Tom Petty brings Mudcrutch, his other band, to town

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are not performing at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay Friday night, but Tom Petty and two of his Heartbreakers are.

Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench are playing at Humphreys as members of Mudcrutch. That’s the band all three played in before Petty got a solo album deal and formed The Heartbreakers in 1975.

Confused?

So, apparently, are a sizable number of Petty fans, who don’t seem to realize he’s in Mudcrutch. This observation is based on the ample number of tickets still available for the band’s show here Friday, for which all tickets at the intimate Shelter Island venue are general-admission, standing-room only.

Mudcrutch’s lineup also includes drummer Randall Marsh and guitarist-singer Tom Leadon, whose brother — former San Diegan Bernie Leadon — is a co-founder of the Eagles. Petty plays bass in this reconstituted band and handles most, but not all, lead vocals.

For its current tour, which concludes here, Mudcrutch is being augmented by veteran guitarist and singer Herb Pedersen. He is a longtime musical partner of Byrds co-founder — and former San Diegan — Chris Hillman.

Petty reunited Mudcrutch eight years ago for a self-titled album and a seven-city tour, much to the surprise of some of its former members.

“If you’d told me in 1978 that we’d get back together in 2008, I would have been ecstatic,” Tench said in a joint 2008 Union-Tribune interview with Campbell. “I love the Heartbreakers. But I always loved Mudcrutch, too, and it made me really happy to hear about the reunion.

“When Mike called to tell me, one of my first thoughts was: ‘I hope I get to play!’ Because the original lineup was the other four guys, and then I sat in for a while after Tom Leadon left. I was like: ‘You have to let me on the record’’ ”

After an eight-year hiatus, Petty reconvened the band last year to record a new album, “Mudcrutch 2.” It was released in May and is a stronger, more cohesive work than the group’s promising, but uneven, 2008 debut album.

Stylistically, “Mudcrutch 2” lives up to Campbell’s description of the group’s stylistic approach in his 2008 Union-Tribune interview: “It’s a rock ‘n’ roll country band, or a rock ‘n’ roll band with a little country and R&B and all kinds of things thrown in.”

Tench, Campbell, Leadon and Marsh each wrote one song apiece for the band’s new album, while Petty wrote and sings seven. He clearly enjoys sharing the spotlight. And, by playing bass, rather than guitar, he brings a different flavor to Mudcrutch than he does to The Heartbreakers.

It’s a new/old band that has refueled Petty’s enthusiasm. The sole Heartbreakers’ song featured in Mudcrutch’s set list on this tour has been “Trailer,” a 1984 obscurity. But the group has been playing some choice covers by The Byrds (”Lover of the Bayou”) and Bob Dylan (“Knocking on Heaven’s Door”), along with “Six Days on the Road,” the 1963 Dave Dudley hit subsequently recorded by the Flying Burrito Brothers, Jim Croce, Steve Earle and more.

Otherwise, Mudcrutch is focusing on songs by Mudcrutch. It’s a sound move, although charging $129.50 per ticket for an all-standing-room show by a band few fans seem familiar with may not be so sound.