This is another one of those shows that I can only dream I went to. My younger brother was a Mule fan before I was, and had the brains/luck to attend this one while @ University in Montreal. In Oct of 99 I attended the annual Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, CA - where I got to see Neil Young, Pearl Jam, The Who, Green Day, Lucinda Williams and Brian Wilson - all on the same bill, all acoustic. In retrospect, I’d rather have been at this Mule show. Such is life. Source info here.

Oh and one more almost totally unrelated thing - Mountain Jam has a blog. Since I won’t be attending (unless I win lotto 6/49 in the next few weeks) I’ll be following that blog pretty closely.

Gov’t Mule - Mississippi Queen > Politician jam > Mississippi Queen¹
Gov’t Mule - Superstition²
Gov’t Mule - When The Levee Breaks³

¹ = Gordie Johnson on guitar, vocals for Mississippi Queen reprise
² = Gordie on guitar
³ = Gordie on guitar & vocals

This week I’ve decided to post some ‘older’ Gov’t Mule tracks, from way back in ‘96. The location was the Georgia Theater, in Athens, GA. It’s also worth noting that these were created from a soundboard source, rather than an audience rig (mule tapers rule!). If you like what you hear, I’d strongly suggest grabbing the lossless version on etree while it’s still being seeded.

One last thing - Derek Trucks sits in for Gonna Send You Back To Georgia - and he was only sixteen years old at the time.

Gov’t Mule - St. Stephen Jam
Gov’t Mule - Presence Of The Lord
Gov’t Mule - Goin’ Out West
Gov’t Mule w/ Derek Trucks - Gonna Send You Back To Georgia

Sure I usually just post one song, but what the hell, I had some time to kill. Simple Man was the encore @ the 4/20/07 show in Mobile, AL (source) and Hunger Strike > Dear Mr. Fantasy > Hunger Strike is from the 02/09/07 show in Morrison, CO (@Red Rocks, source). I had the great pleasure of attending the @Red Rocks show, and really wish I had attended the Mobile, AL show, but you can’t win them all can you?

Gov’t Mule - Simple Man
Gov’t Mule - Hunger Strike > Dear Mr. Fantasy > Hunger Strike

Yeah I know it’s Wednesday. I just don’t care.

This weeks track comes from the recent 4/20 show in Mobile, AL. The setlist was just ridiculous, and the taper (jkbyram) did such a fantastic job that I actually took the time to learn how to combine .wav files so I could present the following songs as one track. Enjoy.

Gov’t Mule - I Think You Know What I Mean > When The Levee Breaks > ITYKWIM

Silly note about video: YouTube allows videos that are 100MB in size, and up to 10:00 minutes in length. After 14 (fourteen!) tries, I managed to capture this video from DVD as a 99.5MB, 9:59 video.

Gov’t Mule performs I Shall Return > Nasty Dogs & Funky Kings @ Stubb’s Barbeque in Austin, TX on 05/08/99

And to take w/ you on your portable music player (borrowed from nugs.net) -

Gov’t Mule - I Shall Return (from 08/22/99)

First up - tomorrow (1/23/07) WNCW is re-broadcasting the Pre-Jam night from the 18th Annual X-Mas Jam.

From WNCW:

Warren Haynes Pre-Jam Re-Broadcast:

Join us as we re-air the Pre-Jam featuring Taj Mahal, Marty Stuart, Gov’t Mule, Branford Marsalis and more….Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m.

Next - I thought I’d post some older Mule this week, and in the spirit of less-talk-more-music, here it is:

Govt Mule
09/10/94
New York, NY
Wetlands

Gov’t Mule - Sin’s A Good Man’s Brother
Gov’t Mule - Politician
Gov’t Mule - Look On Yonder Wall*
Gov’t Mule - Born Under A Bad Sign*

* = with Hook Herrera on harmonica and Larry McCray on guitar

|source|

One of these years I will have to attend this benefit, cause they seem to be getting better and better as time goes on. In related news, …

The second live recording of the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam will be released this March. Warren Haynes Presents: The Benefit Concert Vol. 2 is a two CD set that features multiple guest appearances during tracks from Gov’t Mule, The Allman Brothers Band, The Aquarium Rescue Unit Featuring Col. Bruce Hampton, John Popper and others. Some highlights include a version of “Alone” with John Popper and Haynes, Gov’t Mule’s take on “Mountains Win Again” with Dave Schools, Dan Mastrazzo and Popper, “I Shall Be Released” featuring Edwin McCain, Kevn Kinney, Haynes and Popper and the Allman Brothers Band performance of “Statesboro Blues” with guests Audley Feed and Popper. Warren Haynes Presents: The Benefit Concert Vol. 2 will hit on March 6 and those who pre-order will be entered to win a trip for two to next year’s 19th Annual X-Mas Jam in December 2007 in Asheville, NC, which includes flights, hotel, tickets and passes.

via Jambands.com

I’m sure that more details on the above 2CD set will appear on the official Xmas Jam site in the days/weeks to come.

And now, what you’ve skipped over to get to - from the 2006 Xmas Jam:

Gov’t Mule w/ Dave Schools, Randall Bramblett & Brenden Bayliss - Leaving Trunk

Gov’t Mule w/ Brendon Bayliss, Marty Stuart & Taylor Hicks - Sugaree

recording info

note: special thanks to huffy for taping, editing etc and of course posting to etree. I’ll be seeding this for several days, and it not only includes the entire 18th Annual Christmas Jam, but the Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks Band co-bill NYE 2006 sets. A whopping 3.35GB download, but very much worth it.

The soundboard copy of this show can be purchased from MuleTracks.

Thanks to the always amazing Mule tapers, last nights show is already available for download (2nd source). Rather than continue to bitch and moan about how I probably missed the best Gov’t Mule show of the year, I’ll just quietly hope that the gentleman on the mailing list who mentioned that 3 cameras were taping the entire thing was in fact telling the truth.

Gov’t Mule - Hard to Handle (live 12/31/2006 w/ Toots Hibbert)
Gov’t Mule - Let Down (live 12/31/2006 w/ Toots Hibbert)

mp3 source

By catching six Gov’t Mule shows in 2006, that makes them the band I saw most often, which means 2006 will go down as my Year of the Mule (2005 was my Year of the Crowe).

05.03.06 Ram’s Head Live - Baltimore, MD
05.22.06 Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
09.02.06 Red Rocks Amphitheater - Morrison, CO
10.17.06 Vancouver, B.C. - Commodore Ballroom
10.18.06 Vancouver, B.C. - Commodore Ballroom
10.20.06 Seattle, WA - Moore Theater

In honor of Mr. James Brown, todays Mule Monday will feature Gov’t Mule covering Down and Out In New York city. RIP James.

Gov’t Mule - Down and Out In NYC

I’m preparing for a move (and vacation, though they’re very separate events) - so please don’t get mad that I’m combining posts (this will serve as this weeks Mule Monday and it’s 4:20).

Gov’t Mule - Don’t Step On The Grass, Sam

Related:
NORML
Gov’t Mule
No extradition for the BC3
The Other War We Can’t Win