Gov't Mule

Mighty High rastafies Gov't Mule songs by 50 percent. We're not kidding (and according to the album title, neither are the Mule). Crunchy, Crazy Horse-sounding guitars still abound, but alongside loping horn sections, repetitive arrangements and other reggae instrumentation. "The Shape I'm In" gets the roots remix, while "Unthrow That Spear" features guest vocalist Michael Franti. Their cover of Otis Redding's "Hard To Handle" has Toots Hibbert singing and its dub remix, humorously titled "Hard To Dubya," is an echo-laden dub remix. Mighty High is an instant dorm room classic.

Reggae covers and dub-wise improvising are regular features of Gov't Mule's marathon
shows. Mighty High focuses on that heavy Jamaica in singer-guitarist Warren Haynes'
modern-Dixie redesign of classic British blues rock. Actually, there is as much Free as Lee
Perry in the opening detonation of "I'm a Ram" — from Al Green's 1971 album Gets Next to
You — while drummer Matt Abts' New Orleans backbeat under the Band's "Shape... More >