\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen the history of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers<\/a> is told, their third LP, 1979\u2019s Damn the Torpedoes<\/em>, is often characterized as the breakthrough that forever changed their fortunes. And while there\u2019s quite a bit of truth to that, it obscures the fact that it was preceded by two stellar albums, several of their most beloved singles, and nonstop touring that earned them a big fan base in the U.K. and America. Prior to all that, Petty recorded a lot of music with his early band Mudcrutch and during an aborted solo career that followed in the immediate aftermath of their implosion, even though very little of it was actually released.<\/p>\n \n\tThis fascinating era is finally getting the love it deserves in the revelatory Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers box set Origins 1971-1978<\/em>, which arrives Nov. 6. It includes several Mudcrutch recordings, songs Petty created with Al Kooper, Leon Russell, Jim Jordan, and Emory Gordon shortly before the Heartbreakers came together in late 1975, remastered editions of 1976\u2019s Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers <\/em>and 1978\u2019s You\u2019re Gonna Get It!<\/em>, studio outtakes, a complete concert they played at the Record Plant in 1977, and their performance on BBC\u2019s Old Grey Whistle Test<\/em> in 1978.<\/p>\n \n\tTo chat about these formative years for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, we hopped on Zoom with bassist Ron Blair<\/a> and keyboardist Benmont Tench<\/a>. The conversation covers the early days of Mudcrutch, the formation of the Heartbreakers, the creation of \u201cAmerican Girl,\u201d the endless slog of their early touring, Blair\u2019s return to the band in 2002 after a two-decade hiatus, the band\u2019s recent performance with Chris Stapleton at the 2026 Americana Honors, and the possibility of future reunions.<\/p>\n \n\tRon, you obviously weren\u2019t in Mudcrutch. When do you recall first coming across them?<\/strong>
Blair:<\/strong> I went to Gainesville my second year of college, and the town kind of freaked me out. It was 1968, I think, when I got there. It was just this hippie town, like what I saw on TV of San Francisco. And my dad was in the military. I\u2019d been in Japan for three years. I was in culture shock, and Gainesville just freaked me out. The alligators and the swamp and the flatness of it. And there were a million musicians.<\/p>\n