In 1974, Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, and the rest of their band Mudcrutch entered Leon Russell’s the Church Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to record their first demo tape with producer Denny Cordell. It was a crucial moment that led to the formation of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers two years later. In late April of this year, Campbell returned to the studio for the first time in 50 years.
“It was spiritual,” Campbell tells Rolling Stone via Zoom from the “man cave” of his Los Angeles home. “I got a little wistful about Tom because we had been there together, and I stood where we had set up with Mudcrutch originally in that room. I got a lot of flashbacks of sweet memories.”
But Campbell didn’t return to Tulsa just to reminisce about days gone by. He was in town to perform with his band the Dirty Knobs at Carneyfest (though the set was ultimately rained out), and shoot a video for “Dare to Dream,” the leadoff single from his new LP Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits. The album, due June 14, features guest appearances by Graham Nash, Lucinda Williams, Chris Stapleton, and Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench.
It’s Campbell’s third album with the Dirty Knobs following 2020’s Wreckless Abandon and 2022’s External Combustion. “The first record was an introduction to me as a so-called singer and as a writer,” says Campbell. “I wanted to show off that the band can boogie good, and play aggressively and exciting. But as we went on through the years, our songs grew in depth. I grew better as a writer, and added more situations and characters into the songs. The band grew, but it’s still basically just a boogie rock band.”
Many of the songs on Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits are new, but “Dare to Dream,” “Hands Are Tied,” “Angel of Mercy,” “Don’t Want Up,” and “Hell or High Water” all came from Campbell’s vast archive. “Back in the day, I would write songs and then give them to my partner Tom, and that’s all I ever did with them,” Campbell says. “I gave him so much he couldn’t possibly ever deal with it all. I stuck a lot up on the shelf for future assessment. And so here I am in the future and I pulled them out.”
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“Dare to Dream” is an inspirational ballad about learning to live in the present. “This is what you’ve waited for,” Campbell sings. “There’s no waiting any more/There are the best of times/This is the good life/And all you dare to dream/Can come true.”
He asked Nash to contribute harmony vocals after interviewing him on his Tom Petty Radio SiriusXM show. “He kind of made it sound a little bit like the Hollies blend on the vocals,” says Campbell. “He really lifted the song up and it was just a thrill to have a hero of mine singing my song.”
Campbell and Williams swap lead vocals on the moving, country-tinged “Hell or High Water.” “Watching her sing almost brought me to tears,” says Campbell. “The song took on a whole new depth once she did her part. I was really lucky to get her.”
The title of “Don’t Wait Up” was inspired by an old joke (“Don’t wait up for the shrimp boat momma, because daddy is coming home with the crabs”) that longtime Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers lighting director Jim Lenahan loved to crack. Stapleton contributed vocals, and Tench plays keyboards. “The words are kind of nonsensical in a way, but it kind of makes sense,” says Campbell. “It’s about a woman waiting for her man to come home from wherever he’s been in the world.”
“Shake These Blues” is an old-fashioned blues-rock song that would have fit on the 2010 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers record Mojo, while “My Old Friends” is a playful country ballad about an alcoholic saying goodbye to all of his favorite drinks. “I wasn’t going to put it on the record until George insisted,” says Campbell. “He said, ‘You need some levity in there, some humor.’ So it’s his fault.” (The actual end of the record is a 43-second mandolin instrumental titled “Amanda Lynn.” Say the title out loud if you don’t get it.)
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Such levity was needed since many of the songs deal with rather weighty issues, often involving women in desperate circumstances. “My wife said to me, ‘Why do you sing so many songs about damaged women that need help?’” Campbell says. “And I don’t know. But there are a lot of women now that are in bad situations with drugs or life or whatever. The characters here are trying to pull them out with some hope at the end. That’s why the album is titled Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits. The characters in my songs, a lot of them were kind of misfits and vagabonds.”
Campbell and the Dirty Knobs are kicking off a summer tour June 21 in Skokie, Illinois. But they’ll be minus drummer Matt Laug since he’s subbing for Phil Rudd on AC/DC’s European tour. “It’s his dream gig,” says Campbell. “He was in a band with Slash once and they opened for AC/DC. He always dreamed one day he could get the gig, and it came through. I’m so happy for him.”
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone, who has a long history with the Knobs, will be taking Laug’s place. The group is rounded out by bassist Lance Morrison and guitarist Chris Holt. The set will focus on songs from the group’s three albums, but will dip into the Heartbreakers catalog: At their first show of 2024, they played “Listen to Her Heart,” “Fault Lines,” “Refugee,” “Rockin’ Around (With You),” “You Wreck Me,” and “Running Down a Dream.”
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“I’m still grieving,” Campbell says. “It’s a bittersweet thing. We do an old song because I still miss my brother. But he’s still alive in those songs. I do those songs pretty close to how they should be done. I’ve got the same character and slang and nuance. I’m not a great singer, but I can get the vibe of the song across, I think, as good as anybody, because I was there.”
Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits track listing:
1. “The Greatest”
2. “Angel of Mercy”
3. “Dare to Dream” (feat. Graham Nash)
4. “Hands Are Tied”
5. “Hell or High Water” (feat. Lucinda Williams)
6. “So Alive”
7. “Shake These Blues”
8. “Innocent Man”
9. “Don’t Wait Up” (feat. Chris Stapleton & Benmont Tench)
10. “My Old Friends”
11. “Amanda Lynn”
