His first album hit the streets in 1976 and initially its arrival caused few heads to turn. Music fans were confused; were these a bunch of punks or 1960s revivalists with a liking for Gene Clark era Byrds? Fortunately, as is so often the case, the UK seemed to ‘get it’ pretty soon after the records release there and it reached #24 on the British chart. News travelled West, and a full year after the home turf release Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers entered the Billboard chart. Shortly thereafter second album You're Gonna Get It! was released, and became a hit right away.
The rest, as they say, is history. But its relatively recent history about which any number of books, films and of course superlative albums are readily available for students of this remarkable performer to delve into.
This three disc set adds to that body of work by making available in one collection a number of broadcast recordings from the live canon of Tom Petty and his veritable Heartbreakers.