Mike Campbell (musician)

Michael Wayne Campbell (born February 1, 1950) is

an American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer.
Mike Campbell
Campbell was a member of Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers and co-wrote many of the band's hits
with Petty, including "Refugee", "Here Comes My
Girl", "You Got Lucky", and "Runnin' Down a
Dream". Outside of The Heartbreakers, he has worked
as a session guitarist and songwriter with a number of
other acts, including composing and playing on the
Don Henley hit "The Boys of Summer", as well as
working on most of Stevie Nicks's solo albums.
Campbell, along with Neil Finn, joined Fleetwood Mac Campbell performing with Fleetwood Mac in
to replace lead guitarist Lindsey Buckingham on their 2019
world tour in 2018–2019.[1] Background information

On November 11, 2011, Rolling Stone magazine Birth name Michael Wayne Campbell
named Mike Campbell to their top 100 guitarists Born February 1, 1950
coming in at number 79.[2] He was inducted into the
Origin Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 as a member of
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Genres Rock
Instruments Guitar, Vocals
Years active 1971–present
Contents Associated acts Tom Petty and the
Early years Heartbreakers · Don Henley
· Blue Stingrays · The Dirty
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Knobs · Mudcrutch · Stevie
Other projects Nicks · Fleetwood Mac
The Dirty Knobs
Collaborations
References
External links

Early years
Campbell was born in Panama City, Florida. He grew up there and in Jacksonville, Florida, where he
graduated from Jean Ribault High School in 1968. At 16, his mother bought him his first guitar, a Harmony
acoustic model which he later described as "unplayable", from a pawnshop.[3] His first electric guitar was a
$60 Guyatone, but playing a friend's Gibson SG (a model Campbell would not own himself for many
years) was a transformative experience.[3] Like Tom Petty, Campbell drew his strongest influences from
The Byrds and Bob Dylan, with additional inspiration coming from guitarists such as Scotty Moore, Luther
Perkins, George Harrison, Carl Wilson, Jerry Garcia, Roger McGuinn, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Jimmy
Page, Mick Taylor, and Neil Young. The first song he learned to play was "Baby Let Me Follow You
Down," a song which appeared on Dylan's eponymous debut album. He formed a band named Dead or
Alive which quickly disbanded.[4]

Campbell met Tom Petty through drummer Randall Marsh. Marsh was auditioning to be in Petty's band
Mudcrutch and learned that Mudcrutch had recently lost their guitarist. He suggested that Petty try
Campbell, who was his roommate and had actually been listening to the conversation in the next room.[5]
Campbell impressed Petty with his version of Johnny B. Goode and was offered a spot in the band.[3]
Mudcrutch became a very popular act around Gainesville and north Florida in the early 1970s. They
relocated to Los Angeles in 1974 and signed a record deal with Shelter Records, but released only one
poor-selling single and broke up soon after.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

In 1976, Campbell rejoined Petty to found Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers with former Mudcrutch member Benmont Tench
(keyboards) along with Ron Blair (bass guitar) and Stan Lynch
(drums).

Like the other players in the Heartbreakers, Campbell avoids the

virtuoso approach to playing, preferring to have his work serve the
needs of each song.[6] Guitar World magazine stated, "there are
only a handful of guitarists who can claim to have never wasted a Campbell performing with Tom Petty
note. Mike Campbell is certainly one of them". He is a highly at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in
melodic player, often using two or three-strings-at-a-time leads 2013
instead of the more conventional one-at-a-time approach. Like
Tench, he was heavily involved in constructing the arrangements
for the Heartbreakers' tunes. And also like Tench, he prefers rawness to polish in the studio and onstage.

Campbell co-produced the Heartbreakers albums Southern Accents, Pack Up the Plantation: Live!, Let Me
Up (I've Had Enough), Into the Great Wide Open, Songs and Music from "She's the One", Echo, The Last
DJ, The Live Anthology and Mojo, as well as the Petty solo albums Full Moon Fever, Wildflowers, and
Highway Companion.

Campbell collaborated, recorded, and toured with Tom Petty for almost 50 years. His last live performance
with the Heartbreakers was on September 25, 2017, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Tom Petty
died unexpectedly about one week later, on October 2.[7]

Other projects
Outside the Heartbreakers, Campbell has co-written and performed on songs including "The Boys of
Summer" and "Heart of the Matter" with Don Henley. Other songwriting and performance credits include
songs for the Blue Stingrays, Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac, Lone Justice, Roger McGuinn, Tracy
Chapman, Warren Zevon, George Harrison, Stevie Nicks, John Prine, Bob Dylan, Restless Sleeper, Patti
Scialfa, Brian Setzer, J. D. Souther, Jackson Browne, The Williams Brothers and Robin Zander. He
produced four songs on Roy Orbison's Mystery Girl album and played guitar on The Wallflowers' "6th
Avenue Heartache,"[8] as well as "My Sweet Passion", theme of Amy Rose from Sonic Adventure.[9]

In 2004, he recorded the guitar solo for the song "Los Angeles Is Burning" from the punk rock band Bad
Religion's The Empire Strikes First album. In 2010 he recorded the solo for the song "Cyanide" on their
2010 album The Dissent of Man.
In 2007, he joined a reformed Mudcrutch with Petty, Tench, Tom Leadon
and Randall Marsh. In 2008, he played banjo on the track "Love Song"
from the album ...Earth to the Dandy Warhols... by The Dandy Warhols.
He played guitar and mandolin on Bob Dylan's 2009 album Together
Through Life.

On April 9, 2018, Fleetwood Mac announced that Campbell would be

joining the band along with Neil Finn to replace lead guitarist Lindsey
Buckingham for their coming world tour.[1]

The Dirty Knobs

While in the Heartbreakers, Campbell was lead singer and guitarist with a
side band, the Dirty Knobs, with guitarist Jason Sinay, drummer Matt Laug
Campbell in 2010
and bassist Lance Morrison.[10] "It's rougher-edged [than Petty's material],"
Campbell says of the group. "It's slightly over-driven, less polished, lots of
Sixties influence: The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, The Animals. It's something I probably should have done a
long time ago, but I didn't 'cause I was wrapped up in the Heartbreakers."[11] They released a single,
"Feelin' High", in 2010.[12]

The band released the title track from its debut album, Wreckless Abandon, in January 2020,[13] followed
by the album itself in March of that year.[14] The album was produced by Campbell and George
Drakoulias, who, with Tom Petty, produced Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ The Last D.J.[14] The cover
art was by Klaus Voormann,[14] who created the cover of The Beatles Revolver.

In the summer of 2021 the band released a new single, a cover of J.J. Cale's "Humdinger".[15]

Collaborations
With Stevie Nicks

Bella Donna (Atco Records, 1981)

The Wild Heart (Modern Records, 1983)
Rock a Little (Modern Records, 1985)
The Other Side of the Mirror (Modern Records, 1989)
Street Angel (Modern Records, 1994)
Trouble in Shangri-La (Reprise Records, 2001)
In Your Dreams (Reprise Records, 2011)
24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault (Reprise Records, 2014)

With Bob Dylan

Empire Burlesque (Columbia Records, 1985)

Band of the Hand (MCA Records, 1986)
Knocked Out Loaded (Columbia Records, 1986)
Together Through Life (Columbia Records, 2009)

With Roy Orbison

Mystery Girl (Virgin Records, 1989)

With Jeffrey Osborne

One Human (Arista Records, 1990)

With Linda Ronstadt

We Ran (Elektra Records, 1998)

With Joe Cocker

Night Calls (Capitol Records, 1991)

With Don Henley

Building the Perfect Beast (Geffen, 1984)

The End of the Innocence (Geffen, 1989)
Inside Job (Warner Bros. Records, 2000)

With Philip Bailey

Soul on Jazz (Heads Up International Records, 2002)

With Patti Scialfa

Rumble Doll (Columbia Records, 1993)

With Melba Moore

A Lot of Love (Capitol Records, 1986)

With Matthew Sweet

Inside (Sony Music, 1986)

With Susanna Hoffs

Someday (Baroque Folk, 2012)

With Stephanie Mills

If I Were Your Woman (MCA Records, 1987)

With Rob Thomas

...Something to Be (Atlantic Records, 2005)

With Paul Carrack

Groove Approved (Chrysalis Records, 1989)

With Mary J. Blige

Share My World (MCA Records, 1997)

With Michael McDonald

Blink of an Eye (Reprise Records, 1993)

With Tracy Chapman

Matters of the Heart (Elektra Records, 1992)

With Randy Newman

Land of Dreams (Reprise Records, 1988)

With Paula Abdul

Spellbound (Virgin Records, 1991)

With Chris Stapleton

Starting Over (Mercury Records, 2020)

With Tift Merritt

Tambourine (Lost Highway Records, 2004)

With Christine Lakeland

Reckoning (Virgin Records, 1993)

With Warren Zevon

Sentimental Hygiene (Virgin Records, 1987)

Transverse City (Virgin Records, 1989)
The Wind (Artemis Records, 2003)

With Aretha Franklin

Who's Zoomin' Who? (Arista Records, 1985)

With Jackson Browne

I'm Alive (Elektra Records, 1993)

Looking East (Elektra Records, 1996)

With Jennifer Holliday

I'm on Your Side (Arista Records, 1991)

With Bob Seger

The Fire Inside (Capitol Records, 1991)

With Tom Petty

Full Moon Fever (MCA Records, 1989)

 Wildflowers (Warner Bros. Records, 1994)
Highway Companion (Warner Bros. Records, 2006)

With John Prine

The Missing Years (Oh Boy Records, 1991)

With Neil Diamond

12 Songs (Columbia Records, 2005)

Home Before Dark (Columbia Records, 2008)
Dreams (Columbia Records, 2010)

With Dixie Chicks

Taking the Long Way (Columbia Nashville, 2006)

References
1. Aswad, Jem (April 9, 2018). "Fleetwood Mac to Tour With Neil Finn, Mike Campbell as
Lindsey Buckingham's Replacements" (https://variety.com/2018/music/news/fleetwood-mac-
to-tour-with-neil-finn-mike-campbell-as-lindsey-buckinghams-replacements-1202748185/).
Variety. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
2. "Mike Campbell | 100 Greatest Guitarists" (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-grea
test-guitarists-20111123/mike-campbell-20111122). Rolling Stone. December 18, 2015.
Retrieved March 28, 2017.
3. Gill, Chris (June 11, 2014). "Vision Quest: Mike Campbell Talks About New Tom Petty &
Heartbreakers LP, 'Hypnotic Eye' " (https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitaraficionado/mike-cam
pbell-talks-about-new-tom-petty-heartbreakers-lp). Guitar Player. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
4. Andy Greene (September 13, 2018). "Mike Campbell's Life After Heartbreak" (https://www.ro
llingstone.com/music/music-features/mike-campbell-tom-petty-heartbreakers-730187/).
Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
5. Zanes, Warren (2016). Petty : the biography. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.
ISBN 1250105196.
6. Newton, Steve (August 14, 2014). "Meet Mike Campbell, the Underrated Guitar Genius
Behind All Those Tom Petty Hits" (https://www.straight.com/blogra/708176/meet-mike-camp
bell-underrated-guitar-genius-behind-all-those-tom-petty-hits). The Georgia Straight.
Retrieved May 11, 2018.
7. "Watch Tom Petty Play 'American Girl' at His Final Concert" (https://www.rollingstone.com/m
usic/news/watch-tom-petty-play-american-girl-at-his-final-concert-w506751). Rolling Stone.
October 3, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
8. "Sixth Avenue Heartache by The Wallflowers Songfacts" (http://www.songfacts.com/detail.p
hp?id=2457). Songfacts.com. Retrieved September 6, 2008.
9. "WWCE-31338~9 | Passion & Pride: Anthems with Attitude from the Sonic..." (http://vgmdb.n
et/album/46797) VGMdb.net. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
10. Balancia, Donna (July 6, 2019). "Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs prep new tunes" (http
s://californiarocker.com/2019/07/06/mike-campbell-and-the-dirty-knobs-prep-new-tunes/).
California Rocker. Los Angeles. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
11. Heller, Greg (August 31, 2001). "Petty in the Studio" (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/mu
sic-news/petty-in-the-studio-234560/). Rolling Stone. NYC. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
12. The Dirty Knobs – Feelin High (2010, Pink Vinyl, Vinyl) (https://www.discogs.com/The-Dirty-
Knobs-Feelin-High/release/14474283), retrieved August 6, 2021
13. Balancia, Donna (January 13, 2020). "Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs release
'Wreckless Abandon' Single and Video" (https://californiarocker.com/2020/01/13/mike-camp
bell-and-the-dirty-knobs-release-wreckless-abandon-single-and-video/). California Rocker.
Los Angeles. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
14. Greene, Andy (January 13, 2020). "Mike Campbell Announces Debut Album with The Dirty
Knobs, U.S. Tour Dates" (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/mike-campbell-dir
ty-knobs-936777/). Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
15. The Dirty Knobs – Humdinger (2021, Yellow, Vinyl) (https://www.discogs.com/The-Dirty-Kno
bs-Humdinger/release/19522555), retrieved August 6, 2021

External links
The Dirty Knobs (http://www.thedirtyknobs.com) - Mike Campbell's side-band.
DMC TV Mike Campbell (https://web.archive.org/web/20100119154250/http://www.duesenb
ergusa.com/guitars/mikecampbell/index.html) - Campbell's custom Duesenberg guitar.
"Rig Rundown - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell," (http://www.premierguita
r.com/articles/19351-rig-rundown---tom-petty-and-the-heartbreakers-mike-campbell) by
Jason Shadrick for Premier Guitar, January 27, 2013.
Long-form interview with Mike Campbell on the Myth vs. Craft podcast (http://www.mythvscra
ft.com/post/135977143126/episode-6-mike-campbell-the-legendary-mike).

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