The Melancholy Season

by Benmont Tench

Overview

Benmont Tench was playing keyboards in Tom Petty's band even before they were called the Heartbreakers, and while helping them earn their reputation as one of America's strongest and most reliable rock bands, he developed a lucrative sideline as a session musician, sitting in with seemingly everyone who mattered, from the Rolling Stones to the Replacements. When Tench made his first solo album, 2014's You Should Be So Lucky, it was a busman's holiday, as Tench delivered a splendid blend of rock, blues, and jazz in amiably laid-back fashion, though the excellence of the performances never sounded lazy. His second solo effort, 2025's The Melancholy Season, sounds and feels different, and with good reason. It was recorded seven years after Tom Petty's death closed the book on the Heartbreakers, and though Tench has stayed busy as ever with session dates, this music pushes him into the spotlight without serving as a side project. The Melancholy Season, as the title suggests, is a more somber affair, with tracks like "Back" "If She Knew," and "Under the Starlight" feeling as if they were intended to be listened to only after 1 a.m. The thoughtful tone doesn't feel like an act of mourning so much as the perspective of a man who's become increasingly familiar with the unfortunate surprises fate can play, and "I Will Not Follow You Down" and "Dallas" (the latter sounding like a follow-up to Jimmie Dale Gilmore's song of the same name) have an undercurrent of defiance -- the thoughts of a man who isn't above raging against the dying of the light. The Melancholy Season is a more focused and committed work than You Should Be So Lucky, and it's an even better showcase for Tench's abilities as a songwriter and vocalist. His voice is just a bit sandy, but he absolutely knows how to make use of it, and in any other band but the Heartbreakers, he would have been a fine lead singer. And he can write affecting melodies and heart-tugging lyrics, though "Rattle," a joyous burst of Elvis Presley-style rock & roll, makes clear he isn't always a Gloomy Gus. If Benmont Tench took his sweet time in making his entrance as a solo artist, The Melancholy Season confirms that was a matter of inclination rather than a lack of the needed skills: he can write, sing, and play like the seasoned veteran he is, while also sounding as if he has as many ideas as a promising new artist. He ought to consider doing this more often. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	03/07/2025
Label:	Bmg
UPC:	4050538809626

Tracks

1. The Melancholy Season
2. Pledge
3. Rattle
4. Not Enough
5. If She Knew
6. I Will Not Follow You Down
7. Under the Starlight
8. Back
9. Like Crystal
10. Wobbles
11. You, Again
12. The Drivin' Man
13. Dallas