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“It’s a totally selfish effort,” Tom Petty once remarked of making albums apart from his band, the Heartbreakers. Not so for Benmont Tench, Petty’s resident pianist, who for his own solo effort, You Should Be So Lucky, welcomed guests and put much of his project in their hands.
Tench’s friends didn’t exactly wait for the invitation: famed producer Glyn Johns had prodded him for years to record; Don Was couldn’t wait to sign him to Blue Note; and Gillian Welch and Ryan Adams were among the admirers who flocked to Tench’s side. The end justifies the eagerness. On You Should Be So Lucky, Tench shifts from consummate session fixture to capable frontman with ease, drawing from writings dating to the pre-Heartbreakers days of Mudcrutch in the mid-’70s. Petty himself turns up here, backing Tench on bass on “Blonde Girl, Blue Dress,” and Ringo Starr bangs on a bag of tambourines.
Over four decades, Tench’s keys could be heard strengthening songs by Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks, Elvis Costello, and dozens more. He also wrote plenty for other singers; Tench penned “Why Don’t You Quit Leavin’ Me Alone” for Rosanne Cash, revived here and adding a subtle rhythm section at Johns’ urging. (Much of this music evolved from rough phone recordings Tench made and sent to Johns for approval.)
“I’m a ship without a sea,” goes the dry hook of “Dogwood,” and Tench does his best Velvets-era Lou Reed on “Veronica Said.” Prior to this, his low, whispery vocal had been heard only in harmonies. And while Tench’s voice isn’t half-bad, his finest moments don’t rely on it: “Wobbles” is his gorgeous, instrumental nod to New Orleans; “Ecor Rouge” a fond jazz salute to his Alabama childhood.
It is otherwise a rock and roll record—Tench tips his hat to Dylan (covering “Duquesne Whistle” from his last album, Tempest), and sings about women and love and loneliness—but Heartbreakers fans should not expect a Heartbreakers affair. Instead, You Should Be So Lucky does more to showcase what many envy about its creator: the rare ability to lead from behind and from the front. Tench is a lucky man, but it sounds like he’s earned it.
