Rosanne Cash (#1, 1986)
Although he’s a fan of the music of George Jones and recorded with Roy Orbison as a member of the Traveling Wilburys, Tom Petty doesn’t come to peoples’ minds when they think of country music. The leader of the pop group, The Heartbreakers, he’s better known for making rock hits such as “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “Don’t Come Around Here No More” and “Free Fallin’.”
Petty has left a small imprint on Billboard’s country chart, however. He contributed as a vocalist on Hank Williams, Jr.’s “Mind Your Own Business” and wrote three songs that performed reasonably well on country playlists: Roy Orbison’s “You Got It,” “Thing About You” by Southern Pacific and the subject of tonight’s “Story Behind The Song” – “Never Be You” by Rosanne Cash, which climbed all the way to number one.
Cash first recorded one of Petty’s songs, “Hometown Blues,” for her “Seven Year Ache” album and Tom stopped by the studio at that time to meet her. Rosanne also became friends with “Heartbreaker” keyboardist Benmont Tench and that friendship led to her involvement with “Never Be You.”
Petty and Tench were working on the soundtrack of a movie called “Streets Of Fire,” starring Diane Lane and Rick Moranis. “Never Be You” was set to be featured in the film and they telephoned Cash to ask if she would perform it. Rosanne agreed and went to Los Angeles to record the song with Tom and his band, but the session didn’t go well and another singer ended up doing it on the soundtrack album. Cash liked the song, however, and held onto it, cutting it a couple of years later in a New York studio with a band that included Tench, John Cougar Mellencamp, guitarist Larry Crane, session bass player Willie Weeks and drummer Anton Fig, a member of Paul Schaffer’s “Late Night With David Letterman” band.
Originally, “Never Be You” wasn’t even part of Cash’s “Rhythm & Romance” album, but a new Columbia Records executive wanted to market Rosanne toward a pop audience and commissioned her to record two more songs for the record. By that time, original producer David Malloy had moved on to another project (a Dolly Parton album), so Rosanne cut “Never Be You” with her husband Rodney Crowell at the board.
“Rhythm & Romance,” which took more than a year to make, produced three hit singles: “Never Be You” (landing at number one on Billboard’s country singles chart January 25, 1986), “Hold On” and “Second To No One,” both reaching #5.
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