Tom Leadon (pronounced ''led-un''; born September 16, 1952) is an American musician. He is one of the founding members of Tom Petty's original band, Mudcrutch, and remained its guitarist following its revival in 2007. He is the brother of Bernie Leadon, the former banjoist and guitarist of the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

Biography

In high school, Leadon was a member of the Epics in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

, where he met Petty. Leadon was the lead

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

and Petty played

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

. Soon after forming Mudcrutch, with Randall Marsh on drums, the group added a second lead guitarist, Mike Campbell. Leadon and Campbell shared lead guitar solos during Mudcrutch's live shows in and around Gainesville, and also on their recording of "Up in Mississippi". Leadon left Mudcrutch in 1972 and moved to Los Angeles, following in the footsteps of his older brother Bernie, who had recently formed the Eagles with

Randy Meisner Randall Herman Meisner (born March 8, 1946) is a retired American musician, singer, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Throughout his professional musical career, Meisner's main role was that of bassist and backing high-harmony vocal ...

, Glenn Frey, and

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He is the drummer and one of the lead singers for the Eagles. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Despe ...

. Leadon also played bass in Linda Ronstadt's band, and in 1976 joined the country-rock band Silver, who had a top 40 hit the same year with "Wham-Bam". In 1975, the Eagles recorded one of Leadon's original songs, "Hollywood Waltz", and released it on their '' One of These Nights'' LP. The final version of the song is credited to Tom Leadon, Bernie Leadon, Frey, and Henley. Later that year Buck Owens released his own version. Leadon later became a guitar teacher in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. In 2007, Petty reformed Mudcrutch, which had broken up in 1975. The band recorded a self-titled debut album in 2008. Recording personnel included original band members: Petty, Leadon, Mike Campbell, and Randall Marsh. Also in this version of Mudcrutch was Benmont Tench, who had been originally brought into the band when Leadon left in 1972. The band went on to continue being intermittently active with touring, recording a live album, and a follow-up to their debut with ''

Mudcrutch 2 ''Mudcrutch 2'' (or simply ''2'') is the second and final studio album by American rock band Mudcrutch, released on May 20, 2016 and was the last recorded studio material by Tom Petty before his death in 2017. Promotion A limited edition 7" vin ...

'', in 2016. Petty died in 2017, bringing Mudcrutch's operations to a close. In his memoir, ''Conversations with Tom Petty'', Petty credits Leadon with inspiring him to move to L.A. to try to make it as a musician.

References

1952 births Guitarists from Florida Guitarists from Minnesota Living people Mudcrutch members 20th-century American guitarists {{US-guitarist-stub