Guitarist Warren Haynes has occupied a space at the intersection of cowboy and hippie his whole career.
After bandmate Dickey Betts recruited him to join the Allman Brothers in 1989, Haynes found himself playing with his childhood heroes — and kept playing with them for 21 years.
As a side project with a couple other members of the Allmans, Haynes later formed Southern jam band Gov’t Mule, which is performing at San Antonio’s Majestic Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 14 with Ziggy Marley.
Ahead of the show, Haynes spoke to the Current about his myriad influences and how they’ve featured throughout his career. Truth is, Haynes comes with bona fides. From Southern rock to jam bands to country, he’s played with some of the greats — including the Dead, Jack Bruce and Les Claypool. He even penned a song for Garth Brooks and — barely — survived touring with outlaw country wildman David Allan Coe.
This amalgamation of influences comes through in his psychedelic slide guitar playing and in the contrast between his languid drawl and hippie-length hair. Haynes picked up those eclectic tastes while growing up in the Southern hippie town of Asheville, North Carolina.
In fact, Haynes pays tribute to his hometown on his latest album, Dreams & Songs, where he revisits some of his most memorable tunes with backing from the Asheville Symphony Orchestra.
Because when you’ve spanned so many genres, why not throw in some classical as well?
The Allman Brothers were one of your influences from an early age, and you later played in the band that had that profound influence on you. What was that like?
Yeah, I was a big fan even before I started playing guitar. My oldest brother had the first Allman Brothers record when I was 9 years old, and I had already started to sing, and I really loved Gregg Allman’s voice and just the overall sound and feeling of the music. But then a couple of years later, I started playing guitar. And when the Live at Fillmore East album came out, every guitar player I know was studying that record. And I could never have imagined that, fast forward, I would wind up eventually in the Dickey Betts Band in the ’80s. And then in 1989, I joined the Allman Brothers and was a member for 25 years.
You were also deeply influenced by Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Mountain and Johnny Winters, and Howlin’ Wolf and other blues greats are also some of your influences. Where does your country side come from?
My dad listened to country music. My dad had a beautiful voice. He never pursued it professionally, but he would just sing around the house. And he could sing like Hank Williams. He loved Hank Williams and George Jones and Merle Haggard and Ralph Stanley and Bill Monroe. And then later on, he would ask me to make him tapes of, like, Elmore James and Muddy Waters and stuff that he heard me playing. But, yeah, I grew up in Asheville, which has a strong bluegrass thread running through it — and Appalachian music. So, I was hearing that stuff and had a lot of friends that were bluegrass musicians when I was growing up. But, you know, I went through all sorts of phases. My first love, musically speaking, was soul music. James Brown, the Four Tops and Temptations, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. But then when I started hearing Cream and Hendrix and Johnny Winter and Jeff Beck and stuff like that, that’s what really made me want to play guitar.
You mentioned Asheville, your hometown, which is a hippie town in the South. What was it like growing up there and having it be this hotbed of all these different influences?
Well, it was more underground at that time than it is now. You know, there were always a lot of great musicians there, especially guitar players, for whatever reason. But the past 20 years or so, it’s really blossomed and become more of a musical mecca. That scene always existed, but not nearly to the extent that it does now. And I’m really proud of what it’s become, because I think it represents all sorts of music, and that’s what I’ve always loved. I’ve always listened to as many different types of music as possible, and I think that is reflected in the music that I write and perform and record.
Even just your guitar playing style is very interesting because it’s slide, but it’s also kind of psychedelic. And then, of course, Gov’t Mule is a Southern rock jam band. You also have dub and reggae and jazz influences that you have spoken about. Why is it important to you to have a variety of influences?
I think just because I love all those different genres of music, so to only feature or utilize a few of them doesn’t really make sense to me. And I feel fortunate that I’ve been given the opportunity to express myself in a lot of different ways. I understand that that’s not necessarily the norm. It’s something I’m grateful for, because I think a lot of artists feel like they’re kind of trapped in a stereotype, and if they go too far outside of it, they’re gonna alienate their audience. But I’ve been lucky throughout my career to have kind of experimented in a lot of different directions and sort of built an audience that likes that and goes on the journey with me.
Well, here in San Antonio, as I’m sure you know, we love Doug Sahm. We love the intersection of cowboy and hippie.
Yeah.
Take me back to when you joined the Allman Brothers. They reunited and recruited you to join the band, and you played your biggest audience ever at Woodstock ’94. How did you feel in that moment?
It was sort of a gradual process because I joined the Dickey Betts Band in the ’80s when the Allman Brothers were broken up.
And I had three years of playing him — and playing with him in much smaller venues. And we made one record together in 1988, and then in ’89, they asked me to join the Allman Brothers. And it was just overwhelming. You know, it was such a major change in my life from the very beginning. It was fantastic. The rehearsals were amazing.
But then once we got on stage for the first time, it far surpassed rehearsals. It was like there was an extra gear that we didn’t shift into until we got on stage. And, you know, I had played a lot of those songs growing up in cover bands and bar bands and stuff, but not like that. I never experienced what it was like to play that music with those people. And at that time, it was just for a Reunion tour. Nobody knew it was gonna keep going, and I wound up being there for 25 years.
And Woodstock was amazing. You know, 350,000 people, which was by far the most people I’ve ever played to. We had played a lot of big crowds at that point, but that was really something else. And a lot of great bands and artists on stage that I was able to at least listen to a few of them before we had to leave because we had another show that night and couldn’t stick around.
Oh, wow. So baptism by fire.
Yeah.
It sounds like you were already kind of sharpened by playing with Dickey Betts. Like, “Oh, dang, I have to play louder. I have to do more.” Playing with Dickey sounds like it was a master class for you.
It absolutely was. You know, I had never been in a situation before where I was playing on stage next to someone that I grew up listening to and learning from, and he sounded like Dickey Betts every moment of every song. He had his own musical personality that came through constantly. And one of the first things that dawned on me was, I have to step up my game if I’m going to be in this situation. I have to be able to sound like myself. And, of course, I was very young at the time, so it was a wonderful learning lesson.
How old were you?
I think I was 26 when I started playing with Dickey.
And after Alan Woody’s passing, I know you worked with a revolving door of musicians on tour to support the Deep End Sessions, including Les Claypool, Victor Wooten, George Porter Jr. of the Meters, members of the Black Crowes and others. So I want to know, what was that like? And who are some of your favorite musicians that you’ve worked with over the years?
Well, the Deep End sessions were amazing in a very bittersweet sort of way, because we had just lost Alan Woody, and we weren’t sure we even wanted to continue. And we came up with the idea that since we were supposed to make another record, that maybe the best thing to do was to invite all his heroes and favorite bass players to come and join us each for one song. And so while we’re mourning our partner and founding member every day, we’re walking into the studio and recording with someone that he grew up learning from. That’s standing where he used to stand. And it was cathartic in so many ways. You know, it was a learning experience being in the studio with all these amazing musicians, but it was also forcing me to write songs that kind of utilized and encompassed their styles, but still felt like and sounded like Gov’t Mule. So that was a challenge. It pushed me at a time when I really needed to be pushed. But people like Jack Bruce from Cream and Chris Squire from Yes and Roger Glover from Deep Purple. Jack Bruce is no longer with us. You know, Chris Squire is no longer with us. Gregg Allman was part of those sessions. Bernie Worrell from Parliament/Funkadelic, who was recording with us along with Bootsy Collins. Bernie was a dear friend, and he’s no longer with us. It was just such an amazing time to look back on, but at the time, we were going through such an emotional whirlwind that we weren’t fully able to appreciate except in the recording process.
You famously wrote “Soul Shine” when you were stuck in traffic and you had to hum it all the way home to remember it. How do songs normally come to you? Does they normally come as a melody first or lyrics?
You know, it depends. A lot of the uptempo songs start with like a guitar riff or some sort of musical hook. The midtempo stuff, and especially the ballads usually come from like a lyrical idea. It just varies. You know, Gregg Allman used to say, there’s as many ways to write a song as there are songs. And what he meant by that was that it’s different every time. You know, you never know where the influence is going to come from. One thing we all learned as songwriters is that it’s not always going to come at a convenient time. And so, in the case you mentioned, “Soul Shine,” that I wrote while I was driving and stuck in traffic, there have been times that I got an idea and I had to write it down on the back of some, like, paper bag or something. And, you know, I learned early on, if you’re lying in bed and you get an idea for a song, you better get up and deal with it, because you don’t want to forget it. It might be gone the next day, you know. Now we have cell phones, so you can sing something into your cell phone or play a guitar riff into your cell phone, or put lyrics in there or whatever the case and not take a chance on not remembering them. But I used to sleep with a notepad or a spiral notebook by my bed. So, I would always be prepared for that, you know.
You also wrote Garth Brooks’ hit “Two of a Kind, Workin’ on a Full House.” I’m curious, what do you think of the state of country music today?
Well, I love certain parts of it. You know, the stuff that’s a little less mainstream. Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson and Billy Strings and Jamey Johnson. Lukas Nelson. I don’t necessarily love a lot of the stuff that’s radio-driven. I like the fact that they’re borrowing from rock ‘n’ roll music and Southern rock and a lot of bands that I grew up listening to. But I think, lyrically, some of it’s really cheesy. But, you know, I’ve been a fan of certain aspects of country music all my life, and I think there’s a lot of great stuff out there currently. Just some of the mainstream stuff I don’t care for.
And what about rock ‘n’ roll? Who are some newer artists that you like?
You know, I think Marcus King’s doing some great stuff. I think Christone “Kingfish” [Ingram] is more coming from a blues direction. I think what he’s doing is really cool. You know, there are bands like Greta Van Fleet and Jack White that are doing fresh new music, but it’s obviously influenced by the golden era, which I love. Anytime someone can keep the music going forward but also honor the past, I think that’s a healthy thing.
Early in your career, you were a guitarist for David Allan Coe. How do you remember him?
I was really young when I took that gig, and at the time, knew nothing about him or his music or his lifestyle. It was like being thrown into the fire. A lot of life lessons really quick. He was a very controversial character, you know, a great songwriter in his own right. But it was not for the faint of heart.
What’s your craziest David Allan Coe story?
Oh, God, I couldn’t begin. There were so many. If I ever write a book, there’ll be room for a lot of them.
Do you recall him saying anything crazy around you or doing anything crazy, off the top of your head?
Well, I had been in the band less than a month before someone pulled an automatic weapon on us. So we were off to a great start at that point.
Who pulled it on him?
A club owner pulled it on him. And I was standing about three feet away.
Oh, wow. Do you recall what the reason was?
Yeah, there was a dispute between the two of them regarding the show. We were just starting to set up for the show, which we wound up leaving and not playing.
How do you grapple with his complicated legacy. Or do you think he’s misunderstood?
I just kind of, you know, steered clear of the controversy to the best of my ability. I remember someone asked Willie Nelson one time when Coe was going to play at the 4th of July picnic, and somebody asked Willie, “How do you plan on controlling David Allen Coe?” And Willie had the perfect response. He said, “Why would I want to control David Allen Coe?”
Texas politics is a mess. We make it a readable mess.
Sign up for San Antonio Current’s new “Texas Politics This Week” newsletter.
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
