Warren Haynes - by Michael B. Smith
- from All Music Guide (also Barnes
and Noble and Artist Direct) also on Mule.net
for WH's biography 9/2003
You wouldn't know it from listening to
Warren Haynes' work with Gov't Mule
or the Allman Brothers Band, but there
was a time when he didn't play
guitar. He says, "I didn't get my first
guitar until I was 12. My oldest
brother had an acoustic guitar and I would
bang around on it and try to
play." But guitar wasn't even his first
love — it was singing. Around the
time he was eight or nine, Haynes' two
older brothers began turning him on
to soul music. He would sit in his room,
singing Smokey Robinson, Diana
Ross, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett.
He became fascinated with sounds of
Motown and Memphis. "All I cared about
was the singer. The really strong
singers really knocked me out. Levi Stubbs
of The Four Tops still is one of
my favorite voices of all time. And I
always liked B.B. King even before I
liked the blues. His voice was the main
thing."
Guitar didn't escape Haynes' attention
for long, however: he would soon
turn on to rock and roll. "I really liked
Eric Clapton. He was the first
guitar hero I had. I liked really heavy
Cream stuff. I liked all the Derek
And The Dominoes stuff." Haynes' brothers
used his admiration of Clapton to
expand his musical horizons to take in
the blues masters. They would tell
him to check out Howlin' Wolf because
Clapton played on it. Interviews with
Haynes' favorite guitarists led him to
other blues players, and the scope
of his guitar playing grew accordingly.
Soon Haynes found himself performing at
private gigs and pool parties. When
he was about 14, he started hanging around
a local pizza parlor that had
been converted into a nightclub. About
six months later, word got out that
Haynes played guitar. The regulars wondered
what this kid could do, so they
offered to let him on stage.
It wasn't long before Haynes was playing
in a band called Ricochet that
developed a good regional following. One
day, Haynes got a call from David
Allan Coe, and it was a major break for
the 20-year-old Haynes. He played
with Coe from 1980 to 1984 (traveling
all over the States and Europe) and
played on nine of Coe's albums. Haynes
also met Dickey Betts and Gregg
Allman through Coe, and when Coe's band
opened for The Allman Brothers at
the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Betts sat
in. Four years later, Haynes moved to
Nashville to do session work, but the
Allman connection was still there.
Betts was doing some demos in Nashville
and called someone to put together
a group of background singers. As fate
would have it, Haynes was one of
them. Later, he called Haynes and invited
him down to work on some songs.
Those songs turned into Betts' solo album,
Pattern Disruptive.
At the same time, Allman decided to record
"Just Before the Bullets Fly,"
which Haynes co-wrote, as the title track
to his 1988 album. It's no wonder
that when The Allman Brothers reformed
for their Reunion Tour in 1989,
Haynes got a call to join. That tour turned
into two studio albums and two
Grammy nominations for Best Instrumental
Rock Performance (in 1990
for "True Gravity" and 1991 for "Kind
of Bird," both of which were co-
written by Haynes and Betts) and then
a live album in 1992 An Evening with
the Allman Brothers Band. Haynes' songwriting,
singing and playing helped
make Seven Turns, Shades of Two Worlds
and An Evening with the Allman
Brothers Band, the Brothers' most critically
acclaimed albums in years.
Many critics give Haynes credit for putting
the fire back in The Allman
Brothers Band.
Haynes also took time out to release his
first solo album, Tales of
Ordinary Madness. The album featured the
piano work of Chuck Leavell.
Leavell also played on the album, joining
another former Allman Brother,
Johnny Neel, and Funkadelic's Bernie Worrell
on keyboards. Marc Quinones,
percussionist in the current Brothers
lineup, also helped out.
After dropping out of The Allman Brothers
Band in 1997 to pursue his side
project (Gov't Mule) on a full-time basis,
Haynes, along with bassist Allen
Woody and drummer Matt Abts, released
their third album in 1998, Dose, as a
follow-up to their highly successful 1996
debut album and the 1996
recording Live at Roseland Ballroom.
Musictoday.com - Music Today Bio - Warren Haynes
b. 6 April 1960, Asheville, North Carolina,
USA. As a child Haynes was
captivated by soul music, but at age 12
he took up the guitar. This brought
about a shift in his musical influences,
notably Eric Clapton and Cream.
His older brothers, whose guitars he had
first tried to play, directed him
to other, even more strongly blues-orientated
figures, such as Howlin'
Wolf. Haynes began playing at parties
and also visited nightclubs despite
being underage. By the age of 15 he was
sitting in at clubs and attracting
considerable approving attention. He played
in various local bands until,
in 1980, he was hired by David Allan Coe.
For the next four years, he
toured nationally and internationally
and recorded with Coe. While touring
with Coe he met Gregg Allman and Richard
"Dickie" Betts, two musicians who
would influence his later career. From
the mid-80s, Haynes worked as a
session musician in Nashville, Tennessee,
which is where he re-encountered
Betts, playing on the latter's Pattern
Disruptive. Around this same time,
Allman recorded a Haynes composition,
"Before The Bullets Fly", for his
1988 release Just Before The Bullets Fly.
Haynes subsequently joined the re-
formed Allman Brothers Band, appearing
on their reunion tour and guesting
on three studio albums. These sets included
two compositions by Haynes and
Betts, "True Gravity" and "Kind Of Bird",
both of which were Grammy
nominated as Best Instrumental Rock Performance
(in 1990 and 1991
respectively). The albums themselves Seven
Turns, Shades Of Two Worlds and
An Evening With The Allman Brothers Band,
were highly acclaimed by
audiences and critics alike, with Haynes
being singled out for praise as
being a major factor in the revitalization
of the Allman Brothers Band.
Haynes also collaborated with latter-day
Allman Brothers Band member Allen
Woody and Matt Abts on the Gov't Mule
project, and worked with Phil Lesh's
band, Phil Lesh And Friends. His musical
influences are many and varied,
including the Grateful Dead, Miles Davis,
Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and
Frank Zappa. Among musicians with whom
he has worked have been jazzmen such
as John Scofield, bluesmen like John Lee
Hooker, Willie Dixon and Albert
Collins, and contemporary music artists
including Phish, the Black Crowes
and Medeski, Martin And Wood. When Haynes
made his own-name debut in 1993
with Tales Of Ordinary Madness, in addition
to playing guitar he took the
opportunity to return to his first love,
singing. Haynes' musical
preferences (R&B, soul and post-bop
jazz) were readily apparent in the
robust performances which were filled
with many dynamic and exhilarating
moments.
Off Mule.net About a year ago 10/2002
When Allen Woody died in August 2000, Gov't
Mule didn't just lose a bass
player. Singer/guitarist Warren Haynes
had befriended Woody over a decade
before, when the two joined the revival
of the Allman Brothers Band in
1989. Gov't Mule, formed five years later
with drummer Matt Abts, was as
much a brotherhood as it was a rock band.
Haynes and Abts were left
contemplating how to continue.
"When Woody passed away we were kind of
in the middle of preparing for what
would be the next Gov't Mule record anyway,"
says Haynes. "After Allen
passed, we didn't know how to continue
that process. We didn't want to
start auditioning bass players to try
to find a permanent replacement. So
the idea came about that all of our favorite
bass players might be too busy
to join the band, or even do a whole tour,
but maybe they wouldn't be too
busy to do one song."
So Gov't Mule brainstormed a lengthy list
of bassists whom they most
respected and who had most influenced
Woody musically, and invited them all
to collaborate with the band on its next
album. They were unaware of what
the response would be, considering of
the logistical challenges involved –
and were overwhelmed when the vast majority
of these musicians replied that
they were eager to take part in the project.
Gov't Mule wound up recording
more than two full albums' worth of material.
The first album to be culled
from these sessions is The Deep End Vol.
1, and the collection of top
modern stars and legends of rock music
that join Gov't Mule on this record
is remarkable. Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers),
Bootsy Collins (James Brown, P-
Funk), Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE)
and Mike Gordon (Phish) are some of
the artists that appear on The Deep End
Vol. 1, alongside rock legends like
Jack Bruce (Cream) and John Entwistle
(The Who).
Haynes notes that The Deep End is different
from the usual concept of a
tribute album. "Most tribute records are
re-recording existing material,"
he says "This record is all new material,
there's no new versions of songs
we'd already recorded." Some of the nine
original songs on The Deep End
Vol. 1 were selected from Haynes' stash
of songs he'd written but never
recorded. Others were co-written by Haynes
and a guest bass player,
including "On The Banks of the Deep End,"
penned by Haynes, Gordon and Joe
Linitz, and "Life On The Outside," written
by Haynes and guitarist Audley
Freed (Black Crowes). Says Haynes, "The
main mission was to marry the right
song with the right bass player, to make
sure that whatever song we chose
was a song that would allow each bass
player to shine through with their
own personality."
The songs on The Deep End Vol. 1 have Gov't
Mule's trademark brawny guitar
riffs and deft dynamic interplay, but
each is tailored to its guest
players. Haynes dusted off a forgotten
original song, "Same Price," and re-
wrote some parts with John Entwistle in
mind. The instrumental "Sco-Mule,"
originally written for Gov't Mule's live
collaborations with jazz guitarist
John Scofield, was recorded in the studio
for the first time, with help
from Scofield, Medeski Martin & Wood
bassist Chris Wood and keyboardist
Bernie Worrell (P-Funk, Golden Palominos).
Stefan Lessard (Dave Matthews
Band) chose the slow-burning "Beautifully
Broken" for his bass
contribution. Bootsy Collins added his
virtuoso bass skills and outer-space
melodic sensibility to the kinetic funk-rock
tune "Tear Me Down." Veteran
session bassist Willie Weeks plays on
Gov't Mule's uplifting live
staple "Soulshine," alongside bluesman
Little Milton and Rolling Stone
keyboardist Chuck Leavell. Alice In Chains'
Jerry Cantrell lends his
trademark distinctive vocal harmonies
to the cover of Creedence Clearwater
Revival's "Effigy," for which Watt handles
bass duties.
Echoes of Allen Woody's musicianship are
heard on The Deep End Vol. 1,
too. "Worried Down With The Blues" was
co-written by Woody, Haynes and John
Jaworowicz, and Haynes chose to play the
song with Allman Brothers Band
members Oteil Burbridge (bass), Derek
Trucks (guitar) and Gregg Allman
(organ, vocals). "It was really cool that
we were able to do a song that
Allen co-wrote, especially that song with
the guys from the Allman
Brothers," says Haynes. "It gave it a
special meaning." Woody also played
bass on the frantic Grand Funk Railroad
cover "Sin Is A Good Man's
Brother," recorded during the sessions
for the band's 1999 album Life
Before Insanity.
With The Deep End Vol. 1, Gov't Mule continued
their practice of recording
live in the studio as a band. "We overdubbed
a few things here and there,
but for the most part it was live performance,"
says Haynes. "That's the
way Gov't Mule has always done it. All
these bass players were such strong
musical personalities, we thought it would
be best to capture that vibe by
making studio as much of a live environment
as possible." Longtime Gov't
Mule producer Michael Barbiero (Soundgarden,
Madonna, Tesla) co-produced
and mixed most of the tracks on the album
with Haynes. John Cutler
(Grateful Dead) and David Z (Buddy Guy,
Johnny Lang) each co-produced a
track with Haynes while the frontman produced
"Sco-Mule" himself.
The Deep End project will continue through
the winter with the release of
Mike Gordon's film, On The Banks, a documentary
on the recording sessions.
The Deep End Vol. 2 is planned for a late
spring 2002 release. This second
album will feature bass players including
Me'shell N'degeocello, Phil Lesh
(Grateful Dead), Les Claypool (Primus),
George Porter, Jr. (The Meters,
Tori Amos) and Dave Schools (Widespread
Panic).
Gov't Mule Biography VH1.com
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/gov_t_mule/bio.jhtml
Modern day southern rockers Gov't Mule
started as merely a side-project for
latter-day Allman Brothers Band members
Warren Haynes (b. 6 April 1960, Asheville,
North Carolina, USA;
guitar/vocals) and Douglas Allen Woody
(b. 1956, USA, d. 26 August 2000,
Queens, New York City, New York, USA;
bass), but soon took on a life all
its own. Haynes and Woody had been part
of the Allman Brothers circle for
several years by 1994, when the duo jammed
with drummer Matt Abts (b. 30
September 1953, Oklahoma, USA) at a Los
Angeles club after a local Allman
Brothers Band gig in May of that year.
The trio remained in contact and
continued to play when their busy schedules
allowed it, as its members
began to take the new project more seriously
with each successive jam
session. At first, Haynes and Woody attempted
to keep Gov't Mule going
along with their Allman Brothers Band
duties, resulting in albums such as
1995's self-titled debut and 1996's Live
At Roseland Ballroom. By April
1997, Haynes and Woody had both handed
in their resignation to the Allmans
and were now free to focus on Gov't Mule
full-time. Unlike their work with
the Allmans, Gov't Mule's music crossed
over into hard rock territory at
times. The trio signed on with Capricorn
Records, and issued two albums
during the late 90s. Dose and yet another
live set, 1999's Live With A
Little Help From Our Friends, which featured
contributions from members of
the Black Crowes. Gov't Mule's fifth release,
Life Before Insanity, was
issued in early 2000, but just a few months
after its release Woody was
found dead in a New York City hotel room.
Haynes and Abts opted to carry
on, and for 2001's The Deep End: Volume
1, enlisted an impressive roster of
renowned rock bass players to take Woody's
place, including Jack Bruce,
Larry Graham, Roger Glover, John Entwistle,
Mike Watt, the Red Hot Chili
Peppers' Flea, and Phish's Mike Gordon.
Gordon filmed the album's recording
sessions, which were included as part
of the documentary, On The Banks. In
2002, The Deep End: Volume 2 was issued,
and like its predecessor, included
a wide variety of acclaimed bass players
lending a hand.
http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1450194/10192001/gov_t_mule.jhtml
2002 VHI Review Roseland 10-18-02 show
Review
This report is from MTV News.
October 19th VH1 News
Gov't Mule Cover The Basses Onstage
Bass is the place as Mike Gordon, Tony
Levin, others fill hole in Southern
power combo.
by Jon Wiederhorn
NEW YORK — "It's gonna be a long night,
so I would suggest pacing
yourself," Gov't Mule frontman Warren
Haynes said about five songs into the
band's sold-out Thursday-night show at
the Roseland Ballroom.
He wasn't kidding.
Everyone knew the performance would be
filled with the expressive jams and
sprawling solos the guitarist has been
known for since joining the Allman
Brothers Band in 1989. And the crowd knew
the Mule would play two sets
highlighting several of the guest bassists
heard on the Mule's upcoming
albums, The Deep End volumes one and two.
Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers),
John Entwistle (the Who), Stefan Lessard
(Dave Matthews Band), Bootsy
Collins (Parliament-Funkadelic), Larry
Graham (Sly and the Family Stone),
Jack Bruce (Cream) and Mike Gordon (Phish)
are among the bassists heard on
the discs.
But even diehard Mule fans probably didn't
expect a four-hour marathon that
ran the gamut from bluesy and heartsick
to blustery and furious, focusing
on electric blues and Southern rock while
alluding to fusion, punk, metal,
prog-rock and reggae.
Gov't Mule have been an eclectic bunch
since forming in 1994, but the
band's music has reflected hard-won urgency
and emotion in the months since
August 2000, when original bassist Allen
Woody was found dead of unknown
causes in a New York hotel. Rather than
replace the founding member, Haynes
and drummer Matt Abts decided to write
a record employing a different
bassist on each track. The idea blossomed
into a production involving two
studio albums boasting more than 20 bassists
and documented by a full-
length film directed by Gordon (see "Jerry
Cantrell, Bootsy Collins On Star-
Studded Gov't Mule LP"). The Deep End's
first volume will be released
October 23.
Six-string bassist Oteil Burbridge joined
Haynes and Abts (augmented all
night by keyboardist Chuck Leavell) for
the first set. The Allman Brothers
bandmember's rapid-fire playing deftly
covered the technical aspect of the
Mule repertoire while imbuing the songs
with heartfelt groove. The band
played 11 pre-Deep End tunes and covered
Led Zeppelin's version of "Since
I've Been Loving You." While Haynes' vocals
couldn't reach the heights of
Robert Plant's, his frenetic guitar compensated
nicely. Dressed in a black
V-neck T-shirt and black jeans, the stocky
guitarist looked like a cross
between a truck driver and a linebacker.
The set began with "Bad Little Doggie"
from 2000's Life Before Insanity,
then swung, shuddered, swayed, swaggered
and rolled through kinetic
versions of "Wandering Child," "Left Coast
Groovies [for FZ]" and "Blind
Man."
The special guests began to emerge following
a short break. Gordon joined
the band for "Banks of the Deep End."
The dusky vibe and Southern-blues
rhythm — like Crosby, Stills, Nash and
Young's "Ohio" crossed with Bob
Seger's "Turn the Page" — led to a vigorous
jam that concluded with a
striking reggae flourish.
Gordon remained with the band for two more
songs before King Crimson's Tony
Levin stepped up to bat. The towering,
bald bassist imbued the group's
music with a funk vibe even as the music
coursed with soulful
sensitivity. "World of Confusion" evolved
into a power organ and Southern
rock licks meleé, conjuring the
spirit of a superjam between Deep Purple
and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Peter Gabriel's "Washing of the Water"
preceded The Deep End's hard-
rockin' "Same Price," during which Levin
slapped his strings with tubes
worn on his fingers.
Lessard took over next, pleasing the crowd
with dexterous and interpretive
musicianship. The group began with the
painstricken "Beautifully Broken"
and reached a climax with a fiery take
on Bob Marley's "Lively Up
Yourself," which began as a faithful reggae
tune and rollercoastered into
an explosive punk/metal flurry.
The agenda's final bass hero was Jefferson
Airplane and Hot Tuna's Jack
Casady, who provided an abundance of gusto
and proficiency during
electrifying versions of Neil Young's
"Cortez the Killer" and "Rockin' in
the Free World," Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo
Chile" and one verse of Bob
Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."
Warren Haynes and friends finally said
their farewells more than four hours
after digging into the evening's first
note. However, their hunger and
fiery chemistry suggested they could have
kept it up all night long.
Mule.net 10/2003 Most Current Official
Bio of band
DISCOGRAPHY
Gov't Mule Discography
By now, the word has spread about Gov't
Mule. The group's incessant nature
along with its visceral blues and jazz-based
attack has garnered one of
rock's most loyal followings. Comprised
of original members Warren Haynes
(guitar, vocals) and Matt Abts (drums)
along with keyboardist Danny Louis
(joined the April 2002) and bassist Andy
Hess (joined the band September
2003), the group continues to blow minds,
while breaking new musical ground.
This past May, Gov't Mule staged a truly
historic event in New Orleans. On
May 3rd, some of the planet's most legendary
musicians assembled at the
Saenger Theater for The Deepest End concert,
which served as a tribute to
original bassist Allen Woody, who passed
away in August of 2000. The show
featured countless special guests, many
of whom appear on the band's two
recent albums The Deep End Volume 1 &
Volume 2. Over the course of the six-
hour marathon concert, collaborators included
everyone from Jason Newsted
(Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne) to Jack Casady
(Jefferson Airplane) to Victor
Wooten (Bela Fleck & The Flecktones)
to Les Claypool (Primus, Frog Brigade).
"It was one of the most amazing nights
of music that I've ever been a part
of or witnessed," says Haynes. "Technically,
I think it came off about as
good as it possibly could. We were all
flying by the seat of our pants. We
were coordinating all these different
musicians who had all these places to
be and other schedules and shows. I can¹t
imagine it running much smoother.
I kind of felt like the whole night there
was this big wave of energy and I
was just being dragged along by it."
"There's no pretending in Gov't Mule,"
says Newsted. "The music that Warren
Haynes and Matt Abts and Allen Woody made
together is a certain form of
blueprint for a style of music that really
is an original and unique
formula. When you have that type of chemistry
and one of the people is
taken away, that's never gonna go away
and it takes 25 of the greatest bass
players to fill his shoes, but they're
still not filled. It just speaks
huge amounts for the respect that these
guys have for him. He's looking
down right now and going, "Holy crap!"
He probably never would have
imagined that he would have gotten so
much respect."
Jaws dropped around the globe as the set
list circulated on the internet,
but there is hope for those who missed
the star-studded six-hour gala. The
magic was documented on one DVD and two
CD's, which has been packaged
together as The Deepest End, and released,
Tuesday, October 7, on ATO
Records.
"On a night like this, it's fun because
there's no real time to rehearse so
it gives you an extra adrenaline boost,"
said Victor Wooten. "When you have
to improvise like that, most of the time
you end up playing some of your
best things because you don't get to work
on it."
The band's most recent albums, The Deep
End Volume 1 and Volume 2, honor
Woody in a unique way. Instead of making
a traditional tribute record,
Haynes and Abts invited many of Woody¹s
heroes to appear on the records and
play almost entirely new material. The
response was overwhelming. Volume 1
features guests such as Gregg Allman (Allman
Brothers Band), Jack Bruce
(Cream), Bootsy Collins (P-Funk), John
Entwistle (The Who), Flea (Red Hot
Chili Peppers) and Stefan Lessard (Dave
Matthews Band) to name a few.
Because nearly everyone on Gov't Mule's
"wish list" was interested in
participating in the project, it became
clear that all of this talent would
not fit on one disc. Thus Volume 2 was
released and features an equally
impressive roster of players: Chris Squire
(Yes), Tony Levin (King Crimson,
Peter Gabriel), Rocco Prestia (Tower of
Power), John Scofield, David
Grisman and Billy Cox (Jimi Hendrix and
the Band of Gypsys). All of the
recording sessions were filmed by Phish
bassist Mike Gordon for inclusion
in his documentary, Rising Low. The movie
serves as both a tribute to Woody
and a behind-the-scenes look at the powerful
recording sessions.
Meanwhile, Mule continued its relentless
touring schedule, welcoming a
range of guest bassists on the road. Oteil
Burbridge (Allman Brothers
Band), Dave Schools (Widespread Panic),
George Porter Jr. (The Meters) ,
Greg Rzab (Jimmy Page, Buddy Guy), as
well as Jason Newsted and the
talented Andy Hess (The Black Crowes,
Joan Osborne, John Scofield), all
played several dates with the band over
the last two years. The fan base
grew exponentially during this period,
as diehards traded live recordings
of the group and discussed musical minutia
on the "E-MULE" listserve. There
was so much support for the band that
its anthem "Soulshine" was voted Song
of the Year at the 2002 Jammys.
Gov¹t Mule's funk number, "Sco-Mule,"
which features guitarist John
Scofield, was nominated for a Grammy Award
in early 2003. Haynes of course
is no stranger to the Grammy's, he has
accepted an award with the Allman
Brothers Band in 1995 for the live version
of "Jessica" (the band was also
nominated for three other Grammy's). Since
rejoining the ABB in 2001,
Warren has reinvigorated the group yet
again. Along with Gregg Allman,
Haynes wrote the material for the heralded
new album, Hittin' the Note,
which band members and critics alike are
calling the best release since
1972's epic Eat A Peach. Haynes co-produced
the album with Michael Barbiero
(Guns & Roses, Blues Traveler).
The Mule formed in 1994 when Haynes and
bassist Allen Woody were touring as
members of the Allman Brothers Band and
wanted another creative outlet.
After joining forces with Abts, the trio
immediately noticed an intense
chemistry and began touring relentlessly.
Haynes estimates that the band
played upwards of seven hundred shows
in just a few years. "We just bonded
completely," recalls Warren. "Musically
and personally we became an entity.
Gov't Mule did so many shows in such a
short period of time, at least six
or seven hundred. We shared hotel rooms,
tour buses, our whole world, our
whole life."
Gov't Mule will announce a new permanent
bassist in September and will move
into a new phase of its illustrious career.
The Deepest End concert in New
Orleans signified the end of the rotating
bass status for the band and
closure for the Deep End project that
celebrated Woody's life. But no one
had any idea it would be as historic and
legendary as it turned out.
"We were just on a mission at the Saenger,"
said Matt Abts. We got a killer
performance. We opened the show with "Bad
Little Doggie" and it just kicked
ass. I think some of the songs are definitive
versions. I thought "Lay of
the Sunflower" beat the record, totally.
The "Voodoo Chile" with Jack
Casady and Ivan Neville was killer."
"Matt had his work cut out for him," adds
Warren. "There were fourteen bass
players and each new bass player that
steps on stage, the drummer has to
readapt to a new chemistry, a new pocket
that's being created between the
bass player and the drummer. You're talking
about someone who is one of my
all time favorite drummers, so my expectation
level of Matt is really high
anyway. For him to go above and beyond
that was amazing. I don¹t know where
he gets the energy and the focus to do
that."
One source of inspiration is likely Haynes,
who is a rare breed. Very few
musicians in history have been so well-rounded
that they are guitar
virtuosos, powerful vocalists and gifted
songwriters. Similar to
predecessors such as Eric Clapton and
Jimi Hendrix, Warren is at the
forefront of today's musical trailblazers.
"People turn out for Warren because everyone
has absolute confidence that
if he is involved, the music is going
to be great," says Phish guitarist
Trey Anastasio, who has performed alongside
Warren on many occasions. "He
is the only player of our generation who
has his history completely
together; and it is clear the minute you
play with him. He is just the
sickest guitarist and the most together
guy you can share a stage with."
This fall, the group embark on its Rebirth
of The Mule Tour, which will
welcome special guests Chris Robinson
and New Earth Mud for a national tour
to support The Deepest End. Plans are
already underway for a three-night
New Year's run at The Beacon Theater in
New York City, December 29-31.