“One of my favourites”: The side project Tom Petty called one of the best things he ever did
Tom Petty was never one known for standing still in any of his creative projects. Between various group outfits, his own solo work, and a stint of an acting career, the guitarist marked himself as a virtuoso with a Midas touch that could transform anything he turned his hand to into sonic mastery. In many ways, these constant sparks of new innovations were only natural given his passion for artistic freedoms, but equally there were some efforts he gravitated to more than most.
While it’s perhaps too extreme to say he outrightly favoured any of his bands – given that they each spawned massive hits and propelled him to new stratospheric heights at different acts in his career – there was one group Petty held in particular high regard for both the nostalgia and the fresh perspective it provided him with over time. It wasn’t the prolific efforts of the Heartbreakers, or indeed the supergroup stardom of The Traveling Wilburys, but in fact the band where it all began.
At the time of their formation in 1970, Mudcrutch weren’t exactly lapped up with instant musical rapture. But nevertheless, this was the band that set Petty on the path to sonic glory, for teaching him the ropes and ultimate tenacity it takes to become a blazing rock star.
Featuring Tom Leadon – brother of Bernie Leadon, of Eagles fame – as Petty’s right-hand man, the group had limited success during their original stint in the early ‘70s; however, this led the frontman to creating the Heartbreakers and ultimately, when the time was right, there was another chance to give Mudcrutch a well-deserved outing later down the line.
When the band reformed in 2007 to release their eponymous debut album, Petty later reflected that it was one of the most fulfilling experiences of his career. He told Medium in 2011 that: “I think it was a really kind of radical idea but there was something so fresh about it when we got together, and it really turned out to be one of my favourite things I ever did musically. That album [Mudcrutch] is really in my top five things I’ve ever done. And so I think, rather than closure, it kind of opened the door to another place to go musically.”
Rather fittingly, Petty’s allusion to the ending of chapters and new beginnings came to represent much more in terms of Mudcrutch’s symbolism in his life than he could have ever imagined when musing on it at the time. Following on from their debut record, the band then released their follow-up album 2 in 2016, marking the last studio material the frontman ever recorded before his untimely death just over a year later.
In this sense, as much as he may not have felt it in the moment, Mudcrutch signified the circular motion of Petty’s career as the band that launched him into the stratosphere and the one he found homely comfort in towards the end of his days. He may have been a creative springboard, but he also was clearly subconsciously aware of the power of a strong narrative arc.
