The band Mudcrutch, from Gainesville Florida, will always be remembered as the band which started Tom Petty's rise to rock & roll superstardom. Although the band only released a handful of contemporary singles (they only recorded albums after reforming in 2007) Mudcrutch were actually a much bigger band in southern America than their record sales might suggest. They had always had a loyal following in Florida and were the house band at Dub's in Gainesville. During this period they established their own annual rock festival and this grew to the point where it became so large the festival was a success in its own right.
In 1974 they signed to Shelter records and re-located to California, it should have been the making of the band but indirectly the association with Shelter caused the band's demise. Recognising Petty's outstanding talents as a songwriter Shelter persuaded him to split from the band and launch a fresh project. After the band split up guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboard player Beaumont Tench joined Petty and became The Heartbreakers. Encouraged by Petty, Mudcrutch reformed in 2007 and released a self-titled album in 2008 which immediately went to number eight in the charts. The band's second album 'Mudcrutch 2' was released in 2016 and the band looked set to have a career renaissance but unfortunately the death of Tom Petty in 2017 caused all future plans to be shelved.