Tom Leadon, Mudcrutch Co-Founder, Dead at 70

Tom Leadon, guitarist and founding member of Tom Petty’s first band, Mudcrutch, has died. He was 70. “It is with great sadness, but profound love and gratitude for his life, that the family of Tom Leadon … announce his passing on March 22, 2023, peacefully of natural causes,” his brother, Mark Leadon, posted on Facebook.

“Tom Leadon was my deepest guitar soul brother, we spent countless hours playing acoustic guitars and teaching each other things,” Heartbreakers guitarist and Mudcrutch co-founder Mike (*70*) posted on Twitter. “A kinder soul never walked the earth. I will always miss his spirit and generosity. Sleep peacefully, my old friend.”

Leadon was born in Rosemount, Minn., however his household moved to San Diego when he was 4. They moved once more in 1964 to Gainesville, Fla., Petty’s hometown.

It was there that Leadon met Petty in the native band the Epics. “I was fascinated with Petty, he always fascinated me, I thought he was very entertaining and very talented in his own way,” Leadon later mentioned. “I started hanging around with the Epics and would work the lights for them, and after a couple months they asked me to join, and Tom told me later he was pushing for that. He felt he needed a good musician, someone who could really play guitar, and I was only 14.”

The Epics finally changed into Mudcrutch with Leadon and (*70*) on guitar, Petty on bass, drummer Randall Marsh and singer Jim Lenehan. This lineup launched one regionally distributed single, “Up In Mississippi,” with a B-side of “Cause Is Understood” in 1971. Leadon left the band a yr later in 1972 and headed for California, the place his older brother, Bernie, a former member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, had shaped Eagles.

Listen to Mudcrutch’s ‘Up in Mississippi”

Tom Leadon also played for a short time with Linda Ronstadt; in 1975, Eagles included one of Leadon’s songs, “Hollywood Waltz,” on One of These Nights. “It helped rather a lot and was an actual training within the music enterprise,” Leadon later said. “I discovered about publishing and the way folks can rip off your publishing, and I didn’t get all the cash I used to be presupposed to get however I did get lots of it. I’m grateful to my brother for that.”

In 1976, Leadon joined the band Silver, whose song “Wham Bam” became a Top 20 hit and inspired Petty to move his latest band the Heartbreakers westward. “That did it,” Petty said in the 2005 book Conversations With Tom Petty. “‘OK, we’ll California. That’s the way in which it’s. We’re going to L.A.'”

In 2007, Mudcrutch reunited and recorded two albums, Mudcrutch (2008) and Mudcrutch 2 (2016), both of which made the Top 10. “We spent extra time getting sounds this time, and I feel you may hear that,” Leadon said in 2016 of the second LP. “The first time, no matter we had plugged in, that is just about what you bought. There was a magnificence to that. Yet this time we took a little bit extra time with ‘What amp are we going to make use of? Which guitar?’ What results would possibly we use, and the best way to organize the components the suitable approach.”

Leadon was also a guitar teacher in Nashville and performed with his band the Bayjacks. In 2017, shortly after Petty’s death, Leadon wrote and released a tribute to his former bandmate called “My Best Old Friend.” Leadon performed at 2022’s Tom Petty Weekend, which was held in Gainesville.

“We grew up in San Diego, however there was extra of a music scene in Gainesville, extra of a band scene,” Leadon once said. “It was a wealthy tradition for music. At the time I didn’t understand it as a lot … however Gainesville was a extremely particular place to be.”

“Tom had a pleasant and outgoing character and sharp wit,” his brother Mark noted on Facebook. “He was a terrific and really humorous storyteller. Tom liked his household, shut mates and the entire Mudcrutch, Tom Petty and Bayjacks followers. He loved assembly and speaking with all of you. Thank you for serving to to make his final years nice ones. He was significantly liked and can be significantly missed.”

Watch Tom Leadon Perform With Mudcrutch in 2016