Mike Campbell & the Dirty Knobs

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Chris Phelps

Mike Campbell, guitar and amp.

Mike Campbell

At first listen, you might mistake “Dare to Dream,” the new single by Mike Campbell & the Dirty Knobs, as a lost Tom Petty track. The most famous Heartbreaker takes plenty of influences from the former frontman, managing to sound both familiar and fresh. The third album from Campbell and The Dirty Knobs, Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, came out in mid-June and features cameos by Graham Nash, Lucinda Williams, Chris Stapleton, and fellow Heartbreaker Benmont Tench. If recent setlists are any indication, he’ll also sneak in some Petty classics. Roots singer-songwriter Shannon McNally opens.

media release: Celebrated guitarist and songwriter Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac) and his band The Dirty Knobs are set for the release of their third album, Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits. Featuring appearances from artists including Graham Nash, Lucinda Williams, Chris Stapleton and fellow Heartbreaker Benmont Tench, the album is due June 14 via BMG. Pre-order the record HERE.

In celebration of the forthcoming record, the band is debuting the album’s first single “Dare To Dream” featuring Graham Nash accompanying Campbell on vocals. The track is complemented by a Chris Phelps-directed music video shot in Tulsa, Oklahoma including footage from The Church Studio where Mudcrutch—the precursor to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers—made their first studio recordings for Leon Russell’s Shelter Records as they made their way from Gainesville, Florida to Los Angeles in 1974. Watch/share the video HERE.

“‘Dare To Dream’ is a song about longing for hope,” notes Campbell. “Lord knows we need more hope in this wicked world these days. Having Graham Nash sing on it was a dream come true for me.”

Nash was a guest on “The Breakdown,” Campbell's interview show on SiriusXM's Tom Petty Radio, when “I got up the courage,” Campbell recalls, “to ask him, ‘Would you be interested in singing on one of my songs?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I'll make your song better,’” Campbell laughs. “And he did! It sounds like the Hollies.”

Campbell is on tour throughout the summer in support of the new record, kicking off the run of shows with a co-headline appearance alongside Larkin Poe at Illinois’ Off North Shore: Skokie Music Festival on June 21. See below for a complete list of dates.

In additional to Campbell, The Dirty Knobs features fellow Heartbreaker Steve Ferrone on drums, Chris Holt (Don Henley) on guitar and Lance Morrison (Don Henley) on bass.

Campbell also appears on the forthcoming tribute record Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty—out June 21 on Big Machine Records—performing the Heartbreakers’ track “Ways To Be Wicked” alongside Margo Price.

With Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, Campbell and the Dirty Knobs (named after tech slang for a broken amp dial) have made the most expansive and dynamic album of the Dirty Knobs’ one-of-a-kind ride. The group was founded in 2000 by Campbell as a writing and club-date project outside the Heartbreakers. The group finally got on record with 2020's Wreckless Abandon and 2022's External Combustion, both made with George Drakoulias and Martin Pradler, who return to co-produce the new album with Campbell.

Those LPs, Campbell says, were the Knobs “trying to find our way as a rock & roll band.” “Now it’s down to great songs,” adds Campbell, “the depth in the lyrics and chords.” He recalls something Petty once told him: “Tom said, ‘I love the English language. There’s so much you can do with it.’ I'm discovering that, too. Looking for rhyme schemes, the right word. At first it was a struggle. Now that door has opened,” Campbell says. “I’ve turned a corner” on Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits. The Dirty Knobs are “still a rock band but growing into different feels.”