Live Sounds Caught on Tape

In what seems to be its most political album to date, Gov't Mule has not only created a work that is a sign of the times, but has also captured the effervescent and vigorous sound trademark to its live shows.

Gov't Mule - Warren Haynes (vocals, guitar), Danny Louis (keyboards), Andy Hess (bass) and Matt Abts (drums) - is coming to town next week performing at the Wiltern Theater in support of its new record, “High & Mighty,” now out on ATO Records.

“We've always had subtle political statements on our albums, but not to this obvious of an extent,” said Haynes about the new work.

In recording “High & Mighty,” all four band members sat around in one room to record the 12 original songs. Some were recorded in New Jersey, but most in Austin, Texas, miles and miles from New York where most of the band resides (Haynes, Hess and Louis live in Manhattan, Brooklyn and upstate New York, respectively). The album marks the second trip into the studio with the current lineup; the last was for the album “Déjà Voodoo.” Based in the rock idiom, the songs reflect a jazz sensibility in terms of the instrumentation with hints of Latin, reggae and blues sounds mixed throughout.

“We try and capture the spirit of where we are at the moment,” said Haynes about recording an album. “The new record covers a lot of musical ground, it explores a lot of different genres. We like for the live shows to be like a roller coaster ride, a journey that takes you somewhere and the records are meant to be a shorter version of that. We like to be powerful, subtle and sensitive and incorporate a lot of dynamics into one listening experience, so to speak.”

As to the lyrics, Haynes, who pens the words first and then puts music to them, wrote all of the songs.

“The lyrics are the spark that inspires me to write the song in the first place,” said Haynes. “I tend to write a lot of stream-of-consciousness-type lyrics at the beginning stages and fill up pages with lyrics, and then go back later, decide what it is I am really trying to say and what sums that up the best, and do a lot of editing. Not that it's the only approach I take.”

The title track is one of Haynes' many fictional character sketches. In the song “Like Flies,” Haynes uses the song's title as three different metaphors with one delving into the careers of self-proclaimed musicians/artists who have sold their fame to the public based on appearance rather than talent, explaining that the notion of excelling in one's craft is not as valued as it once was in the past.

“It was the day that Little Milton, the great blues artist, had passed away and I wrote ‘Like Flies' while traveling in a car,” said Haynes. “A lot of it was stuff I had been thinking about, the ‘dumbing down' of our society and culture, and in using the title in three different ways I knew it was a good song.”

Gov't Mule began as a power trio in 1994 with its self-titled album released in 1995 and in 1997 the group became full-time musicians. Original bassist Allen Woody died in 2000, and Haynes and Abts recorded with more than 30 bass players on Gov't Mule's “Deep End” projects. Longtime friend Louis joined the group on keys in 2002 while Hess became the permanent bassist a year later. In 2003, Gov't Mule reached its 1,000th live show and in 2005, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Haynes 23rd in a list of all-time top guitarists.