While Gov't Mule are no strangers to the blues, the jammy Southern rock outfit have announced that the band's forthcoming twelfth studio effort will mark their first official blues album. The band will deliver Heavy Load Blues on November 12 through Fantasy Recordings.
Following 2017's Revolution Come...Revolution Go, Heavy Load Blues places Gov't Mule originals next to covers of blues songs made famous by Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Junior Wells, Ann Peebles, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Tom Waits and the Animals.
Band leader Warren Haynes co-produced the effort alongside John Paterno, and explains in a statement that a blues record has "kind of been on my list of things to do for years," whether on his own or with Gov't Mule.
"We play some traditional blues on stage from time to time and although it's usually never more than a few songs per show, our approach to the blues is unique and based on our collective chemistry as a band," Haynes shares. "This album gave us a mission. Although in some way it was 'anything goes,' we wanted to stay true to the spirit of the blues in a traditional sense. It's not a blues/rock record – it's a blues record. We wanted it sonically to sound different from a normal Gov't Mule record."
"Heavy Load" is the first song to arrive from the album, and you can hear Haynes sing of how there's "always something going wrong somewhere" below, where you'll also find a behind-the-scenes featurette on the album's creation.
Also included are the tracklists for both standard and expanded deluxe editions of Heavy Load Blues, which you can pre-order here.
Heavy Load Blues:
1. Blues Before Sunrise
2. Hole In My Soul
3. Wake Up Dead
4. Love Is A Mean Old World
5. Snatch It Back and Hold It – Hold It Back – Snatch It Back and Hold It
6. Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City
7. (Brother Bill) Last Clean Shirt
8. Make It Rain
9. Heavy Load
10. Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home (short version)
11. If Heartaches Were Nickels
12. I Asked Her For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)
13. Black Horizon
Deluxe Version Bonus Tracks:
1. Hiding Place
2. You Know My Love
3. Street Corner Talking
4. Have Mercy On The Criminal
5. Long Distance Call
6. Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home
7. Need Your Love So Bad
8. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Following 2017's Revolution Come...Revolution Go, Heavy Load Blues places Gov't Mule originals next to covers of blues songs made famous by Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Junior Wells, Ann Peebles, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Tom Waits and the Animals.
Band leader Warren Haynes co-produced the effort alongside John Paterno, and explains in a statement that a blues record has "kind of been on my list of things to do for years," whether on his own or with Gov't Mule.
"We play some traditional blues on stage from time to time and although it's usually never more than a few songs per show, our approach to the blues is unique and based on our collective chemistry as a band," Haynes shares. "This album gave us a mission. Although in some way it was 'anything goes,' we wanted to stay true to the spirit of the blues in a traditional sense. It's not a blues/rock record – it's a blues record. We wanted it sonically to sound different from a normal Gov't Mule record."
"Heavy Load" is the first song to arrive from the album, and you can hear Haynes sing of how there's "always something going wrong somewhere" below, where you'll also find a behind-the-scenes featurette on the album's creation.
Also included are the tracklists for both standard and expanded deluxe editions of Heavy Load Blues, which you can pre-order here.
Heavy Load Blues:
1. Blues Before Sunrise
2. Hole In My Soul
3. Wake Up Dead
4. Love Is A Mean Old World
5. Snatch It Back and Hold It – Hold It Back – Snatch It Back and Hold It
6. Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City
7. (Brother Bill) Last Clean Shirt
8. Make It Rain
9. Heavy Load
10. Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home (short version)
11. If Heartaches Were Nickels
12. I Asked Her For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)
13. Black Horizon
Deluxe Version Bonus Tracks:
1. Hiding Place
2. You Know My Love
3. Street Corner Talking
4. Have Mercy On The Criminal
5. Long Distance Call
6. Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home
7. Need Your Love So Bad
8. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
