The Deepest End is the culmination of a three year tribute to the late Gov't Mule bassist and founding member Allen Woody, who died prematurely in August of 2000, at the age of 44. In 2001, the band's two other founding members, guitarist/vocalist Warren Haynes, and drummer Matt Abts chose to rise above the tragedy of losing their friend and band mate by putting together an ambitious new album that featured a different bassist on each song - and we're not talking about just any old bassists here, we're talking about the best of the best, we're talking about Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, Bootsy Collins, Larry Graham, Roger Glover, and others of that caliber showing up to pay their respects. The success of that project, which was called The Deep End, Vol. 1, led to the release of The Deep End, Vol. 2 the very next year, and featured an equally impressive and diverse group of bassists, including Chris Squire, Les Claypool, Billy Cox, Phil Lesh, Tony Levin, Jason Newsted, and many more.
The Deepest End concert served as a grand finale for the whole Deep End project, and a sort of transition from healing period to the rebirth of a new Gov't Mule, which would gain two new permanent members in keyboardist Danny Louis and bassist Andy Hess, the following year. Recorded May 3, 2003 at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans, during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, this concert features no less than 26 world-class guest musicians who made their way to the show. Many of them already had other gigs they were performing in town either before, after, or even DURING this show, but they managed to make the time anyways. The actual show started around 10:10 PM and, about 33 songs later, ended at 3:50 AM. That is why they call these guys jam bands, because 5 1/2 hours is no frigging concert - it is a JAM my friend.
Warren Haynes, the hardest working man in rock and roll, was the ringmaster of this marathon jam and he brilliantly tailored each performance to showcase the genre and style that each of his guests are famous for. For instance when Jason Newsted, of Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica fame, takes the stage, they tear through the Black Sabbath classics "Sweet Leaf" and "War Pigs", which was a huge departure from the blues-rock material that preceded it. Things got even weirder when Les Claypool joined the band during the first encore, to perform "Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy (Parts 1 & 2)", a song he co-wrote with Haynes for The Deep End, Vol 2 album, and which would have easily fit on any Primus album. The mood was for improvisation, and many of the songs were extended to over twice their original length. Most of these performances were absolutely unrehearsed adventures in spontaneity, but they miraculously sounded tight as hell.
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