Overview
- The surviving original members of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers joined Chris Stapleton onstage at the Americana Honors & Awards in Nashville in a Wednesday night performance that was their first onstage reunion since Petty’s death in 2017.
- Stapleton led the band through “American Girl” and “Breakdown” backed by Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Stan Lynch and Ron Blair, and then performed “You Wreck Me” after Lynch exited and Steve Ferrone and Scott Thurston joined.
- The Americana Music Association presented the group with a Lifetime Achievement Award introduced by Stapleton and accepted on Tom Petty’s behalf by his daughter Adria Petty.
- Guitarist Mike Campbell gave an emotional acceptance remark saying he would miss 'rocking around' with Petty and described the night as a moving moment of grief and gratitude for the band and fans.
- The reunion ties into the band’s 50th anniversary and the announced Origins 1971–1978 box set due this fall, which includes remastered early albums and previously unreleased tracks and is likely to renew interest in Petty’s early work.