Tom Petty and the... Mudcrutchers???

I was going to blog about a various and sundry assortment of other items, and I still may [although on any occasion when I post more than one on a calendar day, it drives down the number of comments, and I do not have many of those to begin with].

You see, I noticed the other day the Mudcrutch had gotten back together and were finally going to cut an album. Big deal, you might think, and maybe so…. But, there MUST be some sort of story behind this, and it goes like this:

Thomas Earl Petty, from Gainesville, Florida, was in a band. The Sundowners. This band changed its name to the Epics, and, finally, in 1970, to Mudcrutch. Now, nearly every person in North Central Florida has a favorite Tom Petty story, whether it involves his band or being related in some way to Tom [he has lots of kinfolk]. I’ve got one, and my sister, Pam, who also attended UF, has at least one, and maybe I’ll tell you those stories at some point, too. Meanwhile, Mudcrutch became the house band at a place called Dub’s, up 441 from Gainesville. Strippers, booze, really, really good music.

Tom Leadon and Mike Campbell were co-lead guitarists; back then, Tom Petty was on bass. Leadon? That name sounds vaguely familiar. Tom Leadon’s brother is Bernie Leadon, one of the founding members of The Eagles. Bernie convinced his brother to come on out to LA, music’s Land of Opportunity. In 1972, Tom Leadon left and headed west. He had some success, wrote a song for the Eagles, finally ending up in Nashville. Benmont Tench joined Mudcrutch on keyboards, and Randall Marsh was already there, on drums. The boys continued to hone their skills at Dubs, playing as many as six days a week, four hours a day, until 1974.

That year, Tom and the boys finally headed west to make or break. They released a single [“Depot Street” on Shelter Records]. It flopped, and the band dissolved. Tom and Mike and Ben Tench herded up Stan Lynch to replace Randall Marsh on drums, and with TP now on six-string, they got Ron Blair to play bass. Voila! Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

That part is pretty easy to find out about, for anyone who does not already know about TP and the HB’s. But, back to Mudcrutch. Been 34 years, donchaknow? TP had a reminiscing feeling, wondering what things woulda been like had Mudcrutch hit it big. He still played with Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench in the course of employment as Heartbreakers, so that part was easy. TP called Tom Leadon, now teaching guitar up in Nashville, and he thought it was a prank call. Randall Marsh heard the news from Peter Bogdanovich, who was filming a documentary on TP and the Heartbreakers. So, they all got back together and hit the studio last August. Raw stuff, sittin’ in a circle, no headphones. I was hooked from the crisp opening notes of Shady Grove, the ol’ Doc Watson classic [it’s a traditional, Appalachian song – Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys did it too, as did Jerry Garcia]. I’m also hearing Lover of the Bayou, the haunting ol’ Byrds number, echo in my head.

Bottom line is, ya gotta get this album! Much, much better than anyone could ever have dreamed of, and different than what you may have expected. Old friends, sitting around making music, having fun. Brings tears to my eyes.