There’s just something about old friends: they knew you when, and there’s no pretending they didn’t. Reconnecting after time has gone by can be a uniquely rewarding experience.
Considering that this is the first of two albums that Tom Petty would cut with his reunited-30-years-later original group Mudcrutch, it seems safe to say that he would agree. Here, as in the original early ’70s precursor to the Heartbreakers, Petty plays bass and sings alongside Mike Campbell (guitars), Benmont Tench (keys and vocals), Tom Leadon (guitars and vocals) and Randall Marsh (drums).
The resulting album functions like a catalogue of the five men’s musical influences, from traditional, almost bluegrass-y Americana numbers like opener “Shady Grove” to their swampy blues-rock reinterpretation of the Byrds classic “Lover Of The Bayou.” (The former in fact reminds how much of a bluegrass influence there was under the surface of the Traveling Wilburys, with Petty and Bob Dylan in particular showing those proclivities.)
Petty and Leadon also share lead vocals on “Shady Grove,” a sign of the more democratic structure of Mudcrutch; later on, Leadon sings lead alone on his countrified romp “Queen of The Go-Go Girls” and Tench does the same with his roadhouse boogie number “This Is A Good Street.” The variety is refreshing yet also telling; Leadon and Tench’s approaches to their vocals bear an unmistakable resemblance to Petty’s, who for his part playfully adopts the guise of a number of his favorite vocal characters through the course of the album.
Snarly, drawling TP makes an early appearance on “Scare Easy,” a sort of swampy rewrite of “I Won’t Back Down” (“I don’t scare easy for no one”) that Campbell puts an exclamation point on with one of his trademark stinging solos. “Orphan Of The Storm” calls back to Wildflowers with its ambling country-rock, while the cover “Six Days On The Road” delivers a Petty-flavored taste of roadhouse boogie (“Six days on the road / Gonna see my baby tonight”).
Dreamy, pensive TP gets a showcase in the mid-tempo epic “Crystal River,” setting a mood and working the groove for nine and a half minutes. The group’s instrumental interplay is the real star here, though, as Campbell and Leadon’s subtle, lilting guitar lines intertwine while Tench’s piano decorates the fringes, leading up to a big, spacy slide solo.
Other musical frames tried out by this oh-so-capable quintet include a gentle love song (“Oh Maria”), tasty Stones-adjacent blues-rock (“The Wrong Thing To Do,” full of classic Petty vocal sass), full-on country (Leadon’s aforementioned “Queen”), a jangly, Byrds-y traditional instrumental (“June Apple”), bright, upbeat country-tinged rock (“Topanga Cowgirl”), and a CSN-by-way-of-the-Wilburys back-porch acoustic jam (closer “House Of Stone”).
Still, the highlights come in moments as disparate as the expansive, entrancing “Crystal River” and the heavy blues of “Lover Of The Bayou,” punctuated by a bold, Cream-like solo. Despite sharing three-fifths of their membership, the only time Mudcrutch sounds just like the Heartbreakers is on the penultimate “Bootleg Flyer,” with Petty delivering one of his distinctive almost-spoken-word verses and Campbell ripping it up at the solo.
Mudcrutch the album proved that, while you might not be able to go home again, you can get the old gang back together and have a pretty good time. Petty’s work with the Heartbreakers had grown a bit dour on the preceding Echo and The Last DJ albums; comfortably ensconced among old friends here, he seems to relocate the joy of making music and it’s great to hear him and the rest of the band cut loose and embrace the moment.