Throughout their decades-long tenure together, Tom Petty, his lead guitarist and co-writer Mike Campbell, and their band, the Heartbreakers, had no small shortage of career-defining hits. From “Refugee” to “Here Comes My Girl” to “You Wreck Me,” the rock ‘n’ roll songwriting duo proved time and again how powerful their creative forces could be when they put them together.
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But for Campbell, one song in particular served as the truest definition of the Heartbreakers’ sound. And frankly, I have to agree.
The Tom Petty Track Mike Campbell Says Defined The Heartbreakers
If one were only to look at the chord charts for Tom Petty’s vast repertoire, they might assume the Florida native’s music was simple and, dare we say it, even boring. But therein lies the magic of the Heartbreakers’ sound. Petty had a masterful way of presenting straightforward, no-fuss rock ‘n’ roll in a way that was fresh, pop-sensible, and enduringly catchy. The Heartbreakers’ sound blended elements of Southern rock, pop, and blues without letting any one genre take over. The musicality, passion, hooks, and energy the band created, all wrapped up into a “simplistic” package, was their X-factor.
For lead guitarist Mike Campbell, no track exemplified the Heartbreakers’ sound quite like “American Girl.” Petty and the Heartbreakers released the song on their 1976 debut, and it remained a staple in their live sets up until Petty’s death in 2017. “Every time we played it, the hair on the back of my neck would stand up,” Campbell told Guitar Player in March 2025. “There’s something about it that’s just inspired and poetic and exuberant.”
“It’s the Heartbreakers,” he continued. “That tonality we found that day between the keyboards and the guitar harmonics and the energy and the riffs. That was the sound of our band. That’s what we sounded like when we were at our best. And that’s what we tried to do after that. That’s the sound we worked for.” Ironically, this early years track would be the last song Campbell ever performed publicly with Petty. But for Campbell, he chooses not to focus on the last time. “I don’t ever think of “American Girl” as the last song we ever played together unless somebody brings it up. I don’t have a sad attachment to it. It’s too much of an optimistic burst of joy.”
The Heartbreakers Guitarist Found Inspiration From A Beatle
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, like so many other aspiring rockstars growing up in the 1960s, were heavily influenced by the Beatles. For Mike Campbell, the Heartbreakers’ lead guitarist, he would often keep George Harrison in mind when writing parts over Petty’s rhythm. “I always thought, ‘It’s what George Harrison might do.’ It’s just another miracle,” Campbell said. “I have an ability to hear that, and with Tom, I think that’s what endeared him to me. I could take his Bo Diddley four chords and turn them into something that was maybe a little better than he would’ve done on his own.”
Indeed, Campbell’s ability to write defining guitar licks over Petty’s straightforward progressions created a type of musical alchemy unique to that band. “Lord knows what would’ve happened if Tom and I never met,” the guitarist mused. “I realized how many miracles have happened to me through timing, luck, divine intervention. I started with nothing, and these songs came to me from somewhere. There were chance encounters with my heroes, and of course, there was my relationship with Tom. We had our brotherly friction here and there, but there was a deep love that kept us together through all the rough times.”
Photo by Richard McCaffrey/ Michael Ochs Archive/ Getty Images
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