Heartbreakers to play together for first time since Petty's death
The Heartbreakers will play under that name for the first time since Tom Petty died.
Founding members Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Stan Lynch and Ron Blair will open the Americana Awards with Chris Stapleton. They will then receive the show's Lifetime Achievement Award, Rolling Stone reported on 16 September.
Drummer Steve Ferrone and guitarist Scott Thurston will join them to close the show. The six musicians cover the band's long history on stage and in the studio.
Members of the group have shared stages since Petty's death, but not as the full line-up billed as the Heartbreakers. Petty died one week after the end of his 40th anniversary tour with the band.
The reunion arrives with a major archive release. The Tom Petty estate has announced Origins 1971-1978, a box set tracing the band's formative years.
It is scheduled for release on 6 November 2026 via UMe. It will be sold as a four-disc CD set and a five-LP set, meaning five vinyl records, each with a bonus Blu-ray and DVD.
The set starts with No Sleep Til L.A., a 12-track collection of material Petty recorded after moving from Gainesville, Florida, to Los Angeles in 1971. The songs were cut with and without Mudcrutch, his early band. Seven tracks have never appeared on an official release.
From there it moves through the building of the Heartbreakers. It includes remixed and mastered versions of the 1976 album Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the 1978 album You're Gonna Get It!, plus a live show recorded at the Record Plant in 1977.
Another disc is titled The Cut Out Bin. It holds five tracks Petty recorded as a solo singer working with session musicians before the Heartbreakers formed. The set also includes previously unreleased collaborations with Al Kooper, Leon Russell, Jim Gordon and Emory Gordy.
The video package pairs a Blu-ray with high-resolution audio mixes and a DVD of restored 1978 footage. That includes the band's 1978 appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test, the BBC music programme.
The vinyl edition also carries an 88-page fanzine with liner notes by Bud Scoppa and David Fricke. The official Tom Petty store lists the five-LP box at $229.98.
Three versions are planned: a five-LP box, a four-CD box and an uber deluxe vinyl edition. No Sleep Til L.A. will also be sold on its own as a single LP, single CD and limited-edition zoetrope vinyl, which carries a moving image pressed into the record surface.
The first taste is the unreleased track "Parade Out Loons". Its video stars Iain Armitage, the actor known for Young Sheldon, Rolling Stone reported.
For fans, this means two kinds of return at once. One is live, with the surviving members back on one bill. The other is recorded, with early takes, live tapes and television footage gathered in one place.
