After a lengthy delay, Gov't Mule have set a September 24th release date for Deep End Volume 2 -- the second and final installment of their CD tribute to bass player Allen Woody, who died in August of 2000. Also scheduled to hit stores that day is the Rising Low DVD, a ninety-minute documentary about the recording sessions for both albums.

Shot by Phish bassist Mike Gordon (who played on Volume 1), Rising Low recently won the Audience Choice Award at the Newport Film Festival. The film includes interviews with Mule mainstays Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals) and Matt Abts (drums), as well as the band's crew, Woody's family members and several of the album's revolving bass players.

"Part of my mission," Haynes explains in an early scene, "has been to pick a song that showcases each bass player's personality, but try and just make it still sound like us and not too much like their band."

In all, the two albums have featured over two dozen well-known bassists and a slew of keyboardists and other guests. Volume 2 includes several icons: Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead), Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane), Billy Cox (Band of Gypsies), Chuck Leavell (Rolling Stones) and Bernie Worrell (Parliament Funkadelic).

Frequent Mule fill-in Dave Schools (Widespread Panic) and keyboardist Danny Louis (Allman Brothers Band) round out the team on "Which Way Do We Run." Les Claypool co-wrote, sings and provides the bottom on two quirky tracks ("Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy," Parts 1 and 2) and former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, a late addition to the lineup, rocks "Trying Not to Fall," the tune on which Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones was initially invited to play. Me'shell Ndegeocello and John Medeski join in on "Hammer and Nails." A remake of "What Is Hip?" spotlights Tower of Power's own Rocco Prestia.

Screenings for Rising Low are being scheduled for September 3-6, primarily in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta. The film will also run at the Woodstock Film Festival in upstate New York, September 19-21.

Track listing for Deep End Volume 2:

Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy Part 1
Greasy Granny's Gopher Gravy Part 2
What Is Hip?
World of Confusion
Tryin' Not to Fall
Hammer and Nails
Time to Confess
Slow, Happy Boys
Sun Dance
Lay of the Sunflower
Catfish Blues
Which Way Do We Run
Babylon Turnpike

ROBIN A. ROTHMAN
(July 9, 2002)