Tom Petty's Florida
Tributes & Troves: Nobody’s Children
American Legion Hall, a significant part of Tom Petty's coming-of-age
American Legion Hall, a significant part of Tom Petty's coming-of-age
513 E University Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/UqSfR4xt7wZJeQeS9
While today this is the Matheson History Museum, this building was once the American Legion Hall. It is where there were once held dances and concerts for the youth of Gainesville. As a teenager, Tom Petty attended numerous concerts by local bands here. And it is where he performed while he was a student in his early bands, the Sundowners and the Epics.
If buildings could tell stories, this one would tell you that one night while Tom and neighborhood friend Keith Harben, both 15 at the time, were at an event here, they left in a friend's car to go to a nearby convenience store where Tom and Keith each acquired -- and downed -- a quart of Miller beer.
"We shared our first beers together," Keith told me, and "we got pretty wasted."
It is from the American Legion Hall that, at age 16, Tom Petty left in the middle of a dance with a girl with the intention of parking at Lake Alice on the campus of the University of Florida. Into this lake, which is home to countless alligators, is where Petty accidentally drove his car, a white Chevrolet Impala.
Keith Harben, Tom's neighborhood friend, told me that they were at a dance together here one night. Tom, who had very recently received his driver's license, drove them in Tom's recently acquired car, which he got from his mother after she got a new car. During the dance, Tom left with a date in his car to go parking. Tom told Keith he'd be back to pick him up at the dance. Later that night when Tom hadn't shown up, Keith became worried. Eventually, Tom's mother showed up in the family car to pick up Keith -- with an embarrassed Tom riding along.
To read about this, see this Gainesville Sun article: https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/local/2017/10/08/tom-petty-rebel-and-friend/18354679007/
Today this is a regional history museum with an adjacent library that houses some artifacts related to Tom Petty. This includes a copy of The Hurricane, Petty's high school yearbook in which you will find his class picture and feature photos of Gainesville bands, including the Epics.
The museum has also curated exhibitions about Petty, as it did in in fall 2019 and winter 2020 with an exhibit titled "Tom Petty’s Gainesville: Where Dreams Began," as noted in this Gainesville Downtown webpage:
In spring 2024, the museum unveiled its Great Southern Music Hill exhibit that included artifacts about Tom Petty and Mudcrutch, Stan Lynch and Road Turkey, and Archer resident Bo Diddley.
Photo by Shawn Murphy
Thomas Ctr., where Benmont Tench Day proclaimed, city key presented
American Legion Hall, a significant part of Tom Petty's coming-of-age
302 NE 6th Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/8Mweh1yK4Bud2jHJ7
Benmont Tench Day in the City of Gainesville, Fla., was declared by Mayor Harvey Ward here in the historic Thomas Center on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. As part of the ceremony, Ward read the framed proclamation plus presented Tench a key to the city – adding to his collection of keys from when Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers received them during their homecoming years from 1981 to 2006. This was the first time that Tench had received a solo key to the city rather than as a member of the Heartbreakers.
I was on hand for the event during another research trip to Gainesville for my Tom Petty Trail website. From the third row, I videotaped the 10-minute-long Ward presentation and Tench speech, which can be found at the Tom Petty Trail YouTube channel, found here:
https://www.youtube.com/@tompettytrail
Or viewed directly from this YouTube link:
Benmont’s wife, Alice Carbone Tench, and their daughter, Catherine, were on hand for the occasion, sitting next to him in the front row. As the podium, Benmont told the audience, assembled for the mayor’s annual State of the City address, that they surprised him by showing up unannounced in his hotel room the night before.
Benmont Tench was in town to play two nights at the sold-out Squitieri Theater at the Curtis M. Phillips Center (3201 Hull Road) on the campus of the University of Florida the nights of Feb. 18 and 19.
The Gainesville Sun covered the event with a story by Elliot Tritto, and photos and video by Allan Youngblood. That coverage can be found here (note that you may encounter a paywall):
Main St. Daily News also covered the event. To read the story and see the photos by Seth Johnson, go here:
https://www.mainstreetdailynews.com/govt-politics/gainesville-state-of-the-city-2026
Ward said in his set-up to the awards presentation to Tench, “No rock band has better embodied the American tradition of rebellion, attitude and expression than the Heartbreakers.”
The proclamation for Benmont Tench Day, read by Ward, noted that he “has enjoyed a distinguished career as a solo artist and one of the most respected and sought-after studio musicians in popular music, collaborating with the most influential songwriters and performers of the past half century.” Ward noted that due to Tench’s “enduring artistry, humility, and dedication to the craft, he has brought lasting recognition and pride to the city of Gainesville, inspiring musicians, songwriters, and music lovers everywhere while demonstrating the profound cultural impact of creativity nurtured in our community.”
Benmont mouthed the word “wow” when Ward finished reading the proclamation. Ward then presented Tench with a key to the key mounted on a plaque, as well as a framed photograph of Benmont’s grandfather, who served as mayor of Gainesville in 1935 and 1936.
On an inside wall of the hallway in Gainesville City Hall (200 E. University Ave.) are photos of previous mayors, including B.M. Tench. While this is a mapped location along the Tom Petty Trail (https://tompettytrail.com/deep-tracks), to see this portrait, a security guard escort is required.
“I don’t know what to say. What an honor. What an honor,” Tench said after receiving the trifecta of keepsakes. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I love this city so much. After my parents passed away, I kept their house for 10 years. My sister, Rachel, lived in it,” he said while gesturing to the front row where she sat, adding, with a giggle, that she “made sure that it didn’t fall down. But I found myself with a family and out west and … unable to come back to Gainesville as often as I would have liked. So, I don’t have that house anymore, but we’re going to drive by and wave at it.”
The Tench family home (321 NW 23rd St.) is one of the trail stops along the Tom Petty Trail (https://tompettytrail.com/deep-tracks), with the notation that this is a private home at which the property and its neighbors must be treated with respect.
“This town is so special,” Tench continued. “When I was a kid, I could go to my neighbor’s house and see some of the finest bluegrass musicians I’ve seen in my life to this day – playing in somebody’s living room. My father (Benjamin Montmorency Tench II, an attorney and circuit court judge for nearly 50 years) played classical guitar, jazz guitar, and classical piano. My mother (Mary Catherine McInnis “Katie” Tench) played piano. It was simply a remarkable – remarkable – city for the arts and for music. So, I was so blessed to have grown up here. It’s a really incredibly supportive community. And I’m really blessed to have been wandering around Lipham Music with Buster Lipham saying, ‘Try this, try that, try this keyboard.’ And over in the corner were a bunch of older kids. I was 12, they were 15 – so they might as well have been 40. And one of them was Tom Petty. And so a couple years later when I met him at some club, he (recognized me and) went, ‘Aha!’ And I’m like, “Aha!’”
Lipham Music, located on the south end of the Gainesville Shopping Center (1010 N. Main St.) was an incubator for musicians from across the region. Among them would be teenage musicians who would later be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with groups such as the Allman Brothers Band, the Eagles, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. This is in large part due to Buster Lipham allowing them as teens to try out instruments in the store before purchasing them on a handshake credit system of consistent payments.
For this, Buster was also honored by Mayor Harvey Ward at this event. Accepting the award on behalf of Buster, who could not attend due to his health, was Gregg McMillan, a musician best known as a member of the Dixie Deperadoes. McMillan shared a brief statement provided to him by Buster Lipham, who thanked “the music community.”
“People have asked, ‘Was it something in the water?’ No,” Buster Lipham said, as relayed by McMillan, “just talented and motivated kids who wanted to be the best they could be, along with parents who supported them. But, the water does taste better here than in Texas,” where he had previously lived.
Lipham Music – where a young Benmont Tench impressed an older Tom Petty by playing “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” on the piano – is a mapped trail stop along the Tom Petty Trail, found in the Teen+ Years section here:
https://tompettytrail.com/teen%2B-years
Concluding his speech, Tench said, with his hands clasped together before him: ‘I don’t know what to say. This is a giant, giant honor. My wife and my child told me they couldn’t come because my kid’s 8 and she’s in school. And I got to the hotel last night. I opened the door, and I said to my friend, Gregg, ‘There’s somebody in there,’ and I slammed the door – and it was them here!”
Benmont then introduced his family to the audience, wife Alice and daughter “Cassie.”
Included in the Tom Petty Trail Photo Gallery is a slideshow of photos from Gainesville’s news media and myself that document Benmont Tench Day in an historic respository. That can be found here:
https://tompettytrail.com/photo-gallery
The Thomas Center today is part cultural center and museum, part city offices. It was once a private residence of William Reuben Thomas, a grand hotel, and part of Santa Fe Junior College. To learn more about its history, go here:
http://www.historicthomascenter.org/explore-learn/history/
Photo by Shawn Murphy
Tom Petty Alley, a tribute sign that leads to Heartwood Soundstage
Tom Petty Alley, a tribute sign that leads to Heartwood Soundstage
600-758 SE 1st St, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/wxWx7mSGgU2WBX6N9
Site of the Tom Petty Alley sign, which is attached to a telephone pole at the intersection of SE 6th Ave. and SE 1st St. Down this dirt alleyway, which essentially is the southern terminus of SE 1st St., is the Tom Petty mural adjacent to Heartwood Soundstage.
Photo by Shawn Murphy
Heartwood Soundstage, site of mural of Tom in Wonderland
Tom Petty Alley, a tribute sign that leads to Heartwood Soundstage
619 S Main St, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/QSbbHQKdd5qwNzZ8A
Site of Tom Petty in Wonderland mural by artist Andrew Spear. To learn more about the artist, check out his Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/andrewjspear/
The mural, is adjacent to Heartwood Soundstage, a concert venue that hosts the annual Tom Petty Weekend concerts. In November 2025 I was invited to be a storyteller for the event. To watch my talk, and to see some of the videos shot that weekend during the musician concerts, go to the YouTube channel (@TomPettyTrail) at:
https://www.youtube.com/@tompettytrail
Note that this mural is on the west side of the end of a building that faces Heartwood Soundstage. If you are facing the stage, the mural is to your left as you look east.
Photo by Shawn Murphy
34th Street Wall, site of iconic Petty mural honoring G'ville native
34th Street, Gainesville, FL 32607
https://maps.app.goo.gl/g7uUDWpPRC9FQms37
Constructed in 1979 as a functional wall to separate the University of Florida golf course from the widened road, it has become a Gainesville-centric concrete and paint canvas for graffiti artists. While murals on this 1,120-foot wall along SW 34th Street have come and gone for decades, you will now find two quasi-permanent memorial murals.
One is to the five University of Florida students who were murdered by a serial killer in 1990. Note that Sadie Darnell, Tom Petty’s first cousin who grew up next door to him, was the city police department’s spokesperson at the time; she went on to serve as the Alachua County sheriff from 2006 to 2021.
Next to that you will find the Tom Petty mural. It has always read “Gainesville No. 1 Son.” Over time, as it has been repainted, there have been expressions such as “Love you always, Thanks, Tommy” and “Welcome to Dreamville. Gainesville, where I was born. No. 1 Son. Big Town!”
The Tom Petty mural was created in October 2017 right after his death, but was defaced a few months later. It was then resurrected and maintained by local artist – and fellow Tom Petty fan – Blake Harrison from nearby Micanopy.
Harrison died of cancer in July 2024, as covered in this ABC affiliate WCJB's report:
https://www.wcjb.com/2024/07/22/tom-petty-muralist-dies-after-battle-with-cancer/
In February 2026, the Tom Petty mural was painted over yet again, along with several murals alongside it. I happened to be in Gainesville at the time while on another research trip for my Tom Petty Trail website. While I had previously mapped the mural as a trail stop (found in this section: https://tompettytrail.com/tributes-%26-troves) and taken a photograph of the mural last year, I recognized that it can be slightly modified by community artists over time. When I stopped on Feb. 15 to take an updated photo, it looked pretty much the same as what Harrison had painted, aside from a couple of small Grateful Dead dancing bears added at the bottom. But within a couple days, I read a comment on social media by Al Lightheart, a Facebook friend who lives in Gainesville, that it had been painted over. So on Feb. 20 I drove there again to see for myself. Sure enough, the Petty mural along with several murals down the hill to the left had been painted black with white lettering that advertised an upcoming student group event on the University of Florida campus. After I posted the before-and-after photos on a few social media platforms, hundreds of people wrote comments or left emojis. Most expressed sadness, frustration, dismay, and/or anger.
Yet there were those who talked about a Tom Petty mural rebirth. People offered to donate money and their artistic services. Some expressed the importance of protecting it from being covered over again. Within a few weeks, the mural was repainted by Harry Michaels, a 72-year-old resident who grew up seeing Mudcrutch at various bars around town in the early 1970s and who befriended band members and would see them back in Gainesville in the 1980s while Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were on hiatus.
The Independent Florida Alligator, the student-run newspaper at the University of Florida, covered the story in its March 3 issue, which can be read here:
https://www.alligator.org/article/2026/03/tom-petty-mural
When I reached out to Harry Michael, another Facebook friend, he said that Deb Mongiardo-Hamilton “was instrumental by asking if I could help.
I know from reading comments on Facebook that there are others involved in making this happen. At the risk of omitting anyone who deserves credit, I will defer to the comments left by Gainesvillians to the social media post I make about the resurrected mural.
“Hell, I live two blocks away from the wall, got a work van to carry paints, got the talent to fix it,” Michael told me via Facebook Messenger. “Can’t let it stay flat black waiting for more crap graffiti! Now we all feel a little happier in town. … It has a heavy rolled coat of clear silicone over entire wall to protect it from west sun.”
He explained that if someone tries to spray paint the mural now, it “won’t stick,” and instead “beads up.”
This 2018 story by WUFT, Gainesville’s NPR and PBS affiliate, gives a broad overview of the wall’s history:
Note that SW 34th Street is a busy four-lane road with no public parking near the mural, so plan accordingly. Your best bet is to find a place to park on the outskirts of the wall and walk down a sidewalk on either side of the street. The wall is located south of SW 2nd Avenue and north of Radio Road.
Photo by Shawn Murphy
'Among the wildflowers' mural, located on Petty's elementary school
312 NW 16th Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/cpbBWuSzKAPiaERh7
Sidney Lanier Elementary School was Tom Petty’s first school.
Today it is the site of the “you belong among the wildflowers” mural in his honor, which was painted by Gainesville artist Jesus Martinez and his wife, according to this report by WUFT, Gainesville's NPR station:
Note that today this is a school for children with special needs. You cannot just walk onto the school property. The mural is located on the end of one of the buildings, facing east. There is a fence along NW 2nd Street. You can take a photograph from the sidewalk alongside the fence.
Photo by Shawn Murphy
'And the world got still' mural by fellow fan Blake Harrison
1701 S Main St, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/EQdW6Ntw4wTihgfw5
Site of the "and the world got still" Tom Petty mural that was created by local artist -- and fellow Petty fan -- Blake Harrison from nearby Micanopy. This article, from the May/June 2018 issue of Our Town Magazine, profiles Harrison and his tribute mural: https://issuu.com/towerpublications/docs/otgv_2018-03-may-june/52
Blake Harrison died of cancer in July 2024, as covered in this ABC affiliate WCJB's report:
https://www.wcjb.com/2024/07/22/tom-petty-muralist-dies-after-battle-with-cancer/
Note that this mural is on the south side of the building on the east side of South Main Street where it intersects with SW 16th Avenue. There is no parking near the mural at this busy intersection. Your best bet is to find a place to park on opposite sides of the intersection at the various retail businesses there. Use the crosswalks for safety.
Photo by Shawn Murphy
Hidden mural, located on fenced-in property behind vacant business
224 NW 8th Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/rkyNXxLKLtDtVGbB7
Site of a Tom Petty mural on the west side of a building behind a fence for a now defunct business (B Side Vintage, a music store). You can see it from the sidewalk, though -- unless the stars align and the gate just happens to be wide open, as it was for me in December 2024.
Photo by Shawn Murphy
“Runnin’ Down a Dream” mural in artsy downtown parking garage
105 SW 3rd St, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/nHn1K2h8aCmkJ8Pt5
The Tom Petty “Runnin’ Down a Dream” mural is located inside a downtown Gainesville parking garage that was part of an art installment by the Urban Revitalization Project (URP). The Petty mural is located inside the garage on the ground floor.
With this project, URP’s intention was to add color to a drab four-story concrete garage and thus help to further beautify the city’s downtown. Plus it served as a canvas for community artists to showcase their talents. Murals, which adorn the outside and inside of the city-owned Southwest Downtown Parking Garage, were created by various community artists in 2018 as part of an art installment orchestrated by the URP, a non-profit organization whose program director is Guido Montenegro, according to its website. The URP website states that the murals embrace the mindset “that every community has its unique personality, history, and culture that deserves to be emphasized and preserved.”
To watch a 2018 story about the garage murals by WCJB, Gainesville’s ABC affiliate, go here:
And to hear Montenegro highlight the project in this URP-produced video, to here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWHIgUo4PV8
The parking garage touches SW 3rd Street to the west and SW 2nd Street to the east. And it is in the middle of the city block that is south of University Avenue and north of SW 2nd Avenue. As of August 2025, the completely automated garage had a base rate of 50 cents per hour from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the city’s website, where a visit could park to view this mural.
This is just one of a handful of Tom Petty murals throughout the city. Note that all of them can be found in this section of the Tom Petty Trail website: https://tompettytrail.com/tributes-%26-troves.
Others include:
- The SW 34th Street mural, which is part of a series of murals along an 1,120-foot wall. The Tom Petty mural by the late Blake Harrison, a Micanopy artist, reads: “Love you always, Gainesville No. 1 Son, Thanks, Tommy.”
- The “you belong among the wildflowers” mural on the side of Sidney Lanier Elementary School, which was Tom Petty’s first school. The mural, which was painted by Gainesville artist Jesus Martinez and his wife, according to a report by WUFT, Gainesville’s NPR station, has Petty strumming a guitar with a sunburst behind him.
- The “and the world got still” mural on South Main Street, which was also created by the late Blake Harrison, a beloved local artist and fellow Petty fan.
- The Tom Petty in Wonderland mural by artist Andrew Spear is adjacent to Heartwood Soundstage, a concert venue that hosts the annual Tom Petty Weekend concerts. Located at the end of Tom Petty Alley, the mural shows Petty in a tophat like in the 1985 video for “Don’t Come Around Here No More.”
- The mural that shows Petty in a tophat and a pair of sunglasses is located on NW 8th Avenue. Because it is behind a fence for a property for a now-defunct business, you will likely have to view this from the sidewalk.
Photo by Shawn Murphy
Cade Museum, host to periodic exhibits of Tom Petty artifacts
First Magnitude, crafter of tribute beers, such as Learning to Rye
811 S. Main St., Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/AJ8SqkZhF8MDc8Gr9
Since its opening in 2018, the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention has periodically hosted Tom Petty exhibits, including one from June through October 2024, titled "Tom Petty: Among the Wildflowers," where artifacts on loan from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, were displayed. For further information about current exhibits and getting timed-entry tickets, go here: https://cademuseum.org/visit/whatson/
While the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should generally be on your bucket travel list, you can explore what's there at their website:
To learn more about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' 2002 induction into the HOF, go here:
https://rockhall.com/inductees/tom-petty-and-heartbreakers/
At the above link, you can watch Jakob Dylan deliver the induction speech, watch the Heartbreakers individually comment on their induction, and watch the band perform "American Girl" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance." In addition, you can read the Hall of Fame essay by rock journalist Bill Flanagan, today a host of "Flanagan's Wake" on Sirius XM's Tom Petty Radio.
Graphic courtesy of Cade Museum
First Magnitude, crafter of tribute beers, such as Learning to Rye
First Magnitude, crafter of tribute beers, such as Learning to Rye
First Magnitude, crafter of tribute beers, such as Learning to Rye
1220 SE Veitch St, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/kL3e65Wo3CtTDJo99
This brewery was one of the host sites for the first Tom Petty birthday celebration in 2018. And it has since brewed various beers inspired by Gainesville's native son, Tom Petty, such as Learning to Rye, a Rye IPA with Citra and Nelson Sauvin hops; You Don't Know How It Peels, a citrus ale; Won't Bock Down, a helles bock; and American Swirl, a chocolate and vanilla brown ale. It also has brewed Luna Lager, as well as a citrus blond ale called Honey Bee, perhaps with the Heartbreakers song in mind.
In addition, it held a 2023 event in his honor around the time of his birthday, which they called Don't Brew Me Like That.
On the wall inside the brewery you can find a poster for their Learning to Rye beer.
First Magnitude is a good place to have a conversation about Petty with some nice folks, as I found out when I stopped by for a flight of beers in January 2024, my first research trip to Gainesville for this website.
Photo by Shawn Murphy. Shown in photo, from left to right are: Bob Costello, Cathy Costello, Ann Goodman, Susie Breier, Steve Boissoneault (partially obscured), Steve Noll and Beverly Noll. Thank you to Steve Noll for helping me identify everyone.
Swamp Head Brewery, crafter of Among the Wildflowers tribute beer
First Magnitude, crafter of tribute beers, such as Learning to Rye
First Magnitude, crafter of tribute beers, such as Learning to Rye
3650 SW 42nd Ave, Gainesville, FL 32608
https://maps.app.goo.gl/i9mvVeEWR5xgcYbr7
This brewery has canned "Among the Wildflowers," an American kolsch made in honor of Gainesville's Tom Petty. You can read about this special beer in this Gainesville Sun article:
Photo courtesy of Swamp Head Brewery
The Top, where its menu features a tribute sandwich, Tom Patty Melt
The Top, where its menu features a tribute sandwich, Tom Patty Melt
The Top, where its menu features a tribute sandwich, Tom Patty Melt
30 N Main St, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pvTiK343L9wBArrw5
This downtown restaurant has a standing menu item in its burgers section. Named in honor of Gainesville's Tom Petty, the "Tom Patty Melt" is served with bacon, sauteed onions, Swiss cheese and a "top secret sauce."
Photo by Shawn Murphy
Kin Cocktail, where it makes a tribute drink, Full Moon Fever
The Top, where its menu features a tribute sandwich, Tom Patty Melt
The Top, where its menu features a tribute sandwich, Tom Patty Melt
9 W University Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601
https://maps.app.goo.gl/mWq89SLBXwMqfYPt8
Kin Cocktail Bar in downtown Gainesville has offered a Tom Petty tribute cocktail, the mezcal-based Full Moon Fever, which also serves to pay homage to Dub’s, the music venue that was once located at 4562 NW 13th St. (now a Social Security building) where Mudcrutch – the precursor to the Heartbreakers – once had a standing nightly gig. Dub’s was, by all accounts, also where patrons in the early 1970s were much more likely to drink cheap beer than fancy cocktails!
"Full Moon Fever is a tribute to Dub’s, the hallowed ground in Gainesville where Tom Petty made his start," the bar noted in a social media post about this special cocktail, which is described like this: "Made with mezcal, Amaro Averna, grapefruit, lime, salted sage honey and turmeric bitters, this legendary cocktail is served with an Ice Doctor collins cube and tastes like rock’n’roll."
To see a photograph of the deep orange-colored cocktail with its oversized ice cube, which is adorned with a silver-colored g clef music symbol and a black tassel, see Kin Cocktail Bar's Instagram post here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DACODDhupXs/?hl=en
Photo by Shawn Murphy
The Earl, an apartment complex that honors Tom Petty
Venue of Tench shows, Mudcrutch reunion, Tom Petty tribute ballet
Venue of Tench shows, Mudcrutch reunion, Tom Petty tribute ballet
124 SW 62nd St, Gainesville, FL 32607
https://maps.app.goo.gl/LWNTzHD4QQ1WS12G7
On the west side of Gainesville, near Interstate 75, is an apartment complex called The Earl, where the owners have embraced their native son, Tom Petty, by including on its website a Tom Petty tourism page. They also feature apartment floor plans that they claim to be inspired by Tom Petty, with names like The Rickenbacker and The Wildflower. “Tom Petty fans will appreciate that each floor plan is named after one of the favorite guitars of this iconic musician,” its website reads.
To see the “Tom Petty inspired floor plans,” go here:
https://www.theearl.apartments/floorplans
And to see The Earl’s Tom Petty tribute page, go here:
https://www.theearl.apartments/tom-pettys-gainesville-roots
An ironic twist is the name of the apartment complex. While it is unknown to me why it was named The Earl, that name was ever-present in the life of Tom Petty -- or Thomas Earl Petty -- as he explained to Paul Zollo for the book Conversations With Tom Petty: “My dad’s middle name was Earl. My grandmother on my mother's side's ex-husband's name was Earl. My mother's sister married two guys named Earl. First husband named Earl, no good; then she married another guy named Earl And my middle name is Earl. My grandmother (maternal grandmother Troas H. Avery) would not say the name ‘Earl.’ She thought it was some kind of jinx. She called my dad ‘Petty.’ And my uncle, they called him Jernigan, 'cause his name was Earl Jernigan. And she referred to him as Jernigan and my dad as Petty, because her ex had been named Earl. She didn't like my father at all, because he was a wild, gambling drinker guy. And her other daughter had two husbands named Earl. It was a trip” (pg. 8).
Photo courtesy of The Earl
Venue of Tench shows, Mudcrutch reunion, Tom Petty tribute ballet
Venue of Tench shows, Mudcrutch reunion, Tom Petty tribute ballet
Venue of Tench shows, Mudcrutch reunion, Tom Petty tribute ballet
3201 Hull Rd, Gainesville, FL 32607
https://maps.app.goo.gl/vrFMcrGkkeS1q6Sb8
On the night of Feb. 19, 2026, here outside the Squitieri Studio Theater, a 200-seat black box theater located inside the Curtis M. Phillips Center on the campus of the University of Florida, where Benmont Tench played the last of his two sold-out homecoming shows, a Mudcrutch reunion of sorts took place: Benmont Tench, Danny Roberts, and loading-up-the-van Sandy Stringfellow.
In the lobby after Tench’s concert, Danny Roberts, Mudcrutch alumnus 1972 to 1975, got to see Benmont for the first time since Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played in 2006 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (250 Gale Lemerand Drive; mapped trail stop found in this section of the website: https://tompettytrail.com/uf-later-years). After a brief conversation after Benmont’s concert, they exchanged phone numbers.
Danny Roberts was in Mudcrutch from late October 1972 until 1975. Benmont Tench was in Mudcrutch from 1973 onward.
Roberts joined Mudcrutch at the third Halloween Masquerade Ball, on Oct. 28, 1972, held at the Plaza of the Americas, the three-acre main campus green at the University of Florida (mapped trail stop found in this section of the website: https://tompettytrail.com/uf-early-years). On the bill that night with Mudcrutch (with future Heartbreakers Tom Petty and Mike Campbell) was Road Turkey (with future Heartbreaker Stan Lynch). At the last minute, Danny Roberts, his sister Gail (who went by the stage name Nadine), and a drummer were added as an opening act. About that night, Roberts communicated with Marty Jourard, author of the 2016 book Music Everywhere: The Rock and Roll Roots of a Southern Town.
“I played a set, and when I finished, I took my little Epiphone amp to the back of the stage so that Mudcrutch could finish setting up and play as a trio of TP, Mike Campbell, and Randall Marsh,” as Roberts is quoted. “Tom and Mike said they enjoyed what I had done and asked if I’d be interested in joining their band.”
Roberts accepted, joining Mudcrutch as a guitarist, although he had played bass in Power, a powerhouse blues-rock band out of Lakeland, Fla., where he lived when the band formed. Petty would have known Roberts as they had previously been on concert bills together, such as the Gainesville Music Festival on May 22-23, 1971, at Peggi Young’s Greer’s Farm (today known as GHC Farms, Inc.). The farm in northern Levy County was the site of this Woodstock-inspired event organized by the Rose Community Center (9291 NE 140th Ave, Williston; mapped trail stop found in this section of the website: https://tompettytrail.com/deep-tracks).
Danny and Benmont were in Mudcrutch together when the band recorded demos at the Tench family home with the goal of landing a record contract (321 NW 23rd St.; mapped trail stop found in this section of the website: https://tompettytrail.com/deep-tracks). In late autumn of 1973, with the intent of recording an album’s worth of music, Mudcrutch rehearsed and recorded eight songs over two days in the front living room of the house.
For recording engineer Rick Reed's account of these sessions, read this transcript from an interview that was part of the research that Jourard did for his book, which is found at a companion website:
http://www.gainesvillerockhistory.com/RickReed.htm
Jourard’s book tell us that the band decided to bring tapes to record companies in Los Angeles unsolicited, without appointments. Tom Petty, Danny Roberts and Keith McAllister, who then served as stage manager, drove in Roberts’ 1969 VW camper van toward LA across I-10, which runs 2,400 miles across the southern tier of the U.S., from Jacksonville, Fla., to Santa Monica, Calif.
On the night of March 30, 1974, in what was then called Westside Park, a fundraiser was held for Mudcrutch to drive to Los Angeles for a recording contract (it is now called Albert “Ray” Massey Park, 1001 NW 34th St.; mapped trail stop found in this section of the website: https://tompettytrail.com/teen%2B-years). Danny Roberts and other members of Mudcrutch (Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, later the core of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) performed with members of Road Turkey (including Stan Lynch, later the first drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Marty Jourard, later a member of the Motels), members of RGF, as well as Gail Roberts and Nancy Luca (who had taken guitar lessons from Mike Campbell when he lived in a Florida Room at the back of a friend’s house, 1516 NE 7th St.; mapped trail stop found in this section of the website: https://tompettytrail.com/teen%2B-years).
The makeshift band called itself Tommy Ohmage and the Fantabulous Tornadoes (pronounced “tor-NA-does” ). The next day – April Fool’s Day – Mudcrutch, with a loaded-up van, hit the highway and drove to Los Angeles for a record deal, stopping in Tulsa at Church Studio along the way.
To hear Roberts talk about meeting Tom Petty and joining Mudcrutch, watch this interview recorded at the Church Studio in 2024:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eapYto-9r8
Also on hand for the impromptu Mudcrutch reunion was Sandy Stringfellow, a friend of Benmont and the rest of the band who served as a roadie in the early 1970s – who is named in the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ song “Gainesville” as “Sandy loading up van.”
The 1998 recording was not released until the 2018 posthumous box set “An American Treasure.” The hometown tribute song includes these lyrics:
“Good times roll and then move on
Long ago and far away,
another time, another day
Gainesville was a big town.”
To watch the nostalgic video, which includes footage of Mudcrutch playing at Mudcrutch Farm and Sandy Stringfellow loading up the van for the spring 1974 trip to California, go here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6NxbUzNM5U
In 2018, shortly before the song was released in the box set, Karina Elwood, a reporter with WUFT, the PBS and NPR affiliate in central Florida, interviewed Stringfellow for a piece headlined “A Q&A With The Van-Loading Man Named Sandy From Tom Petty’s New Song ‘Gainesville’.” To listen to Sandy talk about the early Mudcrutch days – and loading up the Volkswagen van – go here:
The Curtis M. Phillips Center’s 1,700-seat main theater is where on Oct. 10, 2025, the Dance Alive National Ballet honored Gainesville’s native son, Tom Petty, with “a journey through time, beginning with Alachua’s historic roots and culminating in Rock On! A Tom Petty Tribute Ballet,” according to its promotional material
Stan Lynch, the first drummer in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, joined Sister Hazel on stage here at the Curtis M. Phillips Center in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday night, March 7, 2026, much to the surprise of the audience. The concert concluded with a rendition of “American Girl.”
This was part of Sister Hazel’s Lyrics for Life: An Evening of Making Music Matter, an annual charity fundraiser to help raise awareness and money to fight childhood cancer. Ken Block, Sister Hazel’s lead singer, founded the charity in 2001 to honor his brother, Jeffrey, who died as a teen of cancer.
To hear Ken Block talk about the inspiration behind the charity and its annual concert, go here:
To learn more about the 501(c)3 nonprofit, go here:
https://www.lyricsforlife.org/about
Joining Sister Hazel was Stan Lynch as well as John Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls. Between ticket sales and donations made, this year’s event reportedly raised more than $800,000. This money will go toward two charities focused on fighting cancer: STOP! Children’s Cancer, and Florida Cancer Specialists Foundation. According to Lyrics for Life, “to date, the concert series has raised more than $6 million for cancer research and patient care, including more than $3.5 million generated through its annual events in Gainesville alone,” as reported by The Gainesville Sun. Lyrics for Life has donated over time more than $1.2 million to STOP! Children’s Cancer “to support pediatric oncology programs at UF Health.”
To read the Sun’s coverage of the event, go here:
Photo by WillMcC, courtesy of Wikipedia