And back in Florida when the Heartbreakers started out, we didn’t want to be part of the Southern-boogie thing. Well, we never wanted to be any certain type of band. What drove the band or your songwriting in that specific direction this time around? But this record has a very strong Southern-rock and Texas-boogie thread. When I’ve seen the Dirty Knobs, the song selection was pretty eclectic. There’s a freedom and spontaneity I really enjoy. I can go into a Beatles song we’ve never rehearsed before in the middle of a show. And with the Dirty Knobs I can do whatever I want, too. The Fillmore wasn’t like that, we could do whatever we wanted. We couldn’t change up the set list too much. The other thing is that the Heartbreakers were required to play a lot of familiar songs every night. But now that those windows are open, it’s what I want to do. So I never put a record out or pursued the Dirty Knobs as long as the Heartbreakers were together. Well, I’m honored that you heard the energy of those Fillmore shows in the Dirty Knobs, because that was one of the absolute highlights of my life. Did that Fillmore run inspire your approach with the Knobs, or was it just an itch to play outside the formality of the bigger Heartbreakers shows? There were touches of Revolver-era Beatles, some surf stuff. And when I first saw the Dirty Knobs about 10 years ago, the eclectic, irreverent mood was very reminiscent of that Fillmore experience. I saw four of the Heartbreakers’ San Francisco Fillmore shows in 1997. But as casual conversation, or a tour of his must-see Instagram feed reveals, Campbell is a wellspring of creativity, gentlemanly warmth, and musical knowledge, with a deep reverence for the magic of music creation and the many masters that came before him. With producer George Drakoulias (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Black Crowes, Primal Scream) offering sonic and song-curation counsel, Wreckless Abandon was whittled down from a backlog of eclectic originals to a slab of boisterous, rockin’ economy that reflects the rowdiest and most irreverent side of the band. But with the Heartbreakers and Fleetwood Mac taking the lion’s share of Campbell’s time, there was rarely time to accomplish much other than the occasional run of California club dates.Īt last though, the Dirty Knobs have an LP to call their own. More than a decade ago, Campbell took the helm of his own band, the Dirty Knobs-an irreverent, spontaneous unit that veered from originals to a grab bag of ’60s and ’70s deep-cut covers and curiosities. I’m amazed at how often I find a new chord passage or phrasing that was sitting right there in front of me the whole time.” “Refugee,” “The Boys of Summer,” “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” “You Got Lucky”: Each features Campbell’s name as co-author-and guitar hooks of such startling grace and elemental potency that they burrow in the memory like the afterimage of a perfect sunset. And on many nights with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers he would take George Harrison’s yearning slide solo from the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle with Care.”īut over the course of a career spanning nearly 50 years, Campbell steadily made the case for his own status as legend-not just as a trusty, tasteful sideman supreme to superstars, but as co-writer of rock ’n’ pop masterpieces. As a member of Fleetwood Mac he stood in for Peter Green and Lindsey Buckingham. Playing alongside Bob Dylan, he punctuated the poetry of folk rock’s greatest scribe-dishing his take on Mike Bloomfield and Robbie Robertson’s bee-sting leads. Though he is one of the planet’s humblest guitar heroes, Mike Campbell is fearless about walking in the shoes of legends.
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