Tom Petty was far and away one of the most prolific and consistently great songwriters of the past five decades. Beginning with his debut album Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers in 1978, the Florida native put together a discography that in terms of sheer quality can go toe-to-toe with just about any other artist you can name. That’s not even to mention the many b-sides and discarded tracks he left by the wayside, many of which has been collected on his new career-spanning box set, An American Treasure.
One of the best and most buoyant songs from that collection is a song called “Gainesville,” that was recorded around 1998 during the sessions for his album Echo. Today, Petty’s estate has decided to share a brand new video for that particular song, filled with archival shots of the singer in his natural environment.
In his spot-on review of Petty’s latest archival project, Uproxx’s own Steven Hyden described the set as “A surprisingly good introduction for neophytes, no matter the dearth of hits. You already know ‘American Girl’ by heart. Now it’s time to meet the flawed, achingly vulnerable man who built all of those national monuments.”
Tom Petty’s new box set An American Treasure is out now via Reprise Records. You can pick up your copy here. Watch “Gainesville” above.
