Benmont Tench on His Best Songs, From Tom Petty to Bob Dylan

Benmont Tench is so dedicated to this interview that he pulled himself over to the side of the road to dial the call. “I couldn’t get home in time. If you hear a car honking, it’s not me honking at you,” he insists. “Don’t take it personally.” A few errant honks aside, Tench — best known as a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers — is a warm and witty presence, just like the sounds that emoted from his keys as the band’s valve. Along with guitarist Mike Campbell and Petty himself, Tench was with the Heartbreakers from their formation in 1976 all the way to their final show in 2017, toggling between the piano and Hammond organ as Petty’s kick-ass spellcaster who flew through songs like a hypnotic spiral. “If the drummer isn’t right and the bass player isn’t right, you don’t