Yola Takes On ‘Me & Bobby McGee’ & ‘Black Dog’ With Gov’t Mule

Yola stepped out from behind the DJ booth for guest appearances with Gov’t Mule at two stops on the Dreaming The Same Dream Tour. She sang lead on “Me & Bobby McGee” in Raleigh on Saturday and Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” in Richmond on Sunday.

The performances were the tour’s first collaborations. Yola is serving as DJ and MC at each stop of the co-headlining run featuring Mule and Ziggy Marley. Her two song choices also reached back to Mule’s New Year’s Eve 2025 concert, when she sang both covers during the band’s “1971: The Year Music Changed The World” set. That show marked Mule’s first performance of “Me & Bobby McGee” and, until Sunday, its most recent “Black Dog.”

Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster wrote “Me & Bobby McGee,” which Roger Miller recorded before Janis Joplin’s version appeared on her posthumously released 1971 album Pearl. Led Zeppelin released “Black Dog” later that year on its untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV.

Yola joined Mule near the end of Saturday’s set at Red Hat Amphitheater for “Me & Bobby McGee.” The band followed the cover with “She Said, She Said” into a “Tomorrow Never Knows” jam before closing its set with “Mr. Man.” “Make It Rain” served as the encore.

At Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront on Sunday, Yola returned for “Black Dog.” “Now I wanna sing a song by Led Zeppelin because I’m a rocker at heart,” she told the Richmond crowd before the performance. Mule went on to close the set with “Time To Confess” and encore with the reggae version of “Soulshine.”

Watch Yola sing “Me & Bobby McGee” in Raleigh and “Black Dog” in Richmond:

Raleigh Setlist & Photos (via Gov’t Mule Instagram)

Set: Hammer And Nails, Stone Cold Rage, Painted Silver Light, I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline), Slackjaw Jezebel, Devil Likes It Slow, Which Way Do We Run?, Shake Our Way Out, Me And Bobby McGee (w/ Yola), She Said, She Said > Tomorrow Never Knows Jam, Funny Little Tragedy, Brand New Angel, Mr. Man

Encore: Make It Rain

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Richmond Setlist & Photos (via Gov’t Mule Instagram)

Set: Railroad Boy, Mule, Wake Up Dead, Temporary Saint, Dreaming Out Loud, Fallen Down > The Other One Jam, Sco-Mule, Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home, Life Before Insanity, Black Dog (w/ Yola), Captured, World Boss, Time To Confess

Encore: Reggae Soulshine