It’s hard to imagine a musician more affected by being asked to shelter in place than Warren Haynes. Not that such things have a competitive bent to them, but Haynes is well-known in the industry as not only one of the best guitar players alive today, but also as someone who likes to play anytime, anywhere and with anyone.
While a full-time member of the Allman Brothers Band for many years, he also fronted Gov’t Mule, released several solo projects, hosted the annual the Christmas Jam in Asheville and dropped in for guest spots with people like Grace Potter, the Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends, and Dave Matthews whenever asked.
He likes to play.
So, when things started reopening, he was ready, and then fate stepped in again and he fell while on vacation and broke his shoulder blade and had to cancel several shows this spring. He’s back and will perform Sunday night at Riverbend with Gov’t Mule.
“The music industry got hit really hard,” he said via telephone.
“We did about nine weeks and were lucky to do that after COVID, then I had surgery in April. The last two and a half years were so crazy and upside down, but I did a lot of songwriting and spent time with family. I also mostly did some video performance for some charities or virtual charities, but mostly I’ve been writing music.”
As a result, he decided to go into the studio with fellow Mule bandmates and record not one, but two records. The first, “Heavy Load Blues,” a collection of blues songs he loves and a couple of originals, was just released, and the second album of their more traditional jam tunes will come out next year sometime.
“I’ve been thinking about making a blues record for four, five years, and it was the whole lockdown that brought that forward,” he said.
He said the band would record all day in a big room with their normal gear and then retire to a smaller room in the evening and play the blues the rest of the night.
“I’m not sure I ever want to do that again, but it made sense at the time,” he said.
He said he’d made a list of almost 50 songs he wanted to consider recording, plus the new ones. He also re-envisioned “Make It Rain,” by Tom Waits. It’s a track by an artist not traditionally considered a blues guy, but Haynes said “That’s really a blues song. I knew I wanted to do something by Bobby Blue Bland and B.B. King, but Tom is one of my favorites.”
He said he chose the tracks for the album based on lyrical content and picked ones that were perhaps early influences of rock ‘n’ roll.
“There are so many sides of the blues, and they are all a little different,” he said.
Haynes, 62, said his older brother first turned him on to the blues when he was 13 via Howlin’ Wolf, though it didn’t take right away.
“I wasn’t getting it at first,” Haynes said with a laugh.
You can hear for yourself Sunday night whether he figured it out.
Riverbend co-talent booker Mike Dougher has been bringing acts to town for decades and counts Haynes as one of his favorites. He also said there might be a surprise for Haynes and the audience during the show.
“Gov’t Mule and Warren Haynes coming in completes a circle for me,” Dougher said via text. “I first had them at the SandBar, I believe in the fall of ’94. I couldn’t believe that much rock and soul could fit into our little building. Here I am, 26 years later, getting to watch one of the best Southern bands of a generation. We’re hoping to bring Duane Allman’s guitar down from Songbirds for Warren to play on Sunday, what a moment that will be.”
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Follow him on Twitter @BarryJC.