Chords for Warren Haynes Talks Gov't Mule's "Dark Side of the Mule" Tour | Now Listen

Yeah, I meet people that say tonight's my 75th show or tonight's my 120th show or whatever.
And it still freaks me out that that happens. _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [F] Hey, everyone.
I'm Katie Daryl.
And now listen, Warren Haynes is hanging with me.
Aren't I the lucky gal?
How's it going, dude?
Doing great.
Man, I feel like no sooner do you make an announcement that then you make another announcement
and then there's another announcement on it.
I feel like we have a trifecta of government mule announcements to discuss today.
Well, we're making up for lost [Eb] time, as is everyone, I guess.
[Bb] That is [F] absolutely true.
Well, I want to start out because obviously there are a lot of chore dates that people
can [Eb] come and enjoy with you.
And there's kind of [Bb] two different chores [Ab] going on.
The first one being [Bb] the dark [F] side of the mule chore.
Can you expand on that one?
This all came about by accident.
In _ 2008, we did for one of our Halloween shows, we did a set of Pink Floyd music.
And so they started demanding that we do it more.
So we did it a few more times and we thought we were done with it.
But then with this being the 50th anniversary of Dark Side of the Moon, some people said,
well, maybe you should do it a few more times before [Fm] you retire it.
I can't imagine.
This is a [F] fantastic lineup.
And [Eb] you've got to be exhausted and probably lose a good five pounds at the end of every
[F] night because getting up there for over two and a half hours is a bit exhausting.
[Bb] Yeah.
You know, we love to play a long time, so [Ab] we're kind of used to it.
But _ it is [Bb] a lot.
But it's [F] so gratifying _ to be able to do _ things that aren't normal, you know, to do something
different, you know, [Fm] which is the reason we do a different set list every night anyway,
just to keep ourselves on our toes.
[F] Well, and you have those type of [Fm] fans that obviously expect to have something different
and surprising every night because these are fans that get in a car and [F] follow you for
multiple dates, right?
Yeah.
I meet people that say tonight's my 75th show or tonight's my 120th show or [Eb] whatever.
And it still freaks me out that that happens.
_ [F] And one of the main reasons is because we took a cue from The Grateful Dead [Eb] a long time ago.
It starts with making us happy because [Ab] I think we would go nuts if we played the same songs [Bb] every night.
[F] How does that make you feel about bootlegs?
Where's the stance on bootlegs?
We let the fans record the shows and we let them trade the shows for free, but no money
can exchange hands.
And I think it actually reduces [G] the bootleg factor because there's so much stuff out there,
but it's being traded for free.
So we let them come to the shows, set up their microphones, and we give them a special section
and the whole deal.
Peace Like a River.
This is the other portion of the conversation [Gm] I want to get into because Peace Like a River
is [Gm] the latest album, but also the additional tour dates that people can catch you out on
the road with that doesn't involve Pink Floyd.
Let's dig into this album.
I mean, listen, the Made My Peace [C] track is just so [G] fantastic.
When I put it on, I [Bb] immediately _ [Gm] felt comfortable.
I was like, [G] oh, I'm home.
You know, this is government mule.
This feels this is a safe place.
What was the experience [G] recording this album? _
Well, we [C] recorded [Cm] Peace Like a River at the same time that we recorded Heavy Load Blues,
which was our previous record, which was our first only [G] traditional blues record.
[Gm] We'd been talking about making a blues record for a long time, but I think the pandemic
sort of forced it out of [Cm] us.
So since we couldn't tour and we couldn't travel, we decided let's go in the studio
and make two [Eb] records completely [Gm] different from each other, one in a big room and one
in a small room with completely different equipment.
_ And it kept us occupied and inspired and creatively active at a time where we were all going nuts,
as was everyone else.
I think it's the most diverse record that we've made.
It's very song oriented.
It brings back the concept of more complex _ song arrangements, you know, similar to like
_ [C] Bohemian Rhapsody or _ [Gm] _ [Cm] Carry On Wayward Son or Band on the Run or Roundabout or some of
these songs that we heard on the radio that today are a little too elaborate [Gm] and complex
for today's short attention span, you know.
So we [Cm] thought it would be nice to kind of revisit that.
You mentioned that you recorded both of the albums at the same time in separate rooms
with different equipment to make [Gm] sure that they were different.
Where did the 58 Les Paul fit in to the recording of this album, if at all?
_ Well, it's actually 59.
I don't mean to correct, but_ You're 59.
58's Jimmy Page, right?
Yeah, and [C] those are kind of the best years, 57, 58, 59 for most people.
I know [G] my friend Joe Bonamassa loves [Gm] 1960, _ but 59 is my favorite year.
That's the only instrument that wound up on both records. _
_ I used it on a few songs on Heavy Load Blues and I [C] used it on a few songs on Peace Like
a [Gm] River _ _ because I was close to home.
I don't travel with it because I don't trust myself with it.
If I break it or lose it or something, I would be sunk.
Peace Like a [Ebm] River is the new tour.
People can go [Ebm] out and grab tickets right now and also it's the [Bb] new album.
Let's talk about the title there.
As I mentioned earlier, Peace Like a River, [Db]
not every river is calm.
Tell me about picking this as the title.
[Bb] Well, hence the [Ebm] artwork, which is _ _ [Bbm] pretty dark and [F] moody [B] and the images are toy.
[Ebm] They're not real.
Right.
So that kind of gives you an [Eb] indication that peace can be fake as well.
_ But [Bbm] more importantly, when I was going through all [Ebm] the lyrics, [Ab] I realized that the word [Bb] peace
and the word river were used a lot in the lyrics.
There's two songs with peace in the [Ebm] title, two songs with river in the title.
I got into a discussion with my friend Evan, who runs the studio.
We were just talking.
He said, what's your favorite [Abm] Paul Simon song?
He said, mine's Peace [Ebm] Like a River.
_ I was like, wow, I don't know if I remember that [Bbm] song.
[B] Let's dial it [Db] up and listen to it.
But I thought, that's the title that I've been looking for.
It was just [B] a really [Ebm] odd circumstance in the way it came about.
So I started researching it.
[Abm] That phrase goes back.
There's a novel called Peace Like a River.
[B] There's a famous [Eb] hymn.
So it just seemed to sum up what I was trying to say.
[Abm] Most of the songs _ deal [Bb] more with inner peace and personal quests and that sort of thing.
Where are you with inner peace?
_ Better.
_ The last few years has been a little rough.
But thankfully, _
[Bbm] I was able [Abm] to sink myself into songwriting.
[Ebm] I wrote more material than I've written in ages.
[Abm]
It kept me from going nuts.
[B] It's been a [Db] challenging time.
I lost my dad during the process.
But I'm feeling [Ab] good and positive and hopeful.
[Ebm] That's fantastic.
Excited to be back on the road.
[Abm] Well, listen, everyone can come check you out on [Ebm] the road.
There are tons of dates.
[B] Make sure people go out, get your tickets, buy the [Db] album, be prepared, and be ready to
be [Ebm] surprised, much like a river, because anything can happen any night of the week when it comes
to Warren and Government [Eb] Mule.
Thank you for being here today.
I appreciate it.
[F] My pleasure.
[G] _ _ [D] _ _ [E] Hey there!
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