Over some 50 storied years of shredding, Mike Campbell has played on over 50 albums for over 30 artists – he’s jammed with everyone from Paula Abdul to Roy Orbison, and cut his teeth as an integral member of Stevie Nicks’ brass. The ‘80s saw him working closely with Bob Dylan (and he rejoined the fold for 2009’s Together Through Life), and in the latter half of the 2000s, he was Neil Diamond’s go-to guy. But if there’s one thing most people know Campbell for, it’s his longstanding role in The Heartbreakers, strumming side-by-side with Tom Petty from 1976 all the way up until Petty’s death in 2017.
During the last decade or so of his Heartbreakers tenure, Campbell led a rock ’n’ rolling side-project called The, was an intentional easing-in for longtime fans, to show off his new palette without scaring away any skeptics. But for his second full-length effort with The Dirty Knobs – the very aptly titled – he’s gone full steam ahead with the stomping, skanking, swampy and soulful jammage.
