Stream New Gov’t Mule Trax!

Warren Haynes gives the lowdown on the new album too....

By Blurt Staff

Gov't Mule's By A Thread is due out Oct. 27 on guitarist Warren Haynes' own Evil Teen label, and if you need any convincing this'll be one of the year's heavy-hitters, you can check out a couple of sneak previews via digital stream:

Stream "Broke Down On The Brazos" and "Frozen Fear"

For Haynes, creating a new album is akin to walking a tightrope: Write new songs that please old fans, while hopefully garnering new ones. Develop that material in the studio rather than on the road, to prevent premature leaks via the internet. Celebrate the roots of American music, yet take sonic forays into the future. Honor the memory of the late Allen Woody, while simultaneously welcoming new bassist Jorgen Carlsson into the fold.

With By A Thread, Gov't Mule's first studio album in three years, recorded at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studio in the Texas Hill Country, the band -which also features drummer Matt Abts and multi-instrumentalist Danny Louis - meets those challenges and more.

"It feels like we're moving forward and backward at the same time," Haynes notes. "Hardcore fans tend to not want us to move too far away from where we started, but the band never wants to stay in one place for very long.

"While Jorgen brings his distinctive musical personality to the table, he also uncannily evokes some of (Allen) Woody's spirit which inspired us to revisit our past. I don't know if we were willing to travel that road right after Allen died, but this far down the line, it seems liberating and exciting.

"There was this groove that Matt and Jorgen were playing the first day in the studio. We taped it, and when the occasion came up for us to start writing something new, we pulled it out, and it became the catalyst for that tune. Danny and I started attacking it, Gordie Johnson [the album's producer] got involved, and during a break I went next door and began writing the lyrics. Writing in the studio was a lot of pressure, but it worked out great. For whatever reason, the time seemed right. The door was kicked open, and now we're moving full steam ahead."

"These songs didn't exist until we got to Pedernales," Abts says. "No one's heard ‘em yet, which is kind of frustrating."

Haynes explains, "We want By A Thread to be a surprise, so we've made a point not to play any of them live until our fans can get the full impact of the new material."

"The studio is a kind of science lab, where you're performing experiments that you don't have to let anybody hear," Louis adds. "There's an interaction with our fanbase, but it takes time for it to happen. In a live situation, we're in that lab atmosphere, but we've added the energy of the audience, so we get instant feedback. The anticipation is just building and building. These songs are like a Thorazine shuffle, alive in my head. They have yet to get out of the barn, so to speak."