Together again for the first time in a long, long time.
Tonight at the 25th Annual Americana Honors & Awards, Tom Petty’s band, The Heartbreakers, reunited for the first time in nearly a decade with the great Chris Stapleton filling in as frontman at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. The band received the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award tonight as well.
Original Heartbreakers Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Stan Lynch and Ron Blair shared the stage for the first time all as a group since Petty’s death in 2017 (later members Steve Ferrone and Scott Thurston join for the final song). It was even more fitting considering this year marks 50 years since the band first formed, and the Petty estate is gearing up to release an archival collection of songs from 1971-1978 called Origins, which includes remastered versions of their first two albums, as well as some unreleased material and archival live recordings.
They started off with “American Girl,” which Petty wrote and they included on their self-titled debut album in 1976. Then, they did an epic rendition of “Breakdown,” which was also released on their debut album in 1976 and was their debut single.
Before heading into their last song “You Wreck Me,” which was the fourth track on Petty’s second solo studio album, Wildflowers in 1994, his friend and guitarist Mike Campbell says it was “emotional and sweet” to be there with their band once again:
“Thank you. It’s true, we haven’t played together since 2017, and it’s really emotional and sweet to be here. We have two more songs, and we’re so happy to have Chris up here with us. It’s great to see you all, I think you know this one.”
Chris has spoken many times about what a huge inspiration Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were to him, and he covered “I Should Have Known It” for the 2024 tribute album, Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty.
Chris told CBS Mornings a couple years ago that Petty’s iconic Wildflowers album would be his “desert island” album if he had to pick one record to listen to if he was stranded somewhere and only had one choice, if that gives you any indication of his fandom.
Stapleton says it shaped his view of music as a teenager and made an impression that created the incredible artist we know and love today, calling the “barometer” for what his music should emulate today (in his own Stapleton style, of course):
“There are few songwriters that I appreciate more than Tom. Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, there’s some people in there, Merle Haggard. For my money, my desert island record is ‘Wildflowers’ record. That record has a special place for me. I have this theory that people discover their favorite thing between the ages of like 16 and 25, somewhere in there.
That kind of shapes their opinions of other music and things like that. That was that record for me. There were no skips. I think that was a new experience for me in that moment. It’s kind of my barometer for, this is the goal. Tom always could write things so lyrically, so simply, but in ways that were so impactful and in ways that got to the meat of what you wanted it to be.
And I always felt like that’s the goal in songwriting, is kind of, less words means more. Find things that people can attach themselves to or find themselves in. And for me as a listener, that’s what Tom always did.”
There is really no one else who could have done the job as frontman in the absence of Tom Petty himself other than Chris Stapleton, and I have to imagine he was probably the only man they had in mind for the job.
It was epic… you can watch their full performance here:
Here’s his cover of “I Should Have Known It”
Origins 1971-1978 Box Set Tracklist
LP1: No Sleep Til L.A.
Parade of Loons
You’re Gonna Learn
Another Lonely Night
I Can’t Fight It†
Depot Street†
Sin City
Wild Eyes†
Unheard of Kind of Hero
Up in Mississippi Tonight†
Satisfy Yourself
Since You Said You Love Me†
Long Way
LP2: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (50th Anniversary Edition)
Rockin’ Around With You
Breakdown*
Hometown Blues
The Wild One, Forever
Anything That’s Rock ‘N’ Roll
Strangered in the Night
Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)*
Mystery Man
Luna
American Girl*
LP3: You’re Gonna Get It! (50th Anniversary Edition)
When the Time Comes*†
You’re Gonna Get It*†
Hurt
Magnolia
Too Much Ain’t Enough*
I Need to Know
Listen to Her Heart
No Second Thoughts
Restless*
Baby’s a Rock ‘N’ Roller*
LP4: Live From the Record Plant 1977
Pre-Show
Surrender
Jaguar and Thunderbird
Band Intros
American Girl
Al Kooper, Denny Cordell Intro
Fooled Again
Luna
How We Doin’ on Tape?
Listen to Her Heart†
I Need to Know
Strangered in the Night
Dog on the Run
(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66
LP5: The Cut Out Bin
Save Me
Making Some Noise
The Ballad of Harry, Neil & Tillie
Cry to Me†
Lost in Your Eyes
DISC 6: Live on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test 1978
9 performances in HD and restored audio • Running time: 41 minutes • 48kHz 24-bit PCM stereo Picture: 4:3 Pillarbox / 29.97 fps • NTSC All Region
*Extended version
†New mix of previously released version