"Kings Highway" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Tom Petty had an illustrious career that ended unexpectedly in 2017 after he passed away at the age of 66, likely due to excessive pain medications for a broken hip. The Florida native began his recording career in the 70s with a band called Mudcrutch, which would soon evolve into the Heartbreakers, the group that became nearly synonymous with Tom Petty.

Petty and the Heartbreakers first crept onto the chart in 1977 when "Breakdown" peaked at #40, but they significantly raised their profile in 1980 when "Don't Do Me Like That" hit #10. The hits kept coming, and Petty began to rack up a number of classics that were absent from the charts. Petty's biggest hit would be "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," one of several duets he performed with Stevie Nicks. The song went to #3 in 1981.

Petty would score plenty of top 40 hits, but didn't see the top 10 again until Jeff Lynne (E.L.O.) teamed up with Petty for his landmark "solo" album without the Heartbreakers, 1989's "Full Moon Fever." "Free Fallin'," the third single from that record," reached #7. Petty got to know Lynne from their supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys, which formed a year earlier.

Petty had additional collaborations with his Wilbury friends. Before their formation, Bob Dylan co-wrote "Jammin' Me," which reached #18 in 1987. Another Wilbury friend, George Harrison, provided backing vocals and guitar on Petty's #12 hit from 1989, "I Won't Back Down."

"Kings Highway" was a terrific track on his 1991 reunion record with the Heartbreakers, "Into The Great Wide Open" that did not chart.