Dixie Chicks question

This is a reach for this board, but I'll try ...

Anybody listening to the title track on the Dixie Chicks' new CD -- track 1 -- sounds a whole lot like Tom Petty's "Learning to Fly"? The chord progressions are identical -- same pace, same notes, just behind a different song. They've got some Heartbreakers guesting on the CD, but I can't recall another song that so openly borrowed from another like that ...

Just curious if anybody else had picked up on this. Back to the "UFC Needs Mainstream Media Attention" banter.

 

Guess you haven't heard the Chili Peppers' new single yet.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/27612/

 

Mystery solved ... sort of.

http://dixiechicks.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=547830

"So who are the Chicks listening to these days?  They ponder the question and all mention Johnny Cash.  Natalie also gushes about the sonic transcendence achieved by the Chili Peppers, who are mainstays in her regular CD rotation.  Tom Petty, the Mamas and Papas, Lenny Kravitz, and James Taylor also surface in their rapid-fire brainstorm. 

"The Chicks' decision to hire uber-producer Rick Rubin to produce their new album certainly hints at a bold new direction.  He was an obvious choice given that he produced hit albums by the aforementioned Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, and Johnny Cash.

"The Chicks' emulation of Tom Petty is evident on the album's first track, 'The Long Way Around,' my favorite song on the album.  In fact, the A minor-G-F-C chord progression in the song's chorus mirrors the changes in Tom Petty's 'Learning to Fly.' 

"Other Taking the Long Way tracks similarly feature subdued acoustic guitar strums, short string riffs, harmonized hooks, and sporadic but corpulent bass notes on the piano, making them distant cousins of songs from Tom Petty's 'Wildflowers,' which Rubin also produced."

 

No wonder he's so pissy on the journalism board.

 

What, is Tom Petty the only person people have ever drawn influence from?