Warren Haynes (Government Mule, The Allman Brothers Band) has an old soul. It's evident in the way he plays, channeling the spirits of the forefathers of the blues through his hands as his they glide along the neck of his guitar. You can hear the echoes of the Delta in his voice and see it in the way he half-closes his eyes and tilts his head when he sings. And although he can reach back in time with his talents, Haynes keeps one foot firmly planted in contemporary music, drifting between blues, rock and country effortlessly. If you read over his pairings and various collaborations, it's like reading a Who's Who of rock and rolls contemporary elite. He's one of the torch bearers keeping the blues alive and delivering them to the next generation of music fans.
Born April 6th, 1960 in Asheville, North Carolina, Haynes claims that his first musical memories were listening to black gospel music on the radio when he was 6 years old. His father was a fan of country giants Merle Haggard and Bill Monroe which rubbed off on Warren but he also picked up some of musical base from his older brothers who leaned more towards Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bob Dylan. At the age of twelve, Warren informed his father that he wanted to learn the guitar and quickly discovered rock and roll. Pushed along by his brothers, Warren began to explore his musical hero's and trace their various influences, catching live shows and learning as much about music and musicians as he could, adding to his skills and knowledge as he went.
In an interview in 2006, when asked of his early influences, Haynes told an interviewer "When I first started, chronologically speaking, Hendrix, Clapton and Johnny Winter were the first three people that I got turned onto. That was the Cream era Clapton. Then eventually, I heard The Allman Brothers and everybody else from that era that I stole something from," he laughed. "Of course, I would read interviews with all these people and find out who they were listening to. And they all listened to B.B. King and Freddie King and Albert King and Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters and Elmore James, so I would go back and discover that stuff."
By the time he turned 20, Warren Haynes began his professional career based on the strength of his guitar work. He was 'discovered' by country music outlaw David Allen Coe, and Haynes was brought into his band. He backed up Coe on nine albums and toured with him throughout the United States and Europe for four years. When Coe opened for The Allman Brothers Band at a show in Atlanta in 1981, a chance meeting set the stage that would alter the course of Warren's career a little further down the road. Famed Allman Brothers member Dickey Betts joined Coe and Haynes on stage for a few songs his first impression of Haynes stuck with Betts.
In 1986, Betts and Haynes met again, this time in Nashville where Haynes was working writing songs. Betts was seeking out backup musician and brought in Hyanes for an ultimately unreleased solo project. The following year, Betts called Haynes and asked him to form a band. When Betts began to work on Pattern Disruptive, Haynes had co-written the songs.
In 1989 when The Allman Brothers reformed for The Reunion Tour, Haynes was brought in as a full-fledged member. Since that time, Haynes has earned five Grammy nods for his work with The Allman Brothers (including winning the Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental for "Jessica" off of the album 2nd Set), has written several songs for the band and has been involved in producing several of their albums and one of their live concert DVD's.
But being a part of the The Allman Brothers Band was only one part of multi-faceted career of Warren Haynes. He recorded a solo record, Tales of Ordinary Madness in 1993 which attracted the talents of Bernie Worrell of P-Funk and Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell as guest artists.
While working with The Allmans in 1994, Haynes and bassist Allen Woody decided to revive the power-trio ala Cream or the Jimi Hendrix Experience and enlisted the talents of Dickey Betts' drummer Matt Abts to form Government Mule. Leaving The Allman Brothers and the Betts solo projects to focus on Government Mule full time, the trio produced and recorded four studio and several live discs by 2000. The band was gaining a very solid fan base and was moving from the jam band arena into the more the more mainstream aspect of music when Allen Woody was found dead in a hotel room in New York City on August 26th, 2000.
The band completed the tour they were on at the time, albeit acoustically, renaming it the Smile at Half Mast tour in honor of their fallen band mate. Government Mule then completed two more studio albums with various all-star bass players, all favorites of the now deceased Woody, filling in the missing spot.
In 2003, Andy Hess was added as a permanent bass player and Danny Louis was brought in to add keyboards for the band. The band continues to record and tour heavily, gaining momentum with each successive effort.
Warren has often jammed with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead as well in their various incarnations, appearing on stage with them for the Wave That Flag tour in 2004 as well as with them at Penn State University in 2008 for a benefit for then Presidential hopeful, Barak Obama as well as a brief stint with the band on a spring 2009 tour. Haynes is in high demand for other musicians as well, logging in over 45 appearances with The Dave Matthews Band and also doing occasional work with another side project called Warren Haynes and Friends that included Dave Schools of Widespread Panic, his band mate from Government Mule, Mat Abts, Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlin and sax player John Medeski.
Add to this, Haynes has performed as a solo act at Bonnaroo (releasing two live discs of those performances) as well as one full length studio effort.
As if this were not enough, Haynes is a very charitable man, donating both time and money to Habitat for Humanity and various other charities in and around his childhood home of Asheville, North Carolina. Warren Haynes is somewhat of a rarity in today's music community; a musician who is as generous with his time and talent as he is with his money.
Warren Haynes is an old soul but an old soul that is clearly comfortable in the here and now and very much at ease with himself.
[FONT=Tahoma]"All I can do is be me ... whoever that is". Bob Dylan [/FONT]
