I was dee jaying in Adel Georgia when the demo for Depot Street came in the station,,,it sounded so cool that we added the song instantly...This song should have gotten more air play A few years later I was working at WGGG in Gainesvile,Fl when Benmont's mohter called me on the air and said "Tom Petty and the band is doing really well in Europe, just wait til they get back to the United States they're gonna be hot. This was in 1976. I was lucky to be the first jock to play the album which featured Brakdown..The rest is history.

Tom petty is from Mudcrutch? The guys that played around Gainsville in the early 70's? We used to see them at the college and they played at a little club I can't remember the name. Tom did stuff like shoot a little toy gun and say stuff like "be punk and be proud." They had the hottest cover of "not fade away." Wierd. I always wondered what happened to those guys.

The little club where Mudcrutch played was called "The Keg" and was located in the area of Gainesville known as Sin City (along SW 16th Avenue from Main Street to Highway 441).

Posted on Monday, February 16 @ 21:59:42 PST by Mudcrutch www.MudcrutchFarm.com MudcrutchFarm.com is an online community devoted to the band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Why "Mudcrutch Farm?" Well... Tom Petty was in a Gainesville, FL band called Mudcrutch in the early 1970's. Some of the band lived on a "farm" by the same name. It was located in some woods off North 13th Street near Dub's. Ex-Epics members Tom Petty and Tom Leadon decided to form their own band, calling themself Mudcrutch. Later on, Tom Petty recruits Randall Marsh on drums. The band needs a second guitarist and Marsh suggest Mike Campbell (his roommate in college at the time), Petty and Leadon later persuade Campbell after hearing him play the song "Johnny B. Goode." In 1971 Petty, Campbell and Marsh organize the 1st "Mudcrutch Farm Festival". Jim Lenahan is for a while the lead singer in Mudcrutch, but left to go to college elsewhere. In '72 the band organizes the 2nd "Mudcrutch Farm Festival". 1973 rolls around and Mudcrutch records two tracks -- "Up In Mississippi" and "Cause Is Understood" at Criteria Studios in Miami, FL. They get boxes of 45s . Tom Leadon gets kicked out of the band due to a incident at the bar Dub's, that got them fired from doing gigs there. Benmont Tench then joins the band to play piano. The band recruits a new guitarist named Danny Roberts and Mudcrutch's first demo tape is recorded in Benmont Tench's parent's living room. In 1974 Petty, Roberts and roadie Keith McAllister takes the demo tape to Los Angeles, CA and finds interest from seven record labels there. Mudcrutch then later signs up with Danny Cordell's Shelter Records in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the band relocats to Los Angeles, CA to start record an album for Shelter Records, but the album was never released and the band breaks up. The result is "Depot Street" & "Wild Eyes" is released, the only Mudcrutch single to be made. In 1975 Petty forms a new backup band called the Heartbreakers, with Mike Campbell on guitar, Benmont Tench on keyboard, Ron Blair on bass, Stan Lynch on drums and Jeff Jourard on guitar. The rest, you could call history... Of course one of TPATH's songs had to make the list. Is anybody else shocked that Kerry has had such a successful campaign so far? I think Dean's public office record is way more impressive than Kerry's. Theme tunes make pitch to emotions By ANDREA JONES The Atlanta Journal-Constitution John Edwards was born in a "Small Town." John Kerry "Won't Back Down." And Howard Dean wants "A Little Less Conversation." Sometimes, political campaigning really is just a song and dance. The theme songs candidates choose when hitting the trail can speak volumes to voters, as presidential hopefuls try to cement a carefully crafted image or evoke a certain feeling. "Using a song encourages voters to think of candidates as products, like laundry soap or a cleaning supply," said Jay Hamilton, an assistant advertising professor at the University of Georgia. "Candidates are reaching out to the emotional, not the thinking, level." Just ask John Edwards, who has linked his campaign to just one song. Each time the North Carolina senator hops off his "Real Solutions Express," the bus' sound system blasts John Mellencamp's "Small Town." As Edwards gives the crowd the thumbs-up, Mellencamp croons about growing up poor in a town with "little opportunity." The song plays before every Edwards event ? from big rallies to small house parties ? and longtime supporters often can be identified by the fact that they know every word. Kim Rubey, Edwards' spokeswoman, said Edwards used "Your Life Is Now," another Mellencamp anthem, in his 1998 run for the Senate. "Mellencamp songs just fit John Edwards really well," Rubey said. "They reflect his overall message of wanting to unite the country." And it doesn't seem to bother the one-time rebel rocker, who has played at fund-raisers for Edwards and Dean and recent campaign dropout Wesley Clark. Mellencamp's agent, Bob Merlis, said the musician is "happy to help." Mellencamp and other artists don't receive royalties when songs are played at events, but Merlis said he believes "a change in the country" would be payment enough. An outspoken anti-war activist, Mellencamp keeps close tabs on who is using his songs in campaigns, Merlis said. "He certainly wouldn't want be associated with someone that has a really different take on politics," Merlis said. Rockers have raised issues with political camps over theme songs in the past. In 1996, Bob Dole had to stop using "Soul Man" ? which he had changed to "Dole Man" ? after the song's copyright owners sent him a threatening letter. And Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign was out of tune when it tried to use Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." as the president's anthem. While the chorus sounds patriotic, the song was actually about a disenchanted Vietnam veteran and his struggles. The Boss quickly told Reagan's folks the song was off-limits. Democratic front-runner John Kerry also is using a Springsteen song, "No Surrender," as one of his two rather angry anthems. He often takes the stage to the tune of "No Surrender" and Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down." "Like soldiers in the winter's night with a vow to defend," the Springsteen song goes, "no retreat, baby, no surrender." Katina Stapleton, an assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University in New York who teaches a class on pop music and politics, said candidates are harnessing the power of suggestion. "Most of these songs are clearly not about what the candidate is trying to make them into," she said. "But it's up to the audience to determine the meaning." And that's gotten tougher as more and more candidates turn to pop music for inspiration, said Nashville songwriter Dan Tyler. Tyler penned an original song for Howard Dean's campaign called "The Dr. Is In." In just over two months, his Web site received 6,000 hits and became an Internet phenomenon. Dean also used a remix of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" and Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes." "Songs can be really, really powerful," Tyler said. "In Dean's case, though, I guess it wasn't enough." Whatever their musical tastes, any of the candidates would be happy to trade their theme songs for President Bush's: "Hail to the Chief." Posted on Monday, February 16 @ 21:59:42 PST by Mudcrutch

This is for all the members of the Mudcrutch and their friends! I run a Don Felder website ( www.feldermusic.com )and I added a Gainesville 60/70's page about the bands who ran togther during that time including Mudcrutch. There is also a link for bandmates who have lost touch to get a hold of one another. If your interested or know one of the bandmembers who is e-mail me (or have them e-mail me)and I'll send a password to get in. It's confidential and closed to the public. Thanks, Cathy