Gov’t Mule will release a new archival album entitled The Tel-Star Sessions on August 5, 2016 via Evil Teen Records. The LP consists of the band’s very first, and never-before-
The release of The Tel-Star Sessions will coincide with Gov’t Mule’s Smokin’ Mule 2016 Tour with special guest Blackberry Smoke, which will include a show at Colorado’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheater on August 25th. Mule is currently on tour in the UK and Europe and will be heading back to the States to headline Mountain Jam in June. Full tour routing below. For ticket info, please visit www.Mule.net.
Recorded during the infancy of Gov’t Mule, the demos heard on The Tel-Star Sessions are from a time when Mule was an adventurous side project, formed during a year when Warren Haynes and Allen Woody had some down time from their work with the Allman Brothers Band. Becoming one of the most enduring, respected and active bands in the world was the furthest thing from the band’s imagination; the plan was to record a low-budget album and play a few shows. It’s now clear that they had stumbled upon something special, but at that point Mule was an experimental rock trio: Haynes, Woody and drummer Matt Abts, who Haynes brought in after playing with him in the Dickey Betts Band. Fans will love the chance to hear their early improvisational interplay, an impressive skill that has since become a signature of Gov’t Mule’s albums and live shows.
Collaborating with Allman Brothers sound engineer Bud Snyder, and taking legendary producer Tom Dowd’s advice to record all instruments simultaneously live in a room, Gov’t Mule holed up in Tel-Star Studios and sought to bring back the rock power trio and “dirty up” the bass guitar – a style that had been a marker of rock music prior to the ’80s. Their influences leaned heavily on the likes of Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience and ZZ Top, but Mule’s search to bring back a familiar sound is mingled with grunge and alt-rock influences that had just emerged in the early-mid ’90s. Little did they know that the magic created during these sessions would spark such a prolific musical journey. It is undeniably enthralling to go back in time and experience how it all began.
The Tel-Star Sessions Track Listing:
1. Blind Man In The Dark
2. Rocking Horse
3. Monkey Hill
4. Mr. Big
5. The Same Thing
6. Mother Earth
7. Just Got Paid
8. Left Coast Groovies
9. World Of Difference
10. Bonus Track: World Of Difference (Alternate Version/Original Mix)
Gov’t Mule 2016 Tour Dates:
* with special guest Blackberry Smoke
^with moe. and Blackberry Smoke
June 3 Hunter, NY @ Mountain Jam
August 11 Portland, ME @ Maine State Pier*
August 12 Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summerstage*
August 13 Boston, MA @ Blue Hills Bank Pavilion*
August 16 Utica, NY @ Saranac Brewery*
August 17 Philadelphia, PA @ River Stage at Penn’s Landing*
August 18 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE Outdoors*
August 19 Rochester Hills, MI @ Meadow Brook Amphitheatre*
August 20 Huber Heights, OH @ Music Center at the Heights*
August 22 Peoria, IL @ CEFCU Center Stage*
August 23 Des Moines, IA @ Simon Estes Amphitheater*
August 25 Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheater^
August 27 San Diego, CA @ Humphrey’s*
August 28 Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles*
August 30 Saratoga, CA @ The Mountain Winery*
August 31 Ronhert Park, CA @ Sonoma Mountain Village*
September 1 Eugene, OR @ Cuthbert Amphitheater*
September 3 Missoula, MT @ Big Sky Brewery*
September 4 Jackson, WY @ Fireman’s Ball* (On Sale Mon. May 16)
September 23 Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
September 24 St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Landing
September 25 Miami, FL @ Fillmore
September 27 Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing Co.
September 29 Glen Allen, VA @ Innsbrook After Hours*
September 30 Cherokee, NC @ Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center*
October 1 Charlotte, NC @ CMCU Amphitheatre*
