After Gov't Mule co-founder Allen Woody was found dead in a New York hotel room on Aug. 26, 2000, it might have been easy to dismiss the band as unable to continue without such an essential member.

But they don't call frontman Warren Haynes the hardest working man in rock 'n' roll for nothing. Three years later, Haynes, who also serves as Duane Allman's second replacement in the seminal Southern rock outfit The Allman Brothers Band, delivers the most comprehensive Mule live album to date, The Deepest End: Live In Concert.

Perhaps most astonishing about the album is the incredible array of guest bassists, including Mike Gordon, Les Claypool and Jason Newsted.

Also sitting in to jam are Béla Fleck, Karl Denson, Sonny Landreth and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, but the instrumental highlight of the show is arguably Haynes' incendiary guitar work and drummer Matt Abts' percussive genius.

The entire concert clocks in at over five hours, which can only be described as sick. Lengthy but never dull, Haynes and company give an incredibly tight performance for one so spontaneous. The band mixes its hard-rocking originals with covers that will make you grin from ear to ear, such as Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" and "Sweet Leaf," Cream's "Politician" and an unbelievable rendering of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile."

To be sure, listening to this album is quite an undertaking. But for those with true grit and appreciation, the result will be having just one thing to say: Thank you, Warren.

-- Reviewed by David Tatasciore