The legendary Warren Haynes, a longtime member of The Allman Brothers Band, frontman of jam band Gov’t Mule, a renowned solo artist, and highly sought-after collaborator, is coming to MGM Northfield Park on Valentine’s Day Eve!
Haynes is on tour supporting his chart-topping and critically acclaimed 2024 solo effort, ‘Million Voices Whisper,’ before hitting the road with Gov’t Mule later this year.
Recently, the Asheville, North Carolina native organized the Soulshine benefit concert for hurricane relief at Madison Square Garden with his good friends, Dave Matthews Band.
Before diving into the details of the upcoming show in Northeast Ohio, Haynes was asked to talk about the benefit and the impact the disaster had on him and his loved ones.
“Asheville is my home, and all my family is still there. They mostly had to relocate for a few weeks. It was over a month before some of my family members had drinking water, and electricity, and cell service, and internet. It’s devastated much more so than I think people even realize,” he said of the recent catastrophic event. “And so I wanted to do something to help out and reached out to the Dave Matthews camp and they have a lot of their crew that has ties to the Sarasota, Florida area that got devastated as well. So, we decided to pool resources and come up with something that could make some impact. And it was a beautiful night of music, and everybody stepped up and rose to the occasion, and it was wonderful. Having grown up there, it is always going to be my home. And no one could ever imagine that a town in the mountains, six hours away from the coast, could be devastated by a hurricane. It’s just something that was unfathomable until now, and the devastation is tremendous.“
Haynes, without question, is one of the busiest and hardest-working guys in the biz. He’s a road warrior with Gov’t Mule and has his hand in several other cookie jars. He was asked why now was the right time to make a solo record, the first since 2015’s ‘Ashes and Dust,’ and what qualifies a song to end up on a solo album versus a Gov’t Mule record.
“I usually make the decision to make a solo record based on having written a bunch of songs that don’t seem like Gov’t Mule songs, but want to work together or that all have some sort of common thread. I’ve only done four solo records in 30 years, so Gov’t Mule is priority for me,” Haynes explained. “But whenever this happens, it’s usually because I feel like there’s a batch of songs that I need to record, some of which could be interpreted by Gov’t Mule, but for the most part, seemed quite different. And it also was coming on the heels of having just released two Gov’t Mule records back to back. So there was no rush for Gov‘t Mule to get back in the studio. So it all kind of made sense from a timing standpoint. Some of these songs obviously could have been interpreted by Gov’t Mule and fit nicely into a Gov’t Mule record. I think there’s room on every Gov’t Mule record for two or three departure songs. To me, that’s always a sign of growth for any band. But since we had just done two records, we were not in a hurry to get back into the studio. I think one of the things that separates a Gov’t Mule song from a solo song for me is the lyrical content. And obviously, the music plays into it as well. Gov’t Mule is a heavier sound. With each record, Gov’t Mule expands their palate, so to speak. And I think that’s important for any band and artist. But you never want to go too far away from where you started.”
‘Million Voices Whisper’ features contributions from renowned musicians and good friends of Warren’s, including The Allman Brothers Band cohort Derek Trucks, country star Jamey Johnson, and the incredibly talented Lukas Nelson (son of Willie). There was a natural comfort in being in the studio with these fellas.
“Derek and I go way back. We’ve played together hundreds and hundreds of times and recorded together a lot, but we haven’t collaborated to this extent for quite a while. So it felt great to do that. Jamey Johnson, and Lukas Nelson, and myself worked together on The Last Waltz Tour a few years ago. We were the three singers interpreting the music of The Band, and we loved the way that our voices blended together with Lukas singing the high part, myself singing the middle part, and Jamey singing the low part. It is just a beautiful blend. So, I wanted to capture that in the studio as well,” Haynes said. “So they’re on the song ‘Day of Reckoning,’ and Lukas is also playing some beautiful guitar. It was a wonderful experience. Everything just kind of fell together.”
The upcoming show in Northfield is part of a short, 10-date run for Haynes. With a career spanning several decades and more material than not coming from other projects versus his solo records, he is tasked with the unenviable job of narrowing down his setlist for the tour. A good “problem” to have, fans of Gov’t Mule (and, previously, The Allman Brothers Band) frequently attend more than one show on any given tour. His solo trek will quite possibly follow suit. Fair or not, fans come with the expectation of not seeing repeats from one show to the next.
“Every setlist is a little different. We don’t vary the set list as much as Gov’t Mule does, but every night is a little bit different. We try to cover a lot of ground; songs from all of my solo records, maybe a couple of Gov’t Mule songs, a couple of Allman Brothers songs, maybe a cover here and there. And it is fun to kind of approach it from a different direction. And this band is still adding songs to the repertoire all the time,” he said. “From the inception of Gov’t Mule, we’ve changed the setlist every night, even in the early days when we only knew a handful of songs. It starts as a way of pleasing ourselves, not wanting to play the same songs night after night after night. But it translates to the audience and gives them an incentive to come to more and more shows because you never know what you’re going to get. I think I would probably go nuts if I had to play the same songs the same way, night after night!”
The music industry is full of one-and-done artists. Haynes is the antithesis of one-and-done. Everything he has been part of, everything he has created, is timeless. The music he performed with The Allman Brothers will be revered until Jesus returns. Gov’t Mule and his solo material also stand the test of the time. The secret?
“We’ve never chased the trends of the day. We’ve always just kind of done what’s in our hearts and followed a musical path that makes sense to us, feels good, and makes us make decisions based on what seems right to us at the moment,” Haynes explained. “And we never try to second guess what people expect or want from us. And more importantly, I never try to second guess the marketplace and try to catch up with what’s trendy at the time. Our goal was to create timeless music, and that starts with combining different influences that we consider to be timeless.”
Haynes has played perhaps every incredible venue in the country, from Madison Square Garden to the Ryman Auditorium. Asked if he could pick a favorite:
“I think Red Rocks is definitely one of my favorite venues to play. I’ve played there; I don’t know how many times, probably over 30, and never had a bad show there,” he decided. “It’s just an inspiring place to play!”
During a several-year absence of legendary Dave Matthews Band guitarist (and good friend of CleveRock), Tim Reynolds, Haynes stepped in to fill the void of electric guitar for DMB at several monumental shows, including their biggest show ever, The Central Park Concert in 2003. That massive crowd isn’t even close to his largest audience!
“It was one of them. There were about a hundred thousand people at that show, and it was amazingly inspiring,” he recalls. “The Allman Brothers played Woodstock ’94, which I think was 350,000. But once you get up into those kinds of numbers, it’s hard not to just see a sea of people.”
This begs the question of whether Warren approaches a show such as Central Park or Woodstock ’94 any differently than a more intimate show at the 2,000-capacity stage at MGM Northfield Park.
“I think with the big audiences like that, you want to keep the energy level up. It’s more about doing the uptempo stuff and keeping the excitement level up,” he admitted. “In a smaller, more intimate setting, you might get away with a few more moody pieces. So yeah, the audience definitely helps determine what songs you’re going to choose.”
Lastly, Haynes was asked if he could pinpoint something in his career that he is most proud of.
“I think probably I’m most proud of all the songs that I’ve written through the years and recorded. It’s a lot,” he said. “I mean, at this point, between The Allman Brothers and Gov’t Mule and solo records, and Phil Lesh and Friends, and all these other projects, it’s got to be over 250 songs. And I never imagined that I would be fortunate enough to record that many songs through the years. And so I’m really most grateful for the fact that I’m still doing what I love.”
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