Watch Railroad Earth Dedicate Tom Petty Debut To FOH Engineer Mike Partridge At Strings & Sol

Railroad Earth’s unveiled a Tom Petty cover during their December 8 performance at the Strings & Sol destination event in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. RRE played Petty’s “It’s Good to Be King” in honor of longtime front of house sound engineer Mike Partridge who is departing the band.

The Tom Petty debut came toward the end of RRE’s set. Frontman Todd Sheaffer (whose birthday is today!) addressed the audience as the band struck up “It’s Good to Be King.”

“If you’ve ever been to one of our soundchecks, you’ve probably heard this one coming through the speakers. Mike Partridge, our front of house engineer, is fond of using this one to tune the speakers. As fine a front of house sound engineer and person you will ever find. We love him dearly. We’re gonna do this one for Mike.”

Todd then led the band through “It’s Good to Be King” which originally appears on Tom Petty’s landmark 1994 solo album, Wildflowers. Watch RRE debut the song for Mike Partridge below:

Railroad Earth kicked off the set with “Runnin’ Wild” off their 2022 album All For The Song before heading into favorite “Mighty River.” The band then welcomed banjo player Kyle Tuttle for “Mission Man.”

The set also included the stellar song “Bird in a House” and a three-song seamless sequence of “The Forecast,” “Farewell to Isinglass” and “Elko.” After the Petty premiere, the band closed out their December 8 set with “I Am a Mess,” “Fisherman’s Blues” and “Old Man and the Land.”

Check out video of “Bird in a House” below:

Official Photos

Setlist (via RRE Facebook)

Runnin’ Wild > Mighty River, Mission Man*, Bread & Water, Bird in a House, Dandelion Wine, The Forecast > Farewell to Isinglass > Elko, It’s Good to Be King^, I am a Mess, Fisherman’s Blues, Old Man and the Land

Notes:

• *Featuring Kyle Tuttle on banjo
• ^First time played, written by Tom Petty, in honor of longtime FOH engineer Mike Partridge