KEEPING THE PEACE

Recorded during the pandemic simultaneously with 2021's Heavy Load Blues, Gov't Mule's Peace... Like a River is an exercise in taking risks. It was also, says Warren Haynes, "a way of not going crazy."

- ALAN PAUL

DEEP IN THE midst of the pandemic, with touring halted and no clear indication of when the road may open up again, Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes paced his New York state home like a caged tiger. He had to make some music.

Haynes was tempted when his wife and manager, Stefani Scamardo, suggested it may be a good time to record that blues album he had been kicking around for years. But he had also written stacks of new songs he was anxious to record after channeling all his restless musical energy into songwriting during the pandemic.

“I loved the idea of doing a blues album, but I was dying to record all these new Mule songs,” Haynes says. “So I proposed doing two records at the same time, and everybody was into the idea. Which meant finding a place where we could set up in two different rooms with two completely different sets of equipment and make two records that sounded completely different from each other.

“Under normal circumstances, that would be a lot to take on,” he continues. “But during lockdown, it was the perfect solution. We needed to be creative, play music and get in the studio, because we couldn’t tour. It was a great way of expending our energy and being creative. And it was a way of not going crazy.”

Working on both albums with co-producer John Paterno (Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos), the Mule set up in two adjoining rooms at the Power Station New England, with no shared gear or instruments, keeping the two concurrent projects with their own unique identity and character. Heavy Load Blues