i got stuck with the job. first of all, i started playing the base because nobody else would play the base. [laughter] and then i got bumped up into singing because no one else really wanted to sing. so i learned how to sing, and i wrote the songs, so i tended to get the most attention. but i've always felt like a team player. i don't treat the band like i'm above them or like they are a hired hand for me. we've never worked that way. i'm a team player. i would be very uncomfortable having to do this alone. tavis: you mentioned that over the years you all have become

better musicians. you think you play better now than you did back in the day. for mojo, has the sound changed, or will you recognize tom petty and the heartbreakers? >> the sound has changed. but you will recognize us. we are leaning toward the blues in this one. i think you will notice we have grown. we have found some ground i think we can work for a while now, and that is always exciting. every now and then something will happen musically where you go we have found a really good area. tavis: can you describe what that is? >> i don't want to get too technical for the audience, but we don't overdub as much. when you do a record, and you are adding track after track

after track, that is more to me like oil painting. what we are doing now is more like poil roids. we are trying to capture it quickly and in the moment. it's all about the feel. i didn't worry much about making this record other than first the songs, which i worked really hard on for a while, because nothing is going to happen if you don't have a song. and then it was all about feel. how does this feel? does this move me? and that was the criteria. i didn't care if somebody made a mistake. tavis: finally, when you walked in -- this is our first time meeting, and when you walked on the stage, there were a bunch of guys that walked in with you. i could see across the studio, and i immediately knew it was you because i saw the sun glasses. the third guy is petty. this has become a trademark for

you. if i walked in without your sun glasses, i wouldn't know who you were probably. >> you know, i'm not trying to be cool. i have a problem with lights. i have one eye that has become super sensitive to lighting. tavis: right. >> so i do wear sun glasses quite a bit. tavis: they are cool. >> well, it's a lucky kind of cool. tavis: we will call that lucky cool. >> yes. tavis: i think tom petty is still cool. the new project from tom petty and the heartbreakers is called mojo. >> it's an honor to be here. >> thank you so much. that is our show for tonight. catch me on the weekends on p.r.i. you can access our shows on a podcast. good night, and as always, keep the faith. ♪

>> for more information on today's show, v plus kevin eubanks. that is next time. we will see you then. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference. >> thank you. >> you help us all look better. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance,

working to improve literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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