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ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Mudcrutch’s “2”

Mudcrutch

Mudcrutch was/is Tom Petty’s band from the early 1970s, which included future fellow Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and guitarist Mike Campbell, as well as guitarist Tom Leadon and drummer Randall Marsh. Ultimately, they regrouped and released their long-postponed debut album in 2008. Now, here’s the engaging follow-up.

On 2, a looser, more casual and countrified LP than a formal Heartbreakers release, these longtime friends use Mudcrutch to have some fun, jam out and exude a little bit of that good old-fashioned Laurel Canyon psyche-twang sound. Petty plays bass and sings, and everybody else leans in on vocals, feeling somewhat akin to the Traveling Wilburys in spirit. There are some truly elevated musical moments, including the gorgeous “Beautiful Blue” and pastoral closing track “Hungry No More.” Praise goes to Messrs. Campbell and Leadon for their distinctive dual picking, which provides an elusive, rural-mystical flavor of a bygone era in rock ‘n’ roll.

—Mitch Myers