mudcrutch

i first heard about mudcrutch, tom petty's early seventies, pre-heartbreakers band, while watching last year's expansive (& excellent) documentary, runnin' down a dream, but this new album completely snuck up on me...i had heard something about petty getting the band back together, but never would have expected this laid back, country rock gem that was recorded live to tape in only ten days...apparently they only needed one take to lay down the nine & a half minute, dead influenced "crystal river", which is pretty incredible when you take into consideration that not only had the band never played the song before, but that the five of them hadn't played anything together in almost forty years (well, all five of them anyway)...i guess it was worth the wait though, as this is some of petty's best work since wildflowers...don't pass it up.

download: mudcrutch - scare easy
download: mudcrutch - crystal river

related: although petty wrote the majority of the tracks, the album opens with the great traditional folk number, "shady grove"...here are a couple more versions that do the song justice...listen for jerry geeking out at the end of the pizza tapes take.

download: mudcrutch - shady grove
download: blitzen trapper - shady grove
download: jerry garcia, david grisman, & tony rice - shady grove
download: quicksilver messenger service - shady grove

related: mudcrutch recorded a handful of singles & demos when they first got out to l.a. back in the seventies, including a great early version of "don't do me like that"...the tracks finally saw the light of day when playback, the heartbreakers box set, came out in 1995...they probably should have been released a little earlier.

download: mudcrutch - on the street
download: mudcrutch - depot street
download: mudcrutch - don't do me like that