As first conceived by guitarist/vocalist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody while members of The Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule was intended to recall seminal power trios such as the James Gang, Mountain, Cream, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. After recruiting Matt Abts on drums (like Haynes a member of Dickey Betts’ band circa 1988’s Pattern Disruptive album), the three-man alignment embarked upon rigorous touring and, in fairly short order, the very next year, the completion and release (6/27/95) of their first studio album at the Bearsville complex in upstate New York.
From that perspective, the self-discipline and structure the band evinced is all the more remarkable, right from the start, in the form of the blues-based “Mother Earth” and the album’s closer “World of Difference.” As is the durability of the original material in this dozen-track sequence, many of which tunes, such as “Temporary Saint,” remain staples of the Mule repertoire even today. And that’s not to mention covers like the dramatic set-opener here that is Haynes’ a capella rendition of Son House’s “Grinnin’ In Your Face”
Recording largely live, Gov’t Mule accomplished yeoman’s work in this roughly seventy-minutes and, with the acoustic likes of a mood piece sans singing, “Dolphineus,” the band also planted the seeds for its evolution beyond the confines of the power trio: a full-blown necessity with the untimely passing of Woody in 2000, it was also an approach the group pursued with him still in tow on the third Mule LP Life Before Insanity. The sturdy likes of “Painted Silver Light” and the instrumental “Trane” both hint at the open-ended improvisational bent of the trio’s live shows from the very beginning.
Faithful to Free’s arrangement of “Mr. Big,” the band nevertheless take some liberties with this tune from the British exemplars of potent ensembles, while also unveiling their own “Rocking Horse;” in retrospect, perhaps an inevitable inclusion to the repertoire of latter-day ABB, this is an unpredictable piece, composed by this guitarist and bassist along with one time Brother fretboarder Jack Pearson and Gregg Allman himself; the latter segment of which is tailor-made for tandem harmony guitars. Producer/engineer/mixer Michael Barbiero deftly documented the layered textures prominent in this spacious, resonant audio (as indeed he also did in similar roles during the latter-day Brothers’ last studio effort, 2003’s Hittin’ The Note).
To the credit of all involved, the eponymous Gov’t Mule debut is a logical and extremely direct extension of the groundwork laid on the very first demo recordings by Haynes, Woody and Abts recorded in June 1994 at Tel-Star Studios in Bradenton, Florida (released in 2016). Besides offering a contrast to the darker air in many of the original songs here, the lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek tone of “Left Coast Groovies” illustrates the threesome had well-crafted material at its disposal from the get-go. Meanwhile, the savagery captured on “Monkey Hill” validates the initial vision of the two founders: whereas minimal instrumentation of sparse arrangements fostered maximum interplay and a comparable power, the heart of extended improvisations this group performed on stage, involving multiple segues and the durable likes of the self-referential “Mule,” depict a fundamentally no-nonsense approach to its musicianship.
As clear as was the concept that fostered their unity in action (including the name of the band itself, hearkening to post-civil war history), Gov’t Mule effectively and stylishly transcended their self-professed roots on their initial outing. Yet not even the savviest marketing guru could’ve envisioned a scenario that would spark a valid connection between seemingly disparate generations: at its inception a quarter-century ago, in the wake of Jerry Garcia’s passing, on the threshold of Phish’s ascension, not to mention the mainstream acceptance of grunge, Gov’t Mule stood, as it does now, a mammoth nexus of music and culture.
