Guitarist and songwriter Mike Campbell looks back on his career ahead of Monday’s Kauffman Center show

Mike Campbell. // Photo Courtesy of Chris Phelps

Guitarist and songwriter Mike Campbell’s work with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers would be enough to secure his  everlasting legacy, and the band’s 2002 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a testament to that. Having co-written many of the band’s hits—“Refugee,” “Here Comes My Girl,” and “You Got Lucky”—he’s also responsible for several non-Heartbreaker Petty smashes like “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and “You Wreck Me.”

Throw into this work with the likes of Johnny Cash, Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, Bob Dylan, The Wallflowers, Chris Stapleton, and more, and chances are you’ve heard Campbell’s songwriting and guitar work on rock radio for the better part of your entire life. The man could’ve rested on his laurels any time after the turn of the century and he’d be regarded as one of the greats, but he continues to make music to this day, and it continues to be great.

Campbell’s latest album with his current band, the Dirty Knobs, Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, hit last week via BMG. To celebrate its release, the band’s headed out on the road. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs hit the Kauffman Center on Monday, June 24, and we got a chance to speak with Campbell to discuss the new album, his career, and legacy.

The Pitch: “So Alive,” from the new record, grabbed me from the first second I heard it. What’s the story behind that absolute rocker?

Mike Campbell: That song was written in about two minutes. It’s just a burst of adrenaline. It wasn’t much more than that—a guitar riff and then some happy words. The band played it once, I think, live in the studio and just went for it.

You have been making records for 50 years now. I am sure you have got the studio thing figured out these days.

Yes, I do. I have a wonderful home studio, which I’ve had for many, many years. A lot of Heartbreakers stuff was done here and a lot of projects I’ve worked on. It’s all set up and ready to go. So I come in with the band, The Dirty Knobs, and we just turn it on. Everything’s set up and we just start playing.

How does producing stuff for your own material—be it in the past with The Heartbreakers or now with the Dirty Knobs—differ from the work you do for other folks?

Well not a whole lot, I guess. I mean, if I’m involved in a project, I’m very opinionated. And I put in my two cents when I can, as I did with Tom and The Heartbreakers. I was always chipping in what I thought we should do or shouldn’t do. I’ve always just followed my instincts and tried to make it better.

Given that you’ve worked with so many folks, what led you to contact the people who guested on Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, like Graham Nash, Chris Stapleton, and Lucinda Williams?

Well, I knew Chris Stapleton, who’s a good friend of mine, because we had gotten together—He wanted to try and write some songs, which we did a while back. He was in town, actually, doing the Grammy or whatever, and he had a free day, and he came over and did a vocal on a couple of my songs, which was great. And then Graham Nash, I had this radio show I do on Tom Petty Radio called The Breakdown.

I did an interview with Graham and then I got up the nerve to ask him if he would be interested in singing on one of my songs, and he said, “Yeah,” so I sent him the record and he put his vocals on, sent it back to me, and made the song twice as good. ‘Cause I’m a big Hollies fan, and he put that chorus with all the voices, it sounds so rich, and he’s such a sweet guy, so I was really pleased with that.

Lucinda, I knew from touring with her here and there, and she agreed to come in and sing this one song. She was kinda shy about it, this song called “Hell Or High Water.” I just thought this song would be good as a duet, ’cause there’s two characters in this song. She sang the shit out of that verse, and really put a lot of soul into it. She’s an amazing singer, so I was really lucky to get her.

Benmont Tench came over one day and we slapped on some Little Richard piano in this one song. It was all just kind of luck of the draw, I guess.

This is the third Dirty Knobs record in four or five years. Why so prolific?

It’s just the way I am. I write all the time, and now that I don’t have The Heartbreakers to take up most of my time, I’m free to explore this other band, which I love and do my own songs and write my own songs. We have so many songs. We could have put out seven or eight albums in that amount of time, but because of the way the industry is now, there’s a lag time between when you finish it and when they actually release it. We have tons of material.

This is what I love to do. I write pretty much every day, a little bit here and there, and stuff just starts piling up on me. I have the opposite of writer’s block.

Given that you’re so prolific and have been for so long, is part of the appeal of playing on so many other folks’ records that you have these ideas that you need to find a home for?

Well, I don’t really play on that many other people’s records, honestly. I didn’t do much outside The Heartbreakers. I did a couple of songs with Don Henley here and there, but mostly I just work on my own stuff, and now that, like I said, The Heartbreakers are not together, I mostly work in my own studio, or I have friends come over, like Chris Stapleton, Lucinda, or different people.

I’ve been working with Linda Perry, writing some songs, and she’s a lot of fun, but I don’t really play on other people’s records that often. I mostly just make my own music.

Working with Linda Perry? I mean, you have written quite a few hits and she has written quite a few hits. What is that dynamic like?

It was very interesting, ’cause it’s new to me, writing with other people that I don’t know, but I’m learning to do it and we were put together through the management and I respected her. She came over, we sat down, and we started throwing some stuff around.

What’s great about Linda Perry is that she’s so brave. She would just sit there and just start making stuff up in front of me. I like to write my own little private area and self-edit before I let anybody hear it, but she’s just out there. She just starts singing, making up words, and throwing ideas around. As it went along, we go, “That’s great. Let’s keep that. Add to that,” and I really liked that about her—that she’s so organic and in the moment. She’s not afraid to just throw something at the wall and see if it sticks.

How convenient is it for you as a musician to have a home studio? Do you have set hours or is it just when the moment strikes you?

It’s in the moment. I don’t work on the clock, but it’s great to have. My studio is all state of the art and it’s all set up. All the sounds are already ready to go, so I don’t have to dick around with setting up microphones. If I decide I’ve got an idea for a song, I just walk in and turn it on. It could be any time of the day, you know? Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I’ve dreamed something that I think could be a song. I start working on it in the morning and then I wander in, but I don’t have a set schedule. I just go with the flow. You have to follow the muse.

Given that you say that you have the opposite of writer’s block, how did you winnow the songs that you’ve written down to the 11 that are on this album?

We had about, I don’t know, 26 or more. Fortunately, I had a co producer, George Drakoulias, who was really helpful with that. He came in and we thought, Well, all this stuff is good. Let’s find 10 that kind of sound like they all go together, because I write in different styles here and there too, so we tried to find 10 songs that kind of had a thread and sounded like they belonged in the same boat.

He helped me a lot picking those. I mean, he has done so much stuff over the years. He’s so fun to work with. He’s real smart and he makes everybody laugh a lot and he works fast, which I like.

I know you worked with him on a Heartbreakers album, The Last DJ, about 20 years ago, but what made you bring him in for this particular project?

Well, because we were friends and I thought he would bring a good energy to it. I just asked him. He’s kind of busy. He does a lot of film work and stuff, but he made time for us, and like I said, we don’t waste a lot of time in the studio. We get in and get into it, and George is good that way. He’s a good ringleader. He puts everybody in the right frame of mind to bring out the best in them, so I was really lucky that he had time to work with me and help me out.

You worked on one of my favorite underappreciated records, Dwight Twilley’s Jungle, which turns 40 this year. Do you have any memories of working on that you can share?

I don’t remember that record specifically, but I have a lot of memories about Dwight. I recently went to Tulsa. We shut our video for “Dare to Dream” in Tulsa at the Old Church Studio. And, Dwight is from Tulsa, as well as Leon Russell. Dwight and Phil Seymour, they were around on Shelter Records when we were first signed, and we were jealous of them because they had a big hit with “I’m on Fire” and we couldn’t get shit going in the studio for some reason.

We were trying to catch up with them. They sang on our first record. A lot of the background vocals on “Breakdown,” “American Girl”—That’s Phil and Dwight singing along. They helped us quite a bit and lit a fire under us. It was a healthy competition, but that album, Jungle, I don’t remember specifically. I just remember being around and him being around. Mostly I remember him helping us.

You’re doing a new interpretation of “Ways to Be Wicked” for Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty. That led me to wonder, do you have a particular cover version of one of your songs that you’ve heard?

Well, I liked that one quite a bit. I think Margo did a great job, I played guitar with her on that one. I like that record, the country album. I know there’s about seven of those songs I co-wrote with Tom, so I’m happy for that. I like the Chris Stapleton song, I like Dolly Parton’s version of “Southern Accents,” and I think Margo’s version is really rollicking. She’s a great singer, has a lot of energy, and I’m glad to see that song finally at home, because it’s been kind of lingering around for a while. The Heartbreakers never quite got it right so that’s a good feeling to have one of your songs finally land somewhere.

George Strait has covered “You Wreck Me” in concert for quite some time, as well. How is it when somebody of that stature takes on one of your songs?

You know, it’s crazy. My life is full of gifts like that—Things just sort of drop in my lap and that was one of them. When somebody does your song, that’s the ultimate compliment and he did a great version of it. So I’m just thrilled. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

Mike Campbell & the Dirty Knobs play the Kauffman Center on Monday, June 24. Details on that show here.