The Return of Mudcrutch

Posted: Apr 24, 2008

Tom Petty Resurrects His Old Florida Band Mudcrutch
4/24/05

Tom Petty and Tom Leadon (brother of Eagle Bernie) formed Mudcrutch with Randall Marsh on drums and Mike Campbell on guitar. Petty played bass in those days, and Mudcrutch gigged around Gainesville, Florida--home of the University of Florida.

Petty, Marsh and Campbell organized the first Mudcrutch Farm Festival. They invited other bands to play and promoted the gig so much the festival closed down the nearby highway, and Mudcrutch became Gainesville's local heroes.

In 1972—the year of the second “Farm Festival”, they were evicted from the farm. The third Farm Festival brought folks in from Georgia, Alabama and all across Florida.

Mudcrutch auditioned at Capricorn Records, but they were told they sounded too English. Around this time, Benmont Tench joined the band. Mudcrutch landed a deal with Denny Cordell at Shelter Records. Cordell became more interested in Petty’s songs than the band, and soon the group dissolved.

From the Mudcrutch ruins, Petty then recruited Florida drummer Stan Lynch, Floridian Ron Blair on bass, with Tench on keyboards, Campbell on guitar and Petty now played guitar in their new band called Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.

Last summer Petty decided to re-group Mudcrutch for fun. It turned out, they recorded a fine record. This New York Times articles reports the origins of Petty’s journey through the past. Swampland’s copy of the new Mudcrutch CD should arrive by the weekend—so look for the review soon...the waiting is the hardest part...

A longer feature will follow…

James Calemine