Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits (2024)

Since the unexpected 2017 death of Tom Petty, longtime Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell has carried on with his band The Dirty Knobs. Joined by Lance Morrison (bass), Matt Laug (drums)and key new addition Chris Holt (guitars, keys, vocals), and recorded by Petty's former brain trust of producers George Drakoulias and Martin Pradler, the Knobs are guitar rock in the classic sense. Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits begins and ends with audience applause, starting with "The Greatest," Campbell's salute to his audience. Closer "Amanda Lynn" is a mandolin frolic originally meant as walk-out music for his live shows. While his voice can be eerily reminiscent of his old bandmate, Campbell is clearly his own man on this third Knobs album—anchored by a pair of well-written, wonderfully recorded numbers. Paced by strummed guitars and ex-Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone, "Angel of Mercy" is the tale of a dangerous femme fatale ("There's too much complication/ I can't figure out/ What she's leading up to/ What she's all about") whose charms are nevertheless irresistible: "Angel of mercy/ Wake me, shake me/ Take me all the way." That's followed by "Dare to Dream," where steady, chiming guitars give way to joyous choruses on which Graham Nash adds sublime vocal support.

Another guest, Lucinda Williams, gives one of her finest vocal performances on a verse of "Hell or High Water," singing eloquent lines that she could have written: "He lives his life on the edge hand over fist/ Deep in the darkness we shared our last kiss/ A lifetime of pain for one night of bliss." Big guitars return ready to rock in "So Alive" where Campbell repeats a brawny figure before ending on tapped strings. "Don't Wait Up" with guests Chris Stapleton and another ex-Heartbreaker, Benmont Tench, is chugging power boogie. Power chords return in the pounding march "Shake These Blues" a tale of bicoastal travel that revs up in the middle before winding down into a verse that skewers Gotham: "New York City got so much pain/ Drive you to drinking and drive you insane, oh no." While the arrangements, rhythms, recording style, and Campbell's vocals make you think of Petty more than once along the way, this set, with better songs than its two Knobs predecessors, is the sound of a rock guitarist out front leading the band.

TRACKLIST

1. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - The Greatest
2. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - Angel of Mercy
3. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs;Graham Nash - Dare to Dream (feat. Graham Nash)
4. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - Hands Are Tied
5. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs;Lucinda Williams - Hell Or High Water (feat. Lucinda Williams)
6. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - So Alive
7. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - Shake These Blues
8. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - Innocent Man
9. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs;Benmont Tench;Chris Stapleton - Don't Wait Up (feat. Chris Stapleton & Benmont Tench)
10. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - My Old Friends
11. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs - Amanda Lynn