Life Before Insanity

Life Before Insanity is the third studio album by Gov't Mule.^[8] The album was released on February 15, 2000, by Capricorn Records.

Life Before Insanity
Studio album by Gov't Mule
Released	February 15, 2000 (2000-02-15)
Recorded	Muscle Shoals Studios, Sheffield, AL and Water Music, Hoboken, NJ
Genre	Blues rock[1]
Length	73:50
Label	Capricorn
Producer	Michael Barbiero
Gov't Mule chronology
Live... With a Little Help from Our Friends (1999) Life Before Insanity (2000) The Deep End, Volume 1 (2001)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Atlanta Constitution	B[3]
Dayton Daily News	B−[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]
Spin	6/10[7]

The album peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart.^[9]

Production

The album was produced by Michael Barbiero.^[10] Unlike the band's first two albums, Life Before Insanity utilized both overdubbing and multiple guest musicians.^[11] It was the last album recorded with founding member Allen Woody, who died in August 2000.^[12]

Critical reception

The Austin Chronicle wrote that "having Ben Harper cameo with Haynes on 'Lay Your Burden Down' is a guitarist's dream, but while the song rolls along, it never takes off—never reaches the pairing's potential."^[13] The Washington Post thought that the album "recalls the vintage blues-rock of the early Allman Brothers Band and Clapton's Cream."^[1]

Track listing

All songs by Warren Haynes unless otherwise noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Wandering Child" (Haynes, Matt Abts)	6:05
2.	"Life Before Insanity" (Haynes, Danny Louis)	6:12
3.	"Bad Little Doggie" (Haynes, Abts, Allen Woody)	3:48
4.	"Lay Your Burden Down" (Haynes, Michael Barbiero)	5:27
5.	"Fallen Down"	6:58
6.	"World Gone Wild"	6:17
7.	"Tastes Like Wine"	6:57
8.	"I Think You Know What I Mean"	4:55
9.	"Far Away"	5:54
10.	"No Need to Suffer"	8:20
11.	"In My Life/If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day" (Haynes, Robert Johnson)	12:48

Personnel

• Warren Haynes – guitar, slide guitar, vocals
• Allen Woody – bass, mandolin on "Life Before Insanity", electric upright bass on "Tastes Like Wine", rhythm guitar on "I Think You Know What I Mean", fretless bass on "Far Away", dulcitar on "In My Life"
• Matt Abts – drums, djembe, ashika on "In My Life"

Additional personnel

• Michael Barbiero – glockenspiel on "Far Away"
• Hook Herrera – harmonica on "Bad Little Doggie" and "I Think You Know What I Mean"
• Ben Harper – vocals and lap steel on "Lay Your Burden Down"
• Johnny Neel – organ, Wurlitzer piano and background vocals

Production

• Michael Barbiero – producer, engineer, mixing
• Ray Martin – mixing, additional engineering
• Warren Haynes – mixing
• Brodie Hutcheson – mixing, additional engineering
• Dan Jurow – additional engineering
• Greg Calbi – mastering
• Mark Pagliaro – guitar, bass, mandolin, amp, tech
• Daniel Saratec – drum, percussion tech