Mike Campbell (musician)

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.

Campbell performing with Tom Petty at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2013

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 note. Mike Campbell is certainly one of them". He is a highly melodic player, often using two or three-strings-at-a-time leads 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]

Campbell in 2010

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]

While in the Heartbreakers, Campbell played with a side band, the Dirty Knobs, with guitarist Jason Sinay, drummer Matt Laug 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] In January 2020, "Wreckless Abandon", the title track from the forthcoming Dirty Knobs album was released.[12]

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 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 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 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 Bob Dylan

• Empire Burlesque (Columbia Records, 1985)
• Knocked Out Loaded (Columbia Records, 1986)
• Together Through Life (Columbia Records, 2009)

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)

• The Dirty Knobs - Mike Campbell's side-band.
• DMC TV Mike Campbell - Campbell's custom Duesenberg guitar.
• "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.