Regina man recalls when work on Tom Petty's home turned into private album party

In 1998, Regina's Matt Fox was a struggling screenwriter living in Los Angeles — and landed a gig that had him working in Tom Petty's house.

To make ends meet, Fox worked for L.A. designer Dana Hollister, who owned the Beverly Boulevard boutique Odalisque.

One of Hollister's contracts was to renovate Petty's home in Malibu, Calif.

Fox ended up shepherding subcontractors through what he came to describe as "the Petty job."  For a year, he commuted back and forth from his Burbank, Calif., bungalow to the job site.

At the same time, Petty was working on the songs that would become his album Echo.

"My mission was to keep the design team on deadline and 'keep the client happy and sane, dude,'" he said.

Fox said that he struck up a friendship of sorts with Petty based on a shared love of music — Rolling Stones, Beatles, Beach Boys.

Fox said that he arrived one morning and was reviewing his notes for the day when he was approached by Petty's wife, Dana.

"She said, 'Tom wants to see you, right away.'"

Petty was rarely up that early; he had been keeping a vampirious schedule of all-nighters recording Echo.

"I steeled myself for bad news," Fox said. "Renovations can be trying on the most patient of clients, and we had been overstaying our welcome, as the job had grown in scope. Maybe the job would be cancelled; maybe my team was being fired — anyway I was certain that this was going to be bad news."

Fox went across the house to a guest room. There, Petty sat cross-legged on the floor with an acoustic guitar.

So, I sat as Tom played and Tom sang the entire album solo, on that acoustic guitar.-  Matt Fox

He waved him over.

"Hey, Matt, you want to hear the record I've been working on?" Petty asked him.

Fox said he was both excited and a little confused.

"Tom dug into his shirt pocket and pulled out a handwritten playlist. He mumbled, 'The first song is Room At The Top,' starting right in," Fox said.

"So, I sat as Tom played and Tom sang the entire album solo, on that acoustic guitar."

It's a memory that has not dimmed with time.

"Driving back from Malibu took about an hour, as usual. My wife's ritual question as we went out the doorstep to walk our dogs, 'So how was your day?'" he said.

"I began ... 'Oh, it was really good.'"

Petty died earlier this month. He was 66.