The article says that the album harkens back to the early Heartbreakers sound of their first two albums, 1976′s Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and 1978′s You're Gonna Get It. Petty says that his songwriting partner, Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, told him, "You sing like you did on the first two albums." The article notes that Petty decided against using songs that were too close to "the blues bag" of their last effort, 2010′s Mojo.

But earlier this year, when Radio.com spoke with Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, promoting his solo debut, You Should Be So Lucky, denied that the album is a reaction to the sound of Mojo: "I don't really have a 'take' on how it sounds. I don't really. It sounds like the Heartbreakers to me. I don't think the Heartbreakers need to be pinned down. It's a very versatile band. If you catch us when we're just in a room messing around, or if you hear some of the songs that don't make it to a record, they encompass a really broad spectrum. It's a broad spectrum of things that [Petty] wrote, and that he and Mike have written for this record. How things are sequenced, and which songs are chosen will determine the nature of the record. I'm curious, too. It's going to be a bit of a surprise to me, because I'm not producing the record."

The article also notes that there are some archival Petty releases in the works. One is a live album culling performances from Petty's New York and Los Angeles residencies last year. The other will be a deluxe reissue of his 1994 solo classic, Wildflowers. Tench told us that he loves that album, but bristles at the idea that it is a Petty "solo" record.