Tom Petty passed away suddenly in 2017, but his legacy remains, and so do most of his greatest collaborators. On Wednesday night, the Americana Music Honors & Awards gave their Lifetime Achievement Award to Petty and his Heartbreakers, and the six surviving Heartbreakers reunited to perform with country star Chris Stapleton.
Last night's Americana Music Honors ceremony went down at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium, and the evening started off with original heartbreakers Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Stan Lynch, and Ron Blair playing "American Girl" and "Breakdown" with Chris Stapleton. Original Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch left the band in 1994, and he hadn't played with the band since they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2002.
After that, two more Heartbreakers, Steve Ferrone and Scott Thurston joined the rest of the band and Stapleton for "You Wreck Me." I tell you what, that's a song.
Last night's other Lifetime Achievement Awards were Robert Plant, who performed at the ceremony, and the late Dolly Parton. who accepted in a pre-taped message before she passed away a few weeks ago.
Emmylou Harris gave the introduction to Parton's pre-taped acceptance, and Brandi Carlile and I'm With Her paid tribute by covering "Coat Of Many Colors."
Molly Tuttle won the award for Americana Artist Of The Year at last night's show, and Tyler Childers took home Album Of The Year for Snipe Hunter. The night's other performers included Margo Price, S.G. Goodman, and Kathleen Edwards. The videos embedded above are all fan-made, but you can watch the full broadcast below.
Yesterday, the Tom Petty estate announced the 50th anniversary box set Origins 1971-1978, which will include previously unreleased tracks from Petty's earliest days. They shared a video one of those songs, "Parade Of Loons," and the whole thing comes out 11/6 on UMe.
