The Mastery of Mike Campbell

I am fascinated by mastery and people who have honed their craft to become masters. I have read a number of books and articles on the subject. I have personally tried to approach my career at CWS and my interests in life from the perspective of a mastery mindset. I also love to learn from others via interviews and books by masters or about them.

Recently I read that Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers was coming out with his autobiography aptly named Heartbreaker. Tom Petty is one artist I kick myself for not seeing live. I became much more of a fan after his death in 2017. I have to thank SiriusXM for that via its Tom Petty channel. 

I decided to listen to the Audible version of it because Campbell is the narrator and, quite frankly. I enjoy his voice. I prefer listening to books at 1.5x speed because I like that tempo and I can listen to a book in ⅔ of the time.I finished it in only a few days and I cannot recommend enough, especially the Audible version. It is the embodiment of a story that is grounded in mastery, craftsmanship, loyalty, and gratitude. 

Campbell never sought to get rich. He just wanted to make a living and provide for his family doing what he loved and having the canvas to create and innovate. And if he worked hard, kept at it everyday, soaked in all kinds of music so that he had a very full tool box from which to draw inspiration, then with some luck he might be able to write some songs that could be played for many years to come. Even if you’re not a Tom Petty fan you know he has produced an incredible, timeless body of work to which Campbell was a vital contributor.

Campbell is also very clear that there is not a chance his songs could be as good as they are without Petty’s lyrics, structuring, how he sings them, and the way he brought them to life, especially live. Campbell loved nothing more than being part of a band and having the freedom and support of Petty to write for him and the band. After listening to the book it makes perfect sense that he would call it Heartbreaker because that is how he sees himself, as a band member. I too can relate to the power of partnership and collaboration from my experience at CWS and it’s something I cherish. 

I digress but in the book Bob Dylan, who was very close to Petty, and Campbell to a lesser degree, prophetically warned Petty and Campbell about their excitement related to compact discs and the revenue potential of them. He said it was going to ruin everything.  He didn’t elaborate but many years later Dylan could be more right than wrong.

In some ways all of the technology and digitization has been soul crushing and it has individualized music so much that it has decimated the formation of bands. Why take the time and effort to try and meet people to play with and start a band when you don’t know if they can be relied upon, if they’re really in it for the long term, will they continue to grow, etc.? It’s much easier to compose music alone and put it out there on streaming services and see if it takes hold. The major exception is the jam band scene which, by definition, requires bands to produce the music. I think that a band-centric ecosystem is what helps make the jam band scene so popular.  These are bands with great talent and camaraderie, unique cultures, ways of being, and improvisation skills that provide fans and audience members with a very powerful human experience. 

Campbell grew up in Florida and was dirt poor. Everything changed for him when he was exposed to the guitar in his early teens. That is when he discovered his purpose, his reason for being. A guitar was the only thing that he wanted. His dad left his family when he was stationed in Okinawa and did very little to support them financially. His mom could barely make ends meet. They were often evicted and they suffered from food insecurity. When she showed up with a guitar one day it showed the depth of his mother’s love and something for which he would be eternally grateful.

As Campbell started to progress in his guitar playing skills he concluded he needed an electric guitar. Many of these were made in Japan so Mike contacted his dad and said that he needed a guitar and he asked him to send him one. His father was thoughtful, analytical, and methodical so he asked Mike questions to gain a further understanding of his commitment and the reasons why he felt such a burning desire for getting a new guitar. His father didn’t commit but some time later there was a big package waiting at the door and it was a guitar from Japan. His father came through. Campbell reflected on how fortunate it was that no one stole the package or that they were still living there given how often they had to move to either avoid being evicted or after having been evicted. 

Campbell dedicated himself to learning and mastering the guitar and he became quite proficient at it. He was also a very good student, something his father passed on to him. He came into contact with a high school guidance counselor who studied his transcripts and saw how good his grades were and asked what his college plans were. He said he didn’t have any as he couldn’t afford college. She was determined to make sure he went to college and have it paid for. She got him into the University of Florida and was able to help him get it fully paid for. It was there in Gainesville that he met Tom Petty and they would be joined at the hip for almost 50 years.

After their first band Mudcrutch didn’t make it after moving to Los Angeles they eventually formed Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Campbell met his future wife Marcie and shortly after she told Campbell she was pregnant. After conferring with his dad, he decided the right thing to do was for them to get married. They had no money and were living hand to mouth. But during this time Campbell was innovating on the guitar and his wife would hear what he was playing and tell him that she could absolutely hear a song. Campbell would say no it wasn’t but she held her ground and kept telling him how talented he was and how he had to keep writing music. 

There came a time when Campbell wanted to buy a recorder that could capture him playing multiple instruments as he could play the guitar, bass, and piano. Given their financial situation, however, he didn’t think there was any way they could afford the $200 cost. Marcie said that he had to get it. He retorted that there was no way they could afford it but she kept telling him that he needed to have faith in himself and in his abilities and that if he stuck with his writing she had no doubt that it would pay off. 

He bought the recorder and with the aid of a drum machine and the other instruments he played he could bring Tom Petty fully arranged songs that he could review and decide which ones he felt were a good fit and he could add lyrics to. Petty turned some of these into monster hits and after many years of struggling Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers was off to the races.

Campbell started getting his first songwriting royalties and Marcie and he met with their accountant and realized they could buy their first home which they ended up doing. Fast forward a bit and Tom Petty is in a huge legal battle related to the publishing rights to his song. The ensuing litigation made it extremely difficult for the band to tour and impossible to release new music. The Campbells have another meeting with their accountant and much to their surprise and shock he tells them they are very much at risk of their home being foreclosed and they had no choice but to sell the house.

Mike was shocked but resigned to the situation as he didn’t see a source of income to get them out of the hole given the legal situation with Tom Petty and the band. Once again, Marcie makes her presence felt and asserts herself and says there is no way they are selling their house that she loves and where she has been raising their kids. They will figure out a way and they have to have faith in Mike, including Mike himself.

During this time The Heartbreakers were recording an album that was being produced by Jimmy Iovine who was very well connected in the music industry, despite his young age. Early in the process he asked Campbell if he had any songs and Campbell played a number of them for him from his recorder. Iovine didn’t say much but very shortly after the shocking meeting with the accountant Jimmy said that Don needs a song or two for an album he’s completing and asked if he could call Campbell. Mike didn’t know who Don was and Iovine said it was Don Henley who was working on a solo album.

A couple of days later Don Henley calls. He lived nearby and wanted to stop by and listen to some of his songs. He comes over and starts listening without any indication that he likes them. He thanks Campbell and leaves. Campbell thought that was a bust and nothing would come of it. A few days later Don Henley called and said he just wrote the best song of his life. Campbell is dumbfounded because Henley gave no inclination that he liked any of them, let alone the one he chose. Henley said he wanted to write an anthem and he was sure he had written one but he needed Campbell to come to the studio and record the track exactly how it sounded on his recorder, except in a different key, which was no simple task. His solo album was done except for this song and they need to complete it within a few days so the album could be released a couple of weeks later. 

The song turned out to be Boys of Summer which turned out to be an enormous hit. A few weeks later Campbell is listening to the radio in his car and he hears the DJ gushing over this new single from Don Henley. He not only plays it once, but he plays it three times in a row, something Campbell had never heard done before. He was stunned that this song, which Tom Petty passed on, and was only recorded a couple of weeks earlier, is a monster hit. As the songwriter Campbell was entitled to share royalties with Don Henley who wrote the music and provided the vocals. Royalties are paid out every three months and when it’s time for royalties to go out Campbell gets his in the mail, opens it up, and sees a check and turns to Marcie and tells her they’re going to be ok. They are still married 50 years later and live in the same house which is where they spend time together, along with their three kids, their grandchildren, and numerous animals. 

Mike Campbell’s story is so inspiring and one that resonates with me. Find what you love, dig deeply into your craft, work at it everyday, stick with it through thick and thin, let your skills and experience compound, have faith, align yourself with partners who believe in you and value what you bring to the relationship, and the results can be extraordinary in terms of the immense satisfaction one can gain over the course of one’s life. Throw in some good luck and being in the right place at the right time and the potential exists for creating powerful relationships, an immensely interesting life, and monetary rewards that one could hardly dream of when first embarking on one’s journey to mastery.