ROCK ’N’ ROLL GREATS
Peter Wolf recalls tourmate Petty, readies Somerville gig
It’s hard to imagine Tom Petty ever needed someone to help him go from bar band obscurity to rock god. But the J. Geils Band gave a young Petty and his Heartbreakers just such a boost in the late '70s.
“Before Tom and the band released
(their 1979 breakthrough album)
`Damn the Torpedoes,' they spent some time on the road with us,” Geils frontman Peter Wolf said. “I remember two nights, two sweaty nights, at the Cape Cod Coliseum, and Tom and band were just great.”
Petty was probably already on the path to immortality. But being on tour in the late '70s with the Geils Band, one of rock 'n' roll's alltime legendary live acts, had to play a role in the Heartbreakers honing their chops.
From the beginning, Wolf had an artistic kinship with Petty and his backing group — and the recently passed icon returned the favor last summer when he picked Wolf to open shows on the Heartbreakers' final tour. The two singers conjure magic from the same raw materials.
“The Beatles, the Stones, Geils Band, even Tom's band had great influences coming from the first generation of rock 'n' roll, people like Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry for sure, and Roy Orbison, and early Motown,” Wolf said ahead of his Thursday show at the Somerville Theatre.
“Guys like us could do blues and soul and R&B and early rock 'n' roll because that's what we absorbed when we were kids,” he added. “Tom and I connected with the same early masters.”
Wolf is still making magic out of those early influences. On his latest album, last year's “A Cure for Loneliness,” he mixes classic rock with Stax soul and outlaw country. He even tosses in a live bluegrass version of “Love Stinks.” Like Petty, Wolf has found his own ace backing band, the Midnight Travelers, to give his solo work some sparkle. Guitarists Duke Levine and Kevin Barry, famous for fueling the best bands in the Cambridge roots scene, are probably the best known members.
“I feel very grateful that I have such great artists that work with me, tour with me, record with me,” he said. “In Boston, they're the A-team, the top shelf.”
Now 71, Wolf has no plans of retiring.
“I don't even think of that,” he said.
Why would he when he's so close to getting that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nod?
For the fifth time, the J. Geils Band has earned a nomination for the Hall of Fame. Geils is competing against Radiohead, Bon Jovi, Depeche Mode, The Cars and 14 other acts to make the Class of 2018.
Having been here before, Wolf won't hold his breath. He'll just keep making rock 'n' roll, and if it happens, it happens.
“I can say it would be a great honor,” he said. “I will be honest and say that.”