The longtime guitarist and songwriter with the Honey Island Swamp Band will be celebrating the release of his long-awaited and latest solo album at Chickie Wah Wah on Friday night. Renshaw Davies opens.
Down To the Bottom, which was produced by Anders Osborne, features all new songs from the pen of Mulé including two co-writes. “Demonized” was written with his partner in the HISB, Aaron Wilkinson, and “Devil’s Den” was written with bluesman John Mooney.
The album is mostly acoustic with only three songs that even have a drummer. Carlo Nuccio bangs the skins on all three of the uptempo tunes and trombonist Greg Hicks (Bonerama), trumpeter Mark Levron (The Upstarts, Davis), and Brad Walker (Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes) play on two of the three. The horns sound great in the context of Mule’s songwriting giving the songs a Muscle Shoals-style, R&B edge.
Legendary percussionist Alfred “Uganda” Roberts, best known for his work with Professor Longhair, provides sympathetic accompaniment on the rest of the tracks. His work allows Mulé to showcase his acoustic guitar chops especially on the instrumental slide workout, “Trouble Brewing.”
The songs run the gamut from the lovesick, “She Goes Crazy” and “Ramblin’ Fever,” to Old Testament, fire and brimstone laments such as “Demonized,” with the lyrics, “I got blood on my hands, blood in my eyes, I’ve been demonized.”
Mule plans on bringing his National steel for some acoustic songs and suggests there may be some special guests. The band includes Rob Schafer on bass, Garland Paul on drums, Josh Paxton on keys, and the aforementioned Brad Walker and Mark Levron.
