Gov’t Mule Pays Tribute To Dickey Betts & Welcomes Grace Potter At SweetWater 420 Fest

Gov’t Mule headlined the action this past Saturday at the scaled-back SweetWater 420 Fest in Atlanta. The 90-minute set, which closed the first of two days at Pullman Yards, included both a song played in honor of The Allman Brothers Band co-founder Dickey Betts and a guest appearance by Grace Potter.

The band — guitarist Warren Haynes, drummer Matt Abts, multi-instrumentalist Danny Louis and bassist Kevin Scott — took the stage just days after Dickey Betts passed away. Betts gave Haynes his big break and brought him into the ABB family. The pair were members of the legendary band together from 1989 through 1997. “Dickey Betts and I created a lot of great music together and what I took from him was a major contribution in my life,” wrote Haynes in a stirring remembrance. “It did not take long once I joined his band to realize, standing next to him with that beautiful tone, that I had a lot to work to do on both with my tone and with my style.”

Gov’t Mule kicked off their SweetWater 420 Fest set with a run of “Hammer & Nails,” “Mule” and “Thorazine Shuffle.” Warren Haynes and his bandmates then teased “Jessica” before launching into “Blue Sky.” Both songs were penned by Dickey Betts and were among his signature tunes. Mule last performed “Blue Sky” at their “Black ‘N’ Blue New Years” concert on December 31, 2023.

Mule followed the ABB cover by performing the bluesy “The River Only Flows One Way” off their 2023 studio album, Peace Like A River. Haynes fit teases of the Betts-penned “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” into the 10-minute “The River Only Flows One Way.”

Frequent Gov’t Mule/Warren Haynes collaborator Grace Potter emerged later in the set. Potter and Haynes shared lead vocal duties on the Al Green classic “Take Me To The River.” The quartet hadn’t performed the cover since May of 2019. Mule went it alone to punctuate the set with Green’s “I’m A Ram” and returned for a “Soulshine” encore.

Check out more fan-shot video of Gov’t Mule’s SweetWater 420 Fest set below:

Official Audio (via nugs.net)

Setlist (via Gov’t Mule Facebook)

Set: Hammer & Nails, Mule, Thorazine Shuffle, Blue Sky, The River Only Flows One Way, Trane > Rumble > St. Stephen Jam, Take Me To The River*, I’m A Ram

Encore: Soulshine