Out of the Mud and Back
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I was just a little shaver finding my voice as a writer and pop music critic when I wrote a very favorable concert review of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. It was, I hoped, an accurate account of a club date that the folk-rock ‘n’ rollers played in Berkeley, CA., relatively early in the group’s career. And, despite my best efforts to contain my enthusiasm, it veered perilously close to one of those gushing I-have-seen-the-future-of-rock manifestos. The piece apparently struck a chord with at least one person, as I was to find out later.A year or so passed. I was attending another Heartbreakers show in the Bay Area - this one at a much larger venue. The band’s popularity was ever rising, and the hall was packed. The musicians delivered an inspiring set that left the crowd deliriously happy. As the audience headed home, a record-label meet-and-greet was underway. So I ambled backstage, where I engaged in the usual badinage with some colleagues.All of the Heartbreakers were working the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed burgeoning singer-songwriter Petty deep in conversation with the legendary concert promoter Bill Graham who had presented the gig. Petty suddenly ended his chat with Graham, walked up to me, shook my hand, and sincerely asked me how I was doing. I told him, and inquired about the tour, which led to a short discussion of what artists and recordings we were each enjoying. At the smaller Berkeley show, I had spent a little time talking with Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell, and drummer Stan Lynch after their set. But that didn’t lessen my surprise that Petty recognized me a year later and decided to come over and jaw.Then, to my shock, he thanked me for my review from those many months ago, adding that he and the band thought it was one of the most flattering and encouraging things that had been written about them to date. “Now, we gotta live up to it,†he joked. I managed to mumble a “no problem,†thanked him for thanking me, and wished him well on the rest of his tour. We parted company, with him fielding a phalanx of admirers and me returning to my buddies who were by the buffet table and pumping beer out of an adjacent keg and into plastic cups. I recount this anecdote not to kiss my own ass (which, as it happens, would be an anatomical impossibility for me), but to point out what a gracious, unpretentious man Petty seemed to be as he was beginning his phenomenal run as one of the most successful and beloved rock musicians in America. I get the feeling that he’s still that same thoughtful, amiable guy. In fact, he seems to have cared enough about the comrades he came up with – the members of his pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch – to reunite with them this past year, record some new tracks, and do a tour.
It may not be a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album, per se, although two Heartbreakers - Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench – were and are members of Mudcrutch, the ensemble that migrated from Florida to Los Angeles to crack the music biz in the mid-1970s before splintering. But their reunion with the rest of the line-up, guitarist Tom Leadon and drummer Randall Marsh, has resulted in Mudcrutch, a terrific collection of tunes that revisits a Petty influence that has never been explored so extensively in his recording career: The early ‘70s country-rock excursions of The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers. As if to underline the point, Mudcrutch deftly covers The Byrds’ “Lover of the Bayou†and Dave Dudley’s 1963 country hit “Six Days on the Road,†the latter being a trucker anthem that was also a mainstay of the Burritos repertoire. (I’ll be damned if Mudcrutch's loping “Queen of the Go-Go Girls†couldn’t actually be a lost Gram Parsons honky-tonker from his days leading the Burrito Brothers.)“Shady Grove†establishes the album’s tone with a ringing variation on a traditional country-folk number - and the feat is repeated with the jaunty instrumental “June Apple.†The picking’s good (Leadon and Campbell on guitars); the skittering, shuffling rhythm is infectious (Marsh on sticks, and Petty back on bass, as he was when Mudcrutch started). Beyond that foundation, the project is primarily a rootsy, rustic ramble through rural and small-town America - taking the highways, following the byways, stopping off at the roadhouses, and eulogizing the lovers and the losers.“Scare Easy†is probably closest to the nexus of Petty’s familiar style (as in the self-actualizing sentiments and sing-along lure of “Don’t Back Downâ€), with its connections to Dylan, the Rolling Stones and, of course, The Byrds. But there’s also some twin-guitar Southern rock thunder in "Bootleg Flyerâ€; backwoods balladry sweetened by pedal steel in "Orphan of the Storm" (evoking the refugees of Hurricane Katrina); blues-rock in “The Wrong Thing to Doâ€; and even a lengthy, jammy excursion, “Crystal River,†adorned by a dreamy vocal, lashing guitar licks, and Tench’s surging organ fills, suggesting San Francisco psychedelia in the Quicksilver Messenger Service/Grateful Dead vein.Mudcrutch ends with the down-home acoustics of “House of Stone†– a hard-luck fellow’s plea for comfort and absolution that’s straight outta Bakersfield. (Dwight Yoakam, we’ve got a song for you.)Is this it for Mudcrutch? Only Petty and his pals know for sure, but it was a journey to the past that was well worth taking. If nothing else, it proved you can go home again – at least, for one album and tour.Here are the videos for “Lover of the Bayou†and “Scare Easy.†Looks like they enjoyed doing this as much as I enjoyed hearing it.“Lover of the Bayouâ€:“Scare Easyâ€:
It may not be a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album, per se, although two Heartbreakers - Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench – were and are members of Mudcrutch, the ensemble that migrated from Florida to Los Angeles to crack the music biz in the mid-1970s before splintering. But their reunion with the rest of the line-up, guitarist Tom Leadon and drummer Randall Marsh, has resulted in Mudcrutch, a terrific collection of tunes that revisits a Petty influence that has never been explored so extensively in his recording career: The early ‘70s country-rock excursions of The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers. As if to underline the point, Mudcrutch deftly covers The Byrds’ “Lover of the Bayou†and Dave Dudley’s 1963 country hit “Six Days on the Road,†the latter being a trucker anthem that was also a mainstay of the Burritos repertoire. (I’ll be damned if Mudcrutch's loping “Queen of the Go-Go Girls†couldn’t actually be a lost Gram Parsons honky-tonker from his days leading the Burrito Brothers.)“Shady Grove†establishes the album’s tone with a ringing variation on a traditional country-folk number - and the feat is repeated with the jaunty instrumental “June Apple.†The picking’s good (Leadon and Campbell on guitars); the skittering, shuffling rhythm is infectious (Marsh on sticks, and Petty back on bass, as he was when Mudcrutch started). Beyond that foundation, the project is primarily a rootsy, rustic ramble through rural and small-town America - taking the highways, following the byways, stopping off at the roadhouses, and eulogizing the lovers and the losers.“Scare Easy†is probably closest to the nexus of Petty’s familiar style (as in the self-actualizing sentiments and sing-along lure of “Don’t Back Downâ€), with its connections to Dylan, the Rolling Stones and, of course, The Byrds. But there’s also some twin-guitar Southern rock thunder in "Bootleg Flyerâ€; backwoods balladry sweetened by pedal steel in "Orphan of the Storm" (evoking the refugees of Hurricane Katrina); blues-rock in “The Wrong Thing to Doâ€; and even a lengthy, jammy excursion, “Crystal River,†adorned by a dreamy vocal, lashing guitar licks, and Tench’s surging organ fills, suggesting San Francisco psychedelia in the Quicksilver Messenger Service/Grateful Dead vein.Mudcrutch ends with the down-home acoustics of “House of Stone†– a hard-luck fellow’s plea for comfort and absolution that’s straight outta Bakersfield. (Dwight Yoakam, we’ve got a song for you.)Is this it for Mudcrutch? Only Petty and his pals know for sure, but it was a journey to the past that was well worth taking. If nothing else, it proved you can go home again – at least, for one album and tour.Here are the videos for “Lover of the Bayou†and “Scare Easy.†Looks like they enjoyed doing this as much as I enjoyed hearing it.“Lover of the Bayouâ€:“Scare Easyâ€:
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Comments (39)
this is great story. i remember when damn the torpedoes came out, though it wasn't his first, it was the first i heard. i was in 7th grade or so. it was good then, and it is great now. for a while i quit following him cuz he just seemed too popular, i could always hear his songs on the radio and with my punk rock friends in high school, well he was not really the right thing to have in your collection. i am amazed at the high quality stuff he continues to put out.
Wade: I too continue to be amazed at Petty's consistency. BTW, I always had enough room in my heart for punk, power-pop, folk-rock, etc. No reason to ignore great music just 'cause it doesn't fit certain stylistic parameters,
This is great stuff. The guitars on some of "Shady Grove" sounds eerily similar to a Shawn Mullins song, "Cold Black Heart", so check that out and let me know what you think, if you don't already know of Mr. Mullins.
I've never been a huge fan of Petty, but that sound just pulls me in now.
p-wagz: I'm familiar with Mullins. Good stuff. May I recommend revisiting some of Petty's earlier material?
I will do that most definitely, thanks for the suggestion.