This past May, Petty called current country music "bad rock with a fiddle." Then this past week, he told Rolling Stone that, to him, contemporary country "reminds me of rock in the middle Eighties where it became incredibly generic and relied on videos." In the same interview, however, Petty also admitted: "I don't want to rail on about country because I don't really know much about it."

Stapleton, then, thinks it's high time Petty was schooled. "Your recent comments lead me to believe you see room for improvement in modern country music," writes Stapleton. "So, in the interest of making Country music less "sh*tty" (your words), I suggest a collaboration."

Stapleton isn't just bluffing�he's actually a person Petty could almost certainly learn from. A veteran songwriter, he's penned hits for such superstars as Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, and Darius Rucker, among many others. He's also worked in bands such as GRAMMY-nominated alt-country favorites the Steeldrivers and Southern rockers the Jompson Brothers. Stapleton is also now gaining traction for his own new country single, the powerful "What Are You Listening To?," which is easily among the freshest songs to come out of Nashville in ages.