Last October, during the final encore of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s annual residency at the Ryman Auditorium, Amanda Shires traded solos with dobro master Jerry Douglas during a Celtic-influenced cover of Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky.” Twelve months later, she’s covering the song once again, this time as a special guest on Blackberry Smoke’s live EP, The Southern Ground Sessions.
“Not long ago, we went into Southern Ground Studios in Nashville to record some acoustic versions of songs from our album Find a Light,” says Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr, who navigates his band through a mournful, melancholy cover of the Heartbreakers staple. “We had some special guests come in — the Wood Brothers and Amanda Shires — and while Amanda was there, we decided to play a version of ‘You Got Lucky.’ [It’s] just such an incredibly written song; it’s just perfect, as are so many Tom Petty songs.”
In the video above, the expanded version of Blackberry Smoke’s lineup captures “You Got Lucky” in a single live take, with Shires performing Benmont Tench’s signature synthesizer riff on fiddle. The choruses are stacked high with harmonized voices, while the song’s extended ending finds Starr and Shires trading solos. The result is a moving tribute to Petty, who would have turned 68 on October 20th.
The Southern Ground Sessions was released on Friday, October 26th.
