Petty’s Early Years, a Floyd Show Bound for Columbus, and Two Birthdays Worth Spinning
Written by Jarvis Prime on November 5, 2026
Deep Purple hits pause, Tom Petty's first chapter gets the box-set treatment Friday, and a Georgia radio man says 2027 belongs to stations that stay local.
Good morning from the Pretoria Fields Radio desk. Two records we lean on around here are celebrating birthdays today. Elton John released Madman Across the Water on November 5, 1971, the album that gave the world Tiny Dancer and Levon. And on this date in 1991, Epic Records put out Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's The Sky Is Crying, compiled by his brother Jimmie from unreleased sessions about fourteen months after Stevie's death. It became the highest-charting album of his career. Expect to hear both before the day is out.
The big release of the week lands Friday. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Origins 1971-1978 marks fifty years of the band with 51 tracks, including 27 that are unreleased, live, extended, or previously unheard. The set remasters the first two albums, closes with the band's 1978 performance on the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test, and is previewed by a never-released 1978 track called Parade of Loons. Friday also brings a 50th anniversary edition of KISS's Rock and Roll Over, Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue 1976 live recordings in a 39-CD box, a new Bryan Adams album titled How's It Goin', and a second volume of the Neil Young tribute Heart of Gold with Peter Frampton, Ann Wilson, and Los Lobos among the contributors.
On the Americana side, Friday is crowded in the best way. Willi Carlisle's The Universal Bubba was produced by Tyler Childers, his first time behind the board, and was cut in about two weeks in a makeshift New Orleans home studio. Grayson Capps returns with The Weight of the World, his first full album of originals in nine years. And Atlanta songwriter Eliot Bronson releases Arrive, produced by Oliver Wood at the Wood Brothers' studio in Nashville.
Harder news from across the water. Deep Purple has postponed the remainder of its European and UK tour after singer Ian Gillan was hospitalized following a medical emergency. The band first called off shows in Leipzig and Hamburg on October 31, then announced on November 2 that the rest of the leg is on hold on the advice of Gillan's medical team. Details of his condition have not been made public. Our thoughts are with him.
Looking ahead, Pink Floyd fans in our corner of the state have reason to circle February 15, 2027. Roger Waters Presents Legacy, A Pink Floyd Show, opens its North American run that night at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts in Columbus, Georgia. Harry Waters, Roger's son, leads the band on organ and piano, and singer Clifton David Broadbridge was chosen from roughly 3,000 open audition submissions. The set draws from Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Separately, the Scorpions announced a 2027 tour, with general ticket sales opening Friday, though the only U.S. dates so far are a Las Vegas residency in September.
Neil Young is back in court, filing a new $10 million copyright suit over the continued use of Rockin' in the Free World as walk-up music at political rallies. The complaint says a 2020 settlement over the same song was broken.
And a word about our own business. In a Radio Ink column published today, Josh Brown of Rome Radio Partners in northwest Georgia argues that 2027 could be a defining year for independent radio as listeners tire of AI-generated content. His three opportunities: remember your roots with local personalities and local news, bring back high school and college sports, and actually market your stations. We could not agree more. Thanks for keeping it tuned here.
— The Pretoria Fields Radio news desk
Pretoria Fields Radio publishes under its editorial standards and AI policy. Spot an error? Write info@pretoriafieldsradio.com and we will correct it in the open.
