Pullin’ ‘Tubes: The Return of Mudcrutch
Before anyone had heard of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers there was Mudcrutch – Petty’s original band made up of his Gainesville buddies. The band released one single in 1975 on Shelter Records called Depot Street, and broke up when the label was more interested in Tom as a solo act.
Peter Bogdanovich’s lengthy documentary Runnin’ Down A Dream helped rekindle Petty’s desire to get the band back together. Today, some 30 years after they brokeup, Mudcrutch’s long delayed “debut” album hits stores. The first single off the album, Love Of The Bayou, is full of that classic Petty sound:
For those keeping score at home that’s Tom on bass – the instrument he originally played in the band. Petty, along with The Heatbreakers, hits the road at the end of next month for a full slate of summer tour dates with Steve Winwood in tow.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Saw them at The Troubadour here in L.A. last Friday night, on my 34th birthday. It was truly an incredible show, with some of the best guitar and keyboard work I have ever seen or heard live in my life, courtesy of Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Tom Leadon. Tom was in fine and rare form, with his family in the house and the fans right up close taking it all in. He can play a pretty mean bass too, and Randall Marsh backed it with perfection. I have a lot of favorite bands and a lot of favorite musicians…and not many of them can touch what Mudcrutch did last Friday night, and that new CD backs it up all the way.