Willie, Lukas & Micah Nelson, Dhani Harison, Jacob Dylan & Amos Lee Cover Tom Petty
By Nate Todd Dec 20, 2019 • 8:09 am PST

Willie Nelson, his sons Micah Nelson and Lukas Nelson, as well as Geroge Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison and Bob Dylan’s son Jakob Dylan, along with Amos Lee shared a collaborative cover of Tom Petty’s “For Real” via Dark Horse Records. Dubbed “For Real – For Tom,” all net proceeds from the single will go to Midnight Mission, a Los Angeles homeless services provider and shelter Petty championed throughout his career.
Petty originally recorded “For Real” in August 2000 but the tune didn’t see the light of day until February 2019 when it came out on the posthumous retrospective, The Best of Everything.
“When I first was sent this song asking if I wanted to record it, I was quite frankly dumbfounded,” Lukas Nelson told Rolling Stone. “It was the whole manifesto of our band [Promise Of The Real] in a song. It just shows how connected artists who have integrity are with others who share the same passion and fire for being honest with their soul. Fearless and real.”
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“It’s a reminder of why we live the art life, something needed more than ever as we enter a new decade of unknown misty twisty paths and crooked highways,” Micah Nelson added. Jakob Dylan — whose father was a member of The Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison and Petty — also shared his memories of seeing Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers up close.
“[M]ost of what I put together of what I wanted to do in the future I probably learned in those summers watching him and The Heartbreakers play,” Dylan said. “I got to sit next to his amplifiers so I not only got to watch him, I also got to watch the crowd, and to see what the band was doing with their inside conversations. It was a great schooling.”
The Petty cover also came with a short, behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the track directed by Peter Harding. Check out the “For Real – For Tom” lyric video as well as the doc below:
For Real – For Tom
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For Real – For Tom Behind-The-Scenes
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