To say Warren Haynes wears a lot of creative hats is truly an understatement. Not only was he recruited to play guitar alongside co-founding member Dickey Betts when the Allman Brothers Band reformed in 1989 right up through the band’s 2014 farewell show, but Haynes found enough time to form jam-band Gov’t Mule as a side project in 1994—a group he continues to lead to this day. In addition, he’s hit the road as a part of Phil Lesh and Friends, The Dead and The Last Waltz Tour.
Somehow, the North Carolina native has managed to carve out a solid solo career. After nearly a decade, Haynes pivoted from the group dynamic with last year’s Million Voices Whisper, his first solo effort since 2015’s Ashes & Dust. He’s since followed it up with a companion release, The Whisper Sessions, a nine-track collection of stripped-down selections from Million Voices Whisper. Credit the pandemic and a chance for the 65-year-old musician to spend some time contemplating life for these additions to his solo catalog.
“I usually only do a solo record when I feel like I’ve written a fresh batch of songs that doesn’t sound like Gov’t Mule songs but seem to work together and have some sort of intertwining connection,” Haynes said in a recent interview. “I was just writing so much music starting with the COVID-19 lockdown that carried forward. I have a lot of music that I was really excited about recording, so that’s what led to this [Million Voices Whisper] record.”
He added, “I think the common thread seems to be, from a lyrical standpoint, looking at things from a different lens, from a new vantage point, and doing a lot of reflecting—looking at the future and trying to approach life from a new light in a positive way in letting a lot of the baggage from the past go. Musically, I was just kind of exploring some new directions. I think the lyrical approaches on this record are fresh for me as well. I just felt like in a lot of ways, it’s a new chapter and I didn’t want to explore the same themes, subject matters and utilizations that I had explored in the past.”
Helping realize Haynes’ vision for Million Voices Whisper are an array of guests, including former Allman Brothers Band bandmate guitarist Derek Trucks, keyboardist John Medeski and Dirty Dozen Brass Band drummer Terence Higgins, along with Last Waltz Anniversary tour mates Lukas Nelson and Jamey Johnson. The album starts off strongly with opener “These Changes,” a soulful Haynes-Trucks co-write that channels Curtis Mayfield in sentiment and is quickly followed by the snappy Johnson co-write “Go Down Swinging,” a jam co-written by Johnson that gets its juice from crisp horn arrangements that would suit Van Morrison. Elsewhere, “This Life as We Know It” is chock full of inspiration and hope while shining the spotlight on the rock-solid vocal accompaniment of touring backup singer Saundra Williams.
A major highlight is “Real, Real Love,” an unfinished song penned by Gregg Allman that Haynes completed with the help of Trucks. The journey for his tune began with photocopied lyrics in Allman’s handwriting sent to Haynes by former Allmans manager Bert Holman, who asked the guitarist if he remembered working on it with the late Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. While Haynes recalled being shown the song by Allman, he didn’t remember seeing any music for it. After tweaking the lyrics, adding some of his own along with music, Haynes called Trucks to help finish it.
“I got very inspired, called Derek on the phone and told him I just finished this tune Gregg wrote a long time ago and I thought we should record it together,” Haynes said. “I wound up spending three days at Derek’s place in Georgia, just the two of us writing for three days. And then he came into the studio for two days and we got a lot of work done. It’s the only time I can remember trying to honor someone else’s songwriting and vocal style to this extent. The song was Gregg’s initial inspiration and I wanted to finalize it in as much of a way that he would as possible.”
Being a creature of the road, Haynes promises fans his concerts will feature a wide swath of material from his considerable canon, solo material and otherwise, whether he’s doing solo dates (he has 11 such shows scheduled for January, including his stop in Santa Cruz) or with his solo band.
“We do a lot of stuff from Million Voices Whisper,” he shared. “We do some songs from each of my solo records. We also do a handful of Gov’t Mule songs, a handful of Allman Brothers songs, a handful of choice covers. It’s different every night, but not to the extent that a Gov’t Mule show is different every night. We don’t have as large a repertoire to choose from, but we’re expanding that all the time. People that come out to multiple shows will get a different experience each time.”
Haynes is coming off of a busy and interesting 2025. Not only did he play a pair of dates at Madison Square Garden as part of The Brothers, consisting of friends and surviving members of the Allman Brother Band’s final lineup, but 2025 was also the 30th anniversary of Gov’t Mule’s self-titled debut. That album will be re-released with archival unreleased material and unreleased live material featuring the late bassist Allen Woody, a member of the original trio. Haynes also performed shows with Gov’t Mule and the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Plus, a remixed and remastered version of his first solo record, 1993’s Tales of Ordinary Madness, is also getting the reissue treatment in the new year.
But what Haynes might most be looking forward to is a live record he cut with his hometown Asheville Symphony Orchestra.
“I recorded it right before COVID-19 and we decided not to put it out during the pandemic because it’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime retrospective in the way that it’s all live versions of songs from my solo career, Gov’t Mule, The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead and all different things I’ve been associated with over the years,” he said.
“It took a lifetime to put it out, because we didn’t want it to get lost during the COVID-19 madness,” Haynes said. “It’s a really exciting record in the way that there is a lot of improvisation that gets incorporated with the symphony, which is not an easy thing to do. It’s something I worked at going back to the Garcia Symphonic Celebration (a show celebrating the music of the Grateful Dead). It was really important for me to figure out ways of doing that and we incorporated all those different ways into this recording. I’m really excited for it to come out.”
Warren Haynes plays at 8pm on Feb. 15 at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $49.50/$74.50 Gold Circle. riotheatre.com
