A new documentary about one of the key eras in the life and career of Tom Petty is streaming for free on YouTube. Stream it below.
Largely based around a collection of 16mm archives that weren’t discovered until 2020, Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free – The Making of Wildflowers follows the rock icon from 1993 to 1995 through the making of his now-classic sophomore solo album Wildflowers. Featured throughout the 89-minute documentary are new interviews with the likes of Heartbreakers guitarist (and Wildflowers co-producer) Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, and more.
“I spent almost 20 years with the Heartbreakers,” Petty says in the doc. “And if I only made records with the same people all the time, I’d never learn, I’d never grow. Rick Rubin kind of guided me back into a musical place where I feel very comfortable.”
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After premiering at Sundance Film Festival in March 2021, the film won the festival’s coveted Audience Award as well as the prize for Best Documentary Film at the Boulder Film Festival a few months later.
A month before it hit the streaming platform, director Mary Wharton opened up about making the doc in an exclusive interview with Consequence. “What was really fascinating for me in this project was getting to see him struggle a little bit, getting to see that he wasn’t always sure of himself. I think to see Tom…just being a human, a supremely talented and intelligent and funny and cool dude, but he was also a regular guy who had the same kind of struggles we all do,” she said at the time.
Meanwhile, four previously unreleased tracks by the late musician were featured on the official soundtrack to Angel Dream (Songs and Music from the Motion Picture “She’s the One”) earlier this summer.
