Tom Petty ‘An American Treasure’ box set announced

Sixty track set contains a treasure trove of unreleased material

A new Tom Petty career-spanning box set, An American Treasure, has been announced for September 28th via Reprise Records. The 60 track set unveils dozens of previously unreleased recordings, alternate versions of classic songs, rarities, historic live performances and deep tracks, including the highly sought-after previously unreleased Wildflowers tracks. An American Treasure marks the first release of Tom Petty music since the artist’s tragic passing in October 2017.

The first single from An American Treasure is “Keep A Little Soul” — a previously unreleased recording from 1982 sessions that resulted in Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ classic album, Long After Dark. The video featuring rare never-before-seen footage of the band has also been released. The song is also available with each pre-order.

Petty’s daughter, Adria Petty, and his wife, Dana Petty, were the primary catalysts for the commission, creation and release of An American Treasure­ — a tribute and love letter pointing to the music in between the hits, and a strong musical portrait of the person they know in their hearts. Adria and Dana both serve as the project’s Executive Producers, and, together with Petty’s bandmates of 45 years, Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, and his studio collaborator, Ryan Ulyate, curated the box set’s track list from Petty’s rich song catalog. Campbell, Tench and Ulyate also produced An American Treasure.

The creation of An American Treasure was a true labor of love, as Adria Petty and Dana Petty explain, “Everyone involved in this project chose each track with tremendous care and deep respect for the body of work Tom Petty created over the course of 40 years. He also accumulated a wealth of unreleased music in his vaults, and we have collectively uncovered one gem after another that will keep us all listening and discovering new facets of Tom’s talent for many years to come. We can’t wait to share with Tom’s fans this musical portrait of an artist who deeply affected our culture and indelibly touched the lives of fans the world over.”

The custom cover artwork for An American Treasure was created by prominent American artist Shepard Fairey from an image of Petty by renowned photographer Mark Seliger.

The set will be available in multiple formats, including a 4 CD Deluxe Edition that features all 60 tracks, plus a 52-page booklet with rare and previously unseen photographs of Petty, his bandmates, family and friends. The booklet also features detailed track-by-track liner notes by noted journalist and Tom Petty aficionado Bud Scoppa, who drew upon his previous interviews with Petty and new conversations with Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Ryan Ulyate, as well as Adria and Dana Petty.

An American Treasure: Super Deluxe Limited Edition is a 4 CD set that features all 60 tracks and an 84-page hardbound book expanded from the Deluxe Edition to include many additional photographs and an essay by renowned author Nicholas Dawidoff – written especially for An American Treasure – that speaks to Tom Petty’s presence in our lives and influence on our culture for more than 40 years. This TomPetty.com special package also includes a newly-created lithograph of Shepard Fairey’s cover artwork, as well as custom reproductions of Tom Petty’s handwritten lyrics to four songs featured in this collection and a numbered certificate of authenticity.

An American Treasure: Vinyl Edition contains 6 LPs with features all 60 tracks and a 48-page booklet containing all of the photographic and editorial elements found in the CD Deluxe Edition. This set also includes the Nicholas Dawidoff essay. This special vinyl edition will be released on Friday, November 23rd, but is available for pre-order now.

An American Treasure: Standard Edition is a 2 CD set that features 26 career spanning tracks chosen from the Deluxe editions, as well as Bud Scoppa’s detailed track-by-track.

All newly released recordings on An American Treasure have been mixed by Ryan Ulyate from pristine transfers of the original studio multitrack masters. All 60 recordings have been remastered for this collection by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

A countdown on Petty’s website led fans to speculate that the highly-anticipated Wildflowers: All The Rest double album would finally be released. “Somewhere Under Heaven” was released in June 2015 as the first single from the project that has yet to see the light of day. Wildflowers was initially intended to be a double CD when it was released in 1994. Five of the album’s tracks are included in this set with three previously unreleased.

CD 1:

1. Surrender (Previously unreleased track from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers sessions—1976)
2. Listen To Her Heart (Live at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA—November 11, 1977)
3. Anything That’s Rock ‘N’ Roll (Live at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA—November 11, 1977)
4. When The Time Comes (Album track from You’re Gonna Get It!—May 2, 1978)
5. You’re Gonna Get It (Alternate version featuring strings from You’re Gonna Get It! sessions—1978)
6. Radio Promotion Spot 1977
7. Rockin’ Around (With You) (Album track from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers —November 9, 1976)
8. Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It) (Alternate version from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers—1976)
9. Breakdown (Live at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA—November 11, 1977)
10. The Wild One, Forever (Album track from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers—November 9, 1976)
11. No Second Thoughts (Album track from You’re Gonna Get It!—May 2, 1978)
12. Here Comes My Girl (Alternate version from Damn The Torpedoes sessions—1979)
13. What Are You Doing In My Life (Alternate version from Damn The Torpedoes sessions—1979)
14. Louisiana Rain (Alternate version from Damn The Torpedoes sessions—1979)
15. Lost In Your Eyes (Previously unreleased single from Mudcrutch sessions—1974)

CD 2:

1. Keep A Little Soul (Previously unreleased track from Long After Dark sessions—1982)
2. Even The Losers (Live at Rochester Community War Memorial, Rochester, NY—1989)
3. Keeping Me Alive (Previously unreleased track from Long After Dark sessions—1982)
4. Don’t Treat Me Like A Stranger (B-side to UK single of “I Won’t Back Down”—April, 1989)
5. The Apartment Song (Demo recording (with Stevie Nicks)—1984)
6. Concert Intro (Live introduction by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Forum, Inglewood, CA—June 28, 1981)
7. King’s Road (Live at The Forum, Inglewood, CA—June 28, 1981)
8. Clear The Aisles (Live concert announcement by Tom Petty, The Forum, Inglewood, CA—June 28, 1981)
9. A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me) (Live at The Forum, Inglewood, CA—June 28, 1981)
10. Straight Into Darkness (Alternate version from The Record Plant, Hollywood, CA—May 5, 1982)
11. You Can Still Change Your Mind (Album track from Hard Promises—May 5, 1981)
12. Rebels (Alternate version from Southern Accents sessions—1985)
13. Deliver Me (Alternate version from Long After Dark sessions—1982)
14. Alright For Now (Album track from Full Moon Fever—April 24, 1989)
15. The Damage You’ve Done (Alternate version from Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) sessions—1987)
16. The Best Of Everything (Alternate version from Southern Accents sessions—March 26, 1985)
17. Walkin’ From The Fire (Previously unreleased track from Southern Accents sessions—March 1, 1984)
18. King Of The Hill (Early take (with Roger McGuinn)—November 23, 1987)

CD 3:

1. I Won’t Back Down (Live at The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA—February 4, 1997)
2. Gainesville (Previously unreleased track from Echo sessions—February 12, 1998)
3. You And I Will Meet Again (Album track from Into The Great Wide Open—July 2, 1991)
4. Into The Great Wide Open (Live at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena—November 24, 1991)
5. Two Gunslingers (Live at The Beacon Theatre, New York, NY—May 25, 2013)
6. Lonesome Dave (Previously unreleased track from Wildflowers sessions—July 23, 1993)
7. To Find A Friend (Album track from Wildflowers—November 1, 1994)
8. Crawling Back To You (Album track from Wildflowers—November 1, 1994)
9. Wake Up Time (Previously unreleased track from early Wildflowers sessions—August 12, 1992)
10. Grew Up Fast (Album track from Songs and Music from “She’s the One”—August 6, 1996)
11. I Don’t Belong (Previously unreleased track from Echo sessions—December 3, 1998)
12. Accused Of Love (Album track from Echo—April 13, 1999)
13. Lonesome Sundown (Album track from Echo—April 13, 1999)
14. Don’t Fade On Me (Previously unreleased track from Wildflowers—sessions—April 20, 1994)

CD 4:

1. You And Me (Clubhouse version—November 9, 2007)
2. Have Love Will Travel (Album track from The Last DJ—October 8, 2002)
3. Money Becomes King (Album track from The Last DJ—October 8, 2002)
4. Bus To Tampa Bay (Previously unreleased track from Hypnotic Eye sessions—August 11, 2011)
5. Saving Grace (Live at Malibu Performing Arts Center, Malibu, CA—June 16, 2006)
6. Down South (Album track from Highway Companion—July 25, 2006)
7. Southern Accents (Live at Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Gainesville, FL—September 21, 2006)
8. Insider (Live (with Stevie Nicks) at O’Connell Center, Gainesville, FL—September 21, 2006)
9. Two Men Talking (Previously unreleased track from Hypnotic Eye sessions—November 16, 2012)
10. Fault Lines (Album track from Hypnotic Eye—July 29, 2014)
11. Sins Of My Youth (Early take from Hypnotic Eye sessions—November 12, 2012)
12. Good Enough (Alternate version from Mojo sessions—2012)
13. Something Good Coming (Album track from Mojo—July 15, 2010)
14. Save Your Water (Album track from Mudcrutch 2—May 20, 2016)
15. Like A Diamond (Alternate version from The Last DJ sessions—2002)
16. Hungry No More (Live at House of Blues, Boston, MA—June 15, 2016

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com