Biography

Formed in Gainesville, Florida, in 1970, Mudcrutch were essentially a precursor to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, with a then 17-year-old Tom Petty on bass, Mike Campbell and Tom Leadon (the brother of ex-Eagle Bernie Leadon) on guitars, Benmont Tench on keyboards, and Randall Marsh on drums. Popular on the Florida bar circuit, Mudcrutch relocated to L.A. in 1974 and was offered a recording contract from Leon Russell and Denny Cordell's Shelter Records, but the band splintered before any significant recording was completed, although Petty remained under contract to Shelter as a solo artist. In time, the band drifted back together, this time with Petty and Campbell on guitars, Tench on keyboards, and a rhythm section of Ron Blair on bass and Stan Lynch on drums. Calling themselves Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, they assumed Petty's solo contract with Shelter Records and released the self-titled Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers LP in 1976. The rest, as they say, is history. In the summer of 2007, Petty, Campbell, Tench, Leadon, and Marsh reunited as Mudcrutch and recorded a self-titled album, which was released a year later in 2008 on Reprise Records. The band followed the album with a limited tour. The EP Mudcrutch Extended Play Live was also released in 2008, featuring four songs recorded in concert performance. Mudcrutch reconvened in 2015 to begin work on a second album. The resulting 2 appeared in May of 2016. The death of Tom Petty on October 2, 2017, put an end to the group's reunion. Guitarist Tom Leadon died on March 22, 2023; he was 70 years of age. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi