Mike Campbell and his group The Dirty Knobs have released their second album, ‘External Combustion’

Founding Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and his current band, The Dirty Knobs, released their second album, External Combustion, today.

External Combustion, a follow-up to 2020’s Wreckless Abandon, is an 11-track collection that features guest appearances by Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople fame, Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, and alt-country artist Margo Price.

Campbell wrote most of the songs on External Combustion during the past year, although two tunes date back to the 1990s and were recently rediscovered by Mike in his vault of unreleased tracks.

Earlier this week, Campbell and The Dirty Knobs released their collaboration with Price, “State of Mind,” as a digital single. It was the third song from the album that was released as an advance track, after “Wicked Mind” and “Electric Gypsy.”

Campbell and The Dirty Knobs kick off a U.S. tour in support of External on March 9 in Tampa, Florida. After a series of headlining shows that runs through a May 1 concert in Austin, Texas, the band joins country star Chris Stapleton‘s trek as an opening act from early June until late July. Visit TheDirtyKnobs.com for the group’s full schedule.

Here’s the complete External Combustion track list:

“Wicked Mind”
“Brigitte Bardot”
“Cheap Talk”
“External Combustion”
“Dirty Job” — featuring Ian Hunter
“State of Mind” — featuring Margo Price
“Lightning Boogie”
“Rat City”
“In This Lifetime”
“It Is Written”
“Electric Gypsy”