Dylan & Petty: The Wild Untold Story of the 'True Confessions' Tour
Dylan & Petty: The Wild Untold Story of the ‘True Confessions’ Tour
Listen up, because if you were cranking the radio in the mid-80s, you remember when the airwaves were getting clogged with synthesizers and hairspray. But in 1986, something real happened.
Bob Dylan, the “voice of a generation” who was honestly spinning his wheels at the time, teamed up with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the legendary True Confessions Tour.
It wasn’t just a double bill—Petty and his boys actually served as Dylan’s backing band. Can you imagine? The tightest rock unit in America playing floor-filler for the man who wrote “Like a Rolling Stone.”
From Farm Aid to Global Domination
The spark ignited at the first Farm Aid in 1985. Dylan needed a boost after a rough set at Live Aid, and the Heartbreakers were the high-octane fuel he needed. They rehearsed for a week, playing everything from Hank Williams to “Louie Louie,” and the chemistry was so explosive that Dylan asked them to hit the road for real.
The tour kicked off in New Zealand and Australia in February 1986. If you’ve seen the HBO special
Hard to Handle, you’ve seen the magic: Dylan in head-to-toe leather, even in the sweltering heat, backed by Mike Campbell’s searing guitar leads and Benmont Tench’s haunting keys.
Backstage Drama and “Jammin’ Me”
It wasn’t all harmony, though. Behind the scenes, the Heartbreakers had to learn to “loosen up” to handle Dylan’s unpredictable whims. There were rifts. Drummer Stan Lynch famously clashed with Petty during the run, nearly tearing the band apart even as they played some of the best shows of their lives.
The collaboration even spilled into the studio. Dylan and Petty co-wrote “Got My Mind Made Up” for Dylan’s Knocked Out Loaded album, and Dylan helped pen the Heartbreakers’ hit “Jammin’ Me“.
This tour didn’t just give us great music; it paved the way for the Traveling Wilburys. It reminded the world and Dylan himself, that he was still the king of rock ‘n’ roll.
