“The way we played guitar, the way I voiced against Tom, we found it on American Girl. I thought, ‘This is us.’ Those two guitars helped make it happen”: Mike Campbell on how his lifelong musical connection with Tom Petty was forged in a matter of days

Mike Campbell of the Dirty Knobs, in hat, shades, guitar in hand.

Known as the chiming lead guitarist for Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, and his tendency to brandish a beloved beaten Broadcaster, Mike Campbell was born to strum six strings.

“I loved it right off the bat,” he says. That’s obvious as Campbell’s mojo-laden connection with fellow songsmith Tom Petty manifested music for the ages. Albums such as Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers (1976), Damn The Torpedoes (1979), Long After Dark (1982) and Southern Accents (1985), to name a few, feature droves of Campbell-penned and -assisted cuts. And it was as easy as it seemed.