He started playing guitar in his early teens, having been raised on a diet of classic soul music. “I started singing when I was about seven,” Haynes recalls. “That was due to listening to soul music, like Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding and James Brown. And then I discovered rock ’n’ roll, and that’s when I picked up a guitar.”
Haynes’ earliest influences were the legendary players of the 1970s – notably, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. “I think hearing Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was really important for me,” he admits. “Both of those bands are outlandish stylistically – as a young kid it’s easy to tap into that.” Gradually Haynes began to explore and develop his own style, adopting the cues he’d received from that initial exposure. “Everyone starts out copying their favourite musicians, and replicating their solos,” Haynes says. “But you eventually reach a point when it’s important to develop your own style. It’s a transitional thing – it doesn’t come easy.”
In 1980 Haynes joined the David Allen Coe Band as a guitarist, making a number of records with that band before moving to Nashville to pursue a career as a session musician. It was through his tenure in the David Allen Coe Band that Haynes met Gregg Allman and Dicky Betts from the Allman Brothers Band. At the time the Allman Brothers band was in an indefinite hiatus, with Gregg Allman in particular grappling with his own chemical and personal demons. Already a fan of the Allman Brothers, Haynes had no idea he’d eventually find himself drafted into the reconstituted Allman Brothers. “In about 1986 Dicky Betts gave me a call and asked me to be a backing musician on his record. I got to know Gregg and Dicky through that. Shortly after Dicky Betts called me and said he’d decided to scrap that record because it was too country, and he wanted to do a more rock ’n’ roll record. So I ended up playing on Dicky Betts 1988 record,” Haynes says.
With Betts and Allman now favourable inclined toward a Allman Brothers reformation, Haynes was an obvious choice to join on guitar. “I’d already written the title track to Gregg Allman’s album, and I’d written three songs on Dicky Betts’ record,” Haynes explains. “So when the Allman Brothers got back together in the late 1980s, they asked me to be part of it.” Haynes’ affection for the Allman Brothers’ music – not to mention his own proven guitar prowess – confirmed his suitability for the role. “I was already a big Allman Brothers fan,” Haynes says. “I was a big fan of Gregg’s voice and Duane and Dicky Betts’ guitar before joining. Whoever was picked for that role had to be a fan of the Allman Brothers.”
Having already spent three years playing with Betts, Haynes had found his niche; once in The Allman Brothers, Haynes walked the line between replicating Duane Allman’s classic style and showcasing his own approach. “It was always up to me to decide how much of my style to inject, and how much of Duane Allman’s style,” he figures.
Beyond his tenure in The Allman Brothers, Haynes also found time to team up with former Grateful Dead member Phil Lesh, including in The ‘Dead. “I’d worked with Phil in the late 1990s, and that led Phil to ask me to join The ‘Dead in 2004 and 2009” Haynes says. “It was a real honour to be in that band.”
By this time Haynes had also established his annual Christmas Jam charity event in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. Now into its 22nd year, the Christmas Jam has become so successful that crowds are occasionally turned away. “It started as an opportunity in my home town for local musicians to hang out and play at the only time we were back in town,” Haynes says. “Each year it got bigger and bigger, and we now have to turn people away. We get an amazing line-up of musicians, and we’ve raised a lot of money for charity.” So impressed has the town of Asheville been with Haynes’ fundraising abilities that it’s even decided to name a street after him in a housing area built with money raised by the Christmas Jam.
This week Haynes returns to Australia for the first time since Gov’t Mule toured in 2000. Shortly after that tour Allen Woody (who had also played bass with The Allman Brothers Band) passed away; gor this upcoming tour, Haynes has put together a new eponymous band. In contrast to Gov’t Mule’s southern-blues rock, the Warren Haynes Band will be indulging Haynes’ love of soul. “The chemistry with this band different,” Haynes says. “Every night is different – we add different songs every night. And as far as jamming goes it’s a different experience as well.”
