When Tom Petty’s internal circle started to consider how you can correctly honor him within the months following his demise in October 2017, they went straight to the archives. “It was not an easy process for any of us,” says his widow, Dana Petty, one of many architects behind the field set An American Treasure, a 60-track assortment out Sept. 28 through Reprise. “It was very emotional, and, especially at first, hearing the songs was brutal. But music is healing; it got easier. It felt like Tommy would be so proud of this.”
In the top, it took Dana, Petty’s daughter Adria, Heartbreakers bandmates Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, and producer Ryan Ulyate roughly seven months to assemble the rarities, unreleased songs and dwell renditions — from an alternate model of “Straight Into Darkness” to a dwell recording of Mudcrutch’s “Hungry No More” — for the set. It will likely be launched in 4 codecs, from a two-CD package deal to a sprawling four-disc assortment with a hardbound e-book and lithograph. “If you knew nothing about the guy,” says Ulyate, “it would still be a really good set of songs you could get into and love. It’s designed to tell you a story.”
For the property, An American Treasure is merely step one in telling that story; there’s a bounty of archival music to come back. “There’s so much more in the vault, so much more that we tried to put on this record, that everyone needs to hear,” says Dana. “I just don’t want them to think we’re greedy, because it’s not about the money — it’s about getting the stuff out there for the world to love.”
This article originally appeared in the Sept. 15 issue of Billboard.
