Gov't Mule assembled in 1994 as a power-blues side project for Warren Haynes and Allen Woody, the Allman Brothers Band's guitarist and bassist, respectively. Mule's signature tune, the uplifting "Soulshine," was a Haynes original for the ABB to which this trio adds a special kick. Southern rock and metallic psychedelia merge in dour early Mule tracks like "Blind Man In the Dark." Haynes unspools seamless bluesmanship in "Lay Your Burden Down" (featuring Ben Harper on lap steel) and achieves a sort of Paleolithic grandeur during his extended solo on "Captured."