“In the early Seventies, we were the only long-haired country band on that side of the country,” says Tom Petty, who has re-formed his old Gainesville, Florida, band Mudcrutch, once the house band at Dub’s bar who released a 45 (”Depot Street”) in 1975 before they morphed into the Heartbreakers. Petty was kind enough to let the S.S. in on their plans for a late-April minitour in California. The swing, coinciding with the release of their first album (out April 29th), will hit San Francisco’s Fillmore, L.A.’s Troubadour and Ventura’s Majestic Theater. The sets will definitely not include cuts from the Heartbreakers’ gold mine, but Petty promises new tunes, jams and covers. “It has a country-rock feel, but with an edge,” says Petty, who will play bass, like he used to. “We’re actually a lot better than we were then.” Good luck getting a ticket!

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Six years ago, Minnesota songwriter Mason Jennings played a show at a local college. “I was walking off the stage, and this dude was standing there and was like, ‘Hey, man, keep playing, play some encores,’” says Jennings. That dude happened to be Jack Johnson. “We’ve been friends since.” When Johnson’s career skyrocketed, he offered Jennings a spot on his label, Brushfire Records, and Jennings has finally taken the offer. In the Ever, due in May, features folky tunes and meditative lyrics — “I Love You and Buddha Too” holds the power to end all holy wars. “I made the album at a house in the Minnesota woods using Garage Band,” says Jennings, who will open for Johnson this summer. He hopes to run into his idol, Robert Plant, at Bonnaroo. “He’s like a mystical creature,” says Jennings. “It’ll be like seeing a unicorn backstage.”

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Rocklahoma is back! The second annual festival, a reunion for spandex bands, is set for July 10th-13th in Pryor, Oklahoma. Among the acts are Kix, Trixter, Sidekixx and Whitefoxx, but the fest is also copacetic for x-less artists like Cinderella, L.A. Guns and Tesla. In sixth grade, we loved Warrant, so we’re stoked that the original hit squad behind “Heaven” and “Cherry Pie” will play for the first time since ‘94. “I don’t want to say absolute hatred, but I didn’t like those guys very much,” says singer Jani Lane of his bandmates. “We finally said, ‘It’s ridiculous to wake up every morning going, “Those bastards!”‘” Lane’s wild days are over — though he fondly remembers when C.C. DeVille fixed him a drink, using his wang as a swizzle stick — but there will be plenty of glam debauchery at Rocklahoma. And that, of course, is what the Smoking Section lives for.

[Photo: Getty]