This award is presented to the artist; vocal and instrumental albums are considered in this category, as are hard rock and metal releases.
"Highway Companion"- Tom Petty
(American)
Billboard Album Review- "Highway Companion"- July 29, 2006: Tom Petty's new album is a surprisingly moody affair. Showing a growing disillusionment with the promise of freedom, "Highway Companion," Petty's first solo effort in 12 years, is also his most personal and heartfelt to date. Melancholic road anthems like the blues-powered "Saving Grace" and hard-edged "Turn This Car Around" don't stick to the usual script-they cast a dark shadow on the Great Wide Open instead of romanticizing it. Heartbreakingly sparse, "Square One" may be Petty's most beautiful song ever, while melodic standout "Damaged by Love" offers a bittersweet coda to his '80s classic "Here Comes My Girl." Here's an icon stripped to his emotional core, armed with a last-man-standing voice full of loneliness and inner peace. Petty has come a long way, but he's never sounded closer to home.
