Gov’t Mule’s debut album turns 30

Music for your ass

Jun 27, 2025

Together with drummer Matt Abts, Warren Haynes and Allen Woody formed Gov’t Mule in 1994. Fittingly, the group held some of their earliest rehearsals at the Big House in Macon.

Released June 27, 1995, Gov’t Mule was a departure from the Allman Brothers’ sound. It was a power trio…POWER being the operative word.

It begins with Haynes a cappella on Son House’s “Grinnin’” segueing into a powerful version of Memphis Slim’s “Mother Earth.”

“Rockin’ Horse,” I just (re)learned today, is a cowrite with Gregg Allman and Jack Pearson. The Allman Brothers recorded and never released this in the 90s1 and began playing it live in the 2000s when Haynes rejoined the band.

There is one more cover, Free’s “Mr. Big.”

Everything else is either a band cowrite—“Monkey Hill” “Mule”2 “Trane” “Dolphineus” “Left Coast Groovies”—or a Haynes original: “Painted Silver Light” “Temporary Saint” and “World of Difference.”

PLAYLIST (YOUTUBE)

The band was heavy in the mode of the power trios of the 1970s they admired: Cream, the James Gang, Mountain, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the Band of Gypsys.

Here's Allen Woody on his bass tone for the record⁠:

⁠"It's murky, it's dark. It was Gibson guitars and Gibson basses. ⁠I could never use any of the basses that I used on this record with the Allman Brothers Band, it would never work. The sound wouldn't work, but it's perfect for this. It's murky, it's dark, it's brown and muddy all the way down to the basement!"

Haynes and Woody originally intended the Mule to be a one-off side project but by 1997 had left the Allman Brothers to pursue the gig full-time.

Though Woody died in 2000, Warren & Matt Abts have kept the band on the road ever since.

🍄 LONG LIVE THE ABB MERCH 🍄

My introduction to the Mule

H.O.R.D.E. tour August 7, 1994 Denver

Look closely and you’ll see the bill advertised Warren Haynes, not Mule. I don’t think he was the “very special guest.” I know he sat in with Blues Traveler, but I’m unsure if he had any other mainstage appearance.

What I do know is that Gov’t Mule played the *second* stage.

And I hated it.

This is how I remember the Mule that day. 📷 papysblues.com

I went expecting something bouncy like “Jessica.”

Instead I got bludgeoned.

The first 3 songs punched me in the nose: “Rockin’ Horse” “Blind Man in the Dark” and a song Warren dedicated to Frank Zappa—“Left Coast Groovies.” (To this day, I still don’t care for the latter, such was my first impression.)

I never recovered and have no memories of the rest of the set—not even of the Beatles’ cover “I Want You.”

I definitely was not a fan when they finished.

To add insult to injury, I ended up even more disappointed later in the day when the Allman Brothers didn’t play their headlining set.3

I grew to LOVE Gov’t Mule

I genuinely don’t remember what the tipping point was, but having the right expectations when I saw them live a second time certainly had something to do with it.

I caught the original Mule a number of times after that day, including several times with the Derek Trucks Band4 opening. They became one of my favorite bands of their era.

I saw the Allman Brothers Band at Tinley Park outside of Chicago the night Woody died. They played “Mule” over the PA at the end of the show in honor of Woody. It is the only time I can remember they didn’t play “Little Martha.”

Music and stories are meant to be shared.

The Mother Hips

At that same second stage where I saw the Mule, I saw the lowest band on the bill: the Mother Hips from Chico, California—a band that has been among my ABBsolute favorites ever since.

I bought their debut album Back to the Grotto from a stoner carrying them around in a rucksack and selling them in the crowd. It was among the best $10 I’ve ever spent, beginning a 30+ year journey of listening enjoyment.5

GIVE IT A LISTEN BACK TO THE GROTTO (YOUTUBE)

I hear a lot of psychedelia in this record. Something about it has always brought to mind Big Brother & the Holding Company—Janis’s band, and the jamming abandon of the San Francisco scene. The Hips are MUCH better players than Big Brother, but the vibe feels the same.

The Hips have continued to hone their sound, dubbed California Soul, from a lyric in their song “Gold Plated.” I catch them as often as I can, which is infrequent, as they rarely travel east.

Another Derek & Warren Collaboration

Hound Dog Taylor’s “Gonna Send You Back to Georgia” live April 12, 1996. This one appeared on the massive 3-show (Athens, Atlanta, Macon) Georgia Bootleg Box and features several other Derek sit-ins.