Since Tom Petty’s upcoming Wildflowers & All The Rest was first announced back in August, we have been gifted with a steady stream of previously unreleased and unheard recordings from the much missed artist, to preview the collection. 

This week comes with the addition of Petty's version of “Leave Virginia Alone” which, recorded over a quarter-century ago, ended up being a hit for Rod Stewart instead after Petty decided to leave it off the final album, thinking it sounded too close to another track. In turn, Stewart’s version of the song hit No. 10 on the US Adult Contemporary chart the following year.

“It was for Tom Petty's album, but he took it off because it was too close lyrically to something that was a hit beforehand, and his managers couldn't persuade him to put it on the album,” Stewart told Billboard. “So, his manager, who's a friend of my manager, said 'Would Rod listen to the song?'”

Listen to Petty’s version of the track, the fourth preview released from the upcoming collection, below. 

Tom Petty | “Leave Virginia Alone”

Wildflowers was originally released in 1994 and is commonly regarded as Tom Petty’s most personal, heartfelt and revealing collection of songs. It was a prolifically creative period in Petty’s life, during which he wrote enough songs to complete a double album. The upcoming release of Wildflowers & All The Rest on Oct 16, will finally gather together all 25 songs from the original recording sessions – the 15 songs from the original Wildflowers album, plus the remaining 10 songs that, until now, were left unreleased. Pre-Order Wildflowers & All The Rest, here.  

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