Gov’t Mule

Influenced by jazz, blues, and rock music, Gov’t Mule blends these styles into their own version of an improvisational power trio. Drummer Matt Abts, singer/guitarist Warren Haynes, and bassist Allen Woody formed the group in 1994, while the latter two were still in the Allman Brothers Band. After three years, the trio decided to dedicate all of their time to Gov’t Mule. After Woody died in August of 2000, Gov’t Mule continued to record and tour with guest bass players.

By the time they formed Gov’t Mule, each of the members brought years of rock ‘n’ roll experience to the recording studio, as well as to the stage. Haynes, a native of Asheville, North Carolina, previously played with David Allen Coe and the Dickey Betts Band. He joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1989 and recorded five albums with the group. He also released a solo album, called Tales of Ordinary Madness, in 1993. Woody was born and raised in the musical city of Nashville, Tennessee. In the mid-1980s, he performed with the Artimus Pyle Band and then joined the Allman Brothers Band, where he met Haynes. Born in Oklahoma, Abts grew used to traveling at a young age, when he and his family moved to various military bases around the world. At the age of 16, Abts settled down in Virginia. He played with groups like Montrose and with Mick Taylor, former guitarist for the Rolling Stones. He met Haynes when they played together in the Dickey Betts Band.

The birth of Gov’t Mule began with a conversation between Haynes and Woody while they were on tour with the Allman Brothers Band in 1994. They started talking about the extinction of the improvisational power trio in music and their interest in bringing it back. Woody decided that all they needed was a drummer to make it happen, and Haynes knew just the person. Haynes told Woody about Abts.

The duo decided to get together with Abts for a jam session in a Los Angeles club after an Allman Brothers show. The chemistry worked immediately. “It was pretty exciting,” Haynes recalled in the band’s biography on the Gov’t Mule official website. “As we played together more and more, we got to thinking that maybe we should put the time and effort into making it a real band.” The group’s name was found during a conversation between Woody and Allman Brothers Band drummer Jai Johanny Johanson. Johanson had used the phrase in the conversation, and Woody liked it so much that he suggested it to Abts and Haynes. “It can mean different things to different people,” Haynes explained in the Gov’t Mule official website biography. “Besides, the name kind of describes us: we’re a slow, hard-working, non-glorious animal.”

With their name in place, the trio headed into the recording studio to produce their debut, Gov’t Mule, which was released on Relativity Records in 1995. 

Site: http://mule.net