THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Peace…Like A River, Gov’t Mule’s 12th album and the followup to their chart-topping, Grammy-nominated Heavy Load Blues, features a 12-song rock collection with guest appearances from Billy Bob Thornton, Billy F Gibbons, Ivan Neville, Ruthie Foster and more.
The tracks on Peace…Like A River explore the many sides of Gov’t Mule and bring together all of the qualities that have earned the four-piece — Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals), Matt Abts (drums), Danny Louis (keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals) and Jorgen Carlsson (bass) — the beloved stature they enjoy today. Concise songcraft coexists seamlessly with the band’s trademark instrumental journeys. Songs longer than pop convention are somehow still compact: They’re explorative but never meandering; the tunes are at once both wide-ranging and tightly focused.
Thematically, the new album explores the positive changes the world has gone through over the past couple of years. Influenced both in his songwriting and playing by what Haynes calls “the golden era of rock, soul, jazz and blues,” Gov’t Mule combine the best and most enduring qualities from all those musical strains to create a timeless piece of art on Peace…Like A River, ending up with an album taht could have easily come out in the 1970s.
Peace…Like A River was recorded during the same sessions as Heavy Load Blues at The Power Station New England with co-producer John Paterno (Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Robbie Williams, Los Lobos) alongside Haynes. The albums, however, were created in different rooms, with no shared gear or instruments, keeping the two concurrent projects with their own unique identity and character.
One distinguishing difference on Peace…Like A River is the return of friends of the band in important guest roles. Billy F Gibbons’ trademark vocals underscore the tasty ZZ Top textures that inform the humour-infused Shake Our Way Out, while Billy Bob Thornton adds his distinctive vocals to The River Only Flows One Way. For Dreaming Out Loud, Haynes wanted to take a Sly And The Family Stone-style vocal approach, with different singers taking different sections of the song, so he called upon Ruthie Foster, who appeared on backing vocals on Mule’s 2006 album High & Mighty, and longtime friend Ivan Neville.”
Watch my 2021 interview with Warren Haynes HERE.
