One of America’s legendary guitar heroes continues to play on without Tom Petty

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers unofficially ended when their founder and voice died in 2017, but their heartbeat endures.

A beat that started decades ago keeps beating thanks to the music, millions of loyal fans, and the members of the band themselves.

During what was supposed to be a farewell tour, Petty died as a result of an accidental overdose of prescribed medications on Oct. 2, 2017. He was 66.

His “co-captain,” lead guitarist Mike Campbell, who had been with Petty since the duo began their careers in Gainesville, Florida, around 1976, has not stopped. Since Petty passed, Campbell has played with a variety of other acts, and is now touring with his band, Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs. The group is scheduled to play Arlington Music Hall on Sept. 13.

“It was hard emotionally, not hard musically. It was cathartic in all ways,” Campbell said of returning to the stage after Petty. “I had no question I’d continue making music. It was hard to play and not see my brother there and he was leading the charge. Now I’m leading the charge. I had learned quite a bit.

“I have a lot more respect for him knowing that he was playing, and singing, and talking to the audience, and now I have all of that on my shoulders. I know now what that’s like, because before, when I was with Tom, I just had to play the guitar.

“Every now and then it’s emotional if we play one of those songs, because it bring up grief and longing, for sure.”

Campbell discussed playing with Petty and a variety of other topics in a recent phone interview with the Star-Telegram from his home in Los Angeles.

Star-Telegram: You have said that you wish you had started The Dirty Knobs earlier but didn’t because of your commitment to the Heartbreakers. Knowing what you know now, do you think you would have had the necessary time to do this the way you wanted?

Mike Campbell: Truthfully, now that I see what’s involved, I could not have given it enough time while I was with the Heartbreakers. It became aware to me as I started putting the recordings together. I’d write music, and I couldn’t decide which ones do I keep, and which ones do I give to Tom?

I realized it was not possible to do things at the same time.

S-T: How did you decide which songs to keep and which ones to give to Tom?

MC: When I was working with Tom, I gave everything to him first. I might have one where I thought, ‘He may not like this.’ I always gave my best stuff to him. I remember one time he said, ‘Why don’t you record that?’ I thought I should but he said, ‘Well, I want the good stuff.’ I was never holding songs back, per se, but now that he’s not around I have an open field to bring it all out.

S-T: Because of the success you had for so long, do you feel like you have the freedom with this band to stretch out and do whatever you want without fear of record or CD sales?

MC: Yeah, fortunately I’ve done well enough I’m not trying to pay the mortgage from The Dirty Knobs. I’d like to make money for the other guys. It’s all changed so much, but it has to be about the songs and the music.

S-T: Do you think the way you started your career, would that work in today’s environment?

MC: I don’t know if it could. I would not want to be doing it now. I liked it back then the way we started. It was the old formula; you could go out and play and hone your craft. You build up sales and tour and you can build a career while learning to play.

Today a lot of acts just push the buttons in the studio on a computer and make the record too fast. It was a different perspective than I did it. It was learn to play, and go out and play.

S-T: When you started, exactly how broke were you?

MC: I was as broke as you could be. It was bologna sandwiches and, if I was lucky, a mattress on the floor. When I was in Gainesville, I would ride my bike to donate blood for $15. I’d ride my bike back and pay a guy $15 for that mattress on the floor.

S-T: Do you recall how much your first gigs were?

MC: It was meager until ‘Dubs Topless Bar.’

S-T: Your career at the front end with Tom is well known. When did you reach a point when you felt like, ‘OK. I can breathe. I can do this for a living?’

MC: That was quite a while. We came to L.A. with (the band) Mudcrutch and we struggled. I was on a meager retainer. I was sleeping on a mattress with four other guys in a house in the Valley (near Los Angeles).

I met my now wife when she was a checkout cashier at a grocery story. It was not until the third album, when ‘Refugee’ hit, when I told her, ‘OK. You can quit your job.’

S-T: If this career had not worked out for you, what do you think you would have done?

MC: Now you’re scaring me. I’ve thought about that few times. I guess in my wildest dreams, if I had given up or the music wasn’t going to support me, I would have gone back to Florida and teach English in high school, or work in a gas station. I shudder to think about that.

S-T: There are few guitarists who are lucky enough to establish a signature sound — like Clapton, The Edge, David Gilmour — which you have. How do you reach that point when you can say, ‘That’s it. I got it.’

MC: Thank you for that, you mentioning me with those players. It’s true for every guitarist. You learn by Jimmy Reed, Keith Richards. You learn by trying the stuff you like. As you’re learning, and you’re really diligent, you may not learn it right but through that you will learn your own technique. That’s what happened to me. I tried to learn what Chuck Berry was doing.

S-T: When you write a song, do you start with a lyric or a guitar riff and put the words behind it?

MC: I never even put lyrics to it, barely, but mostly it was about the music. I might try to write a lyric and then go, ‘That sucks.’ I don’t really sing, and then I’d give it to Tom. When I started it was all about the guitar and the chord.

S-T: Who are the guitarists who made the biggest impression on you?

MC: I’ve been so blessed to meet my heroes, and to have them compliment me. I have found Roy Orbison to Bob Dylan to George Harrison to Jeff Lynne, all of these people that are genuine and sincere; I was pleased to find them all as people who are really kindred spirits and compassionate with ideas, especially George Harrison.

That was so great because he was so modest and genuine with me.

S-T: Did you have any moments in your career, after maybe after Tom passed, when it hit you how much your work and your creations meant to a generation of people?

MC: I don’t think about that much because I am always forward. When it hits me is when someone comes up at a meet-and-greet and says, ‘Are you Mike Campbell? Your music was the soundtrack of my life.’ Or maybe they played ‘Here Comes My Girl’ at their wedding.

S-T: You’re still playing and touring, what else do you want to do?

MC: I want to continue to do what I love, and what I love is what keeps me young minded. Music keeps me young. My biggest joy is to write a song, record it, and to have the band play it and then the audience sing it. If it works, there is no better feeling in the world, and I’m going to keep doing it because I love it.

S-T: On behalf of so many people who are loyal fans, thank you and best of luck and keep playing.

MC: Thanks so much and I look forward to seeing you at the show.