At Largo at the Coronet, the founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers celebrated the release of his latest solo album with an inspiring set that told his story.
By John Lavitt
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 05-17-2025
If a song knocks on your door, you answer the door no matter what. I made the record the way I made it because I felt it was the best way for people to hear this music, which was given to me to write and express, to record and perform. — Benmont Tench
We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. — The Big Book
In an inspirational live show at Largo at the Coronet, Benmont Tench helped to redefine the concept of trudging by soulfully playing with love and determination. On the final page of The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, the word “trudge” is often misinterpreted.
Many people mistakenly believe that to trudge means to walk with slow and heavy steps, typically due to exhaustion or harsh conditions. Why would anyone want to trudge any road, even one leading to a happy destiny, if trudging were the only option? Indeed, as Benmont Tench might point out, such a journey could signal the onset of one heck of a melancholy season.
However, given his experience with life’s wild ups and profound downs, as expressed on his new solo album, The Melancholy Season, released by Dark Horse Records, Benmont Tench understands that trudging is not a limited and one-dimensional word. Originating from the mid-16th-century Norwegian word truga, meaning ‘snowshoe,’ the expanded meaning of trudge is not just ‘to walk using snowshoes’ but ‘to walk with a renewed sense of purpose and determination.’
Hence, given such a definition, Benmont Tench understands that surviving a melancholy season is not enough. One must emerge into a new season of love and creativity with the same sense of purpose and determination.
As a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Benmont Tench’s contributions to music history are enshrined in legend. Friends with Petty from early on, Benmont was the legend’s first choice for a keyboardist when he started playing. The band, formed in 1976 in Gainesville, Florida, helped to define the modern rock sound of late twentieth-century American music.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, their first year of eligibility, the band would likely still be on the road today if not for Tom Petty’s untimely death in 2017 from an accidental overdose due to prescribed medication. With pain from a fractured hip making touring almost unbearable, Petty took pain medication because the show must go on.
As a survivor of recurrent tongue cancer that spread, resulting in a partial jaw replacement, Benmont Tench understands what it is like to play beyond the pain. This condition impacted his enunciation and compelled him to relearn how to speak clearly, subjecting Benmont to a crucible that few could endure.
Rather than just surviving, Benmont embraced his God-given talents as a musical creator, focusing on his new solo album and tour of beloved venues. Given his ability to convey profound emotion and vibrant excitement on the keyboards, such a choice is unsurprising.
Indeed, in 2024, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph ranked Benmont Tench third among the top ten greatest keyboard players of all time, calling him “the King of the Hammond in the contemporary rock era.” Although he rarely recorded outside the band’s sessions while he was with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, he is known for the devastating Hammond organ riff in Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” and for his emotionally-charged contribution to Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.”
What is beautifully conveyed in The Melancholy Season also comes across when Benmont plays live. By getting out of the way of his music, Benmont allows each song to find its passageway to expression. He is grateful that he did not lose himself to the darkness and celebrates the gift of being alive and still playing today.
Playing with soul and expressing gratitude, Benmont shares his journey with his audience. Thus, the joy of seeing him play live is found in how well he describes the rare and beautiful gift of being both an artist and a human being.
Indeed, at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles, performing solo on stage with a beautiful Steinway piano, Benmont explored his musical loves, ranging from honky-tonk jams to soft ballads. As Benmont told The Hollywood Times, “Every time I play Largo, solo or just sitting in, Steinway or just Largo’s fabulous and eccentric upright, it is like coming home. So, it means quite a lot. I feel very much at home here.”
And Benmont plays like a man returning home with a smile. Without computers backing him during the performance or recording the album, his live shows and recordings provide a purity that feels increasingly rare.
When Benmont trudges on stage, he plays with the determination and focus of a family man who is grateful to be alive to celebrate his gift with those he loves.
Please find the new record and more at https://benmonttench.redstarmerch.com/
