Gov't Mule Cut a Straight Blues Record With Heavy Load Blues

Gov’t Mule released Heavy Load Blues on November 12, 2021 through Fantasy Records, the band’s first blues album in a catalog that stretches back more than 25 years.

Warren Haynes drew a line around what the album is. He described it as “not a blues/rock record” but “a blues record,” and said, “We wanted it sonically to sound different from a normal Gov’t Mule record.”

The album was announced September 8, 2021, led by the title track “Heavy Load.”

Live to tape in Waterford

Gov’t Mule recorded at The Power Station New England in Waterford, Connecticut, cutting the songs live to analog tape on vintage equipment.

Haynes produced, with John Paterno co-producing and engineering.

The playing personnel are Haynes on vocals and guitar, Matt Abts on drums, Danny Louis on keyboards, guitar and backing vocals, and Jorgen Carlsson on bass.

Originals alongside the covers

The standard edition carries thirteen tracks, opening with “Blues Before Sunrise” and closing with “Black Horizon.”

Between them the sequence mixes Haynes originals with material the band did not write, including “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City,” “Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home,” “If Heartaches Were Nickels,” “I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)” and Tom Waits’ “Make It Rain.”

A deluxe edition adds eight bonus studio and live tracks.

Sources: Gov’t Mule (Bandcamp), Rock and Blues Muse.

Photo: Andreas Lawen, Fotandi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.