Confession time. The nearest I’d ever come to listening to renowned Grammy-nominated Southern rock jam band Gov’t Mule was when I just happened upon their Rolling Stones live tribute record ‘Stoned Side Of The Mule Vol.1 &2’ a few years back. The most impressive thing about that record for me was the band didn’t just perform the usual big hitters, instead they chose to play deeper cuts like ‘Monkey Man’ and ‘Ventilator Blues’ and the band’s performance was truly exceptional.

So, what am I doing here sharing my views on the band’s all new twelfth studio record ‘Peace… Like A River’, and not someone else at RPM towers perhaps more au fait with their work? Well, the simple answer to this is when I first came across the lead track/video for the record, ‘Dreaming Out Loud’, I was literally floored by it, and I just had to hear more.

I’m getting ahead of myself here though, as if like me you’ve never really heard of Gov’t Mule then you’re going to need some backstory to provide some context.

Initially formed almost three decades ago as a power trio side project by then Allman Brothers/ex-Dickey Betts’ guitarist Warran Haynes, who also handles lead vocals, along with fellow Dickey Bett’s band cohort Matt Abts on drums (the original line up being completed by bassist Allen Woody), the version of the band that has recorded ‘Peace… Like A River’ sees the original duo once again joined by Danny Louis on keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals, along with Jorgen Carlsson on bass guitar.

Trying to pigeonhole (as most people like to do) exactly what the Mule sound like though is not exactly as easy as listing the ingredients that go into making up their rather unique musical offerings. Haynes himself has stated that the record is a showcase of “the golden era of rock, soul, jazz and blues,” and he’s pretty much spot on with that statement.

Losing myself within the many twists and turns contained with the album’s dozen tracks, it conjures up a crystal-clear image of the band entrenched in studio with producer John Paterno (who I seem to recall working on Elvis Costello’s excellent ‘Brutal Youth’ album) shaping what strikes me as a record that really does sound completely “out of time”. For a perfect example of this simply give the aforementioned ‘Dreaming Out Loud’ featuring the stellar vocal talents of Ivan Neville and Ruthie Foster a listen.

At this point I should perhaps point out that this track alongside the ‘Head Full Of Thunder’ (where Hayes does in fact remind me of one Danny Bowes vocally) are the only tracks here that last under five minutes in length. So, alongside the band’s more concise songcraft there are also ten shining examples of the band’s trademark instrumental journeys, where they call upon such luminaries as Billy Gibbons on the boogie-tastic ‘Shake Our Way Out’ and Billy Bob Thornton on the expansive latter-day Zeppelin-esque ragga jam of ‘The River Only Flows One Way’ to help provide some additional punch to proceedings. The songs may be longer than pop convention but it’s only during the uncompromising mantra of ‘Peace I Need’ that I ever feel that perhaps the co-producers maybe should have reached for the faders a minute or so earlier.

Rather ironically ‘Your Only Friend’ the album’s major foray into the Mule’s Floydian influences (they also tour a Dark Side of the Mule show where they play the classic Pink Floyd album in full) could perhaps have benefitted from a few extra minutes as here Haynes guitar playing whilst understated is quite breath-taking, and I’d like to have heard more. 

During the Hammond driven intro to ‘After The Storm’ there’s a point where Abts’ ride cymbal cuts through the mix crystal clear and at that particular point it struck me that this really is the sound of a band living and breathing their music, and I’m willing to put my mortgage on the fact that these guys would view the term “plugin” as some kind of musical profanity (okay I cheated and watched the “in the studio” video below before writing this), and given the sterile sound of many rock records released these days’. ‘Peace… Like A River’ really is the real deal, and it’s a record I have frequently had on repeat since it first dropped on my desk a few weeks ago.

You can share in the magic of ‘Peace… Like A River’ when it hits your local record shop.

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Author: Johnny Hayward