Warren Haynes (born April 6, 1960) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a guitarist for David Allan Coe and the Dickey Betts Band. Haynes is also known for his associations with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, including touring with Phil Lesh and Friends and the Dead. In addition, Haynes founded and manages Evil Teen Records.
Haynes spent his formative years in Asheville, North Carolina, where he was born, and lived with his two older brothers and his father, Edward Haynes. He began playing guitar at age 11. His primary guitar is a Gibson Les Paul '58 Reissue electric guitar.
Haynes has referred to himself as a "Gibson man", often playing Gibson Firebird and Gibson ES-335 models as well as the Les Paul models. This was acknowledged by the American guitar maker Gibson which has included a limited edition Warren Haynes signature Les Paul in its product line; built according to Haynes' specifications and modeled on his '58 Les Paul.
Haynes is married to Stefani Scamardo, a DJ for Sirius Radio and the long-time manager of Gov't Mule. In 2011, they had their son, Hudson.
In a 2006 interview with Gibson.com's Backstage Pass, Haynes explains his early influences: "When I first started – chronologically speaking – Hendrix and Clapton and Johnny Winter were the first three people I got turned on to. That was the Cream era of Clapton. Then eventually, I heard the Allman Brothers and everybody else from that era that I stole something from (laughs). Of course, I would read interviews with all these people and find out who they listened to. And they all listened to B.B. King and Freddie King and Albert King and Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters and Elmore James, so I would go back and discover that stuff."
Warren Haynes joined David Allan Coe's touring and recording band in 1980 when he was 20 years old. He remained with Coe's band for four years.
Shortly after, Haynes got a gig with The Nighthawks, while continuing to play with local musicians and doing session guitar and vocal work. One notable achievement of this period is a song he co-wrote with Dennis Robbins and Bobby Boyd that would later be cut by country musician Garth Brooks, titled "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House", which was released on the album No Fences and remained the number 1 single on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for twenty weeks.
Dickey Betts Band and The Allman Brothers Band
Around 1987, Haynes got a call to perform backup vocals on a studio album by Dickey Betts, along with Dennis Robbins. Betts, who had concentrated on his solo career following the breakup of the Allman Brothers Band, decided to add Haynes to his band as his guitarist after the session. With Matt Abts on drums and Johnny Neel on keyboards, the now-formed Dickey Betts Band released the 1988 album Pattern Disruptive. In the same year, Haynes also co-wrote the title track for Gregg Allman's solo album Just Before the Bullets Fly.
In 1989, the Allman Brothers Band decided to reunite, and Betts recruited Haynes to join the band. Also joining were Neel on keyboards and Allen Woody on bass guitar. Haynes has since played on four well-received studio albums, including the gold certified Where It All Begins (1994). It was that same year when Haynes played to his largest audience ever with the Allman Brothers at Woodstock '94. Haynes and Woody left the group in March 1997 to focus solely on their side project Gov't Mule. Shortly after Woody's untimely death on August 26, 2000, Haynes began appearing with the Allman Brothers Band again alongside young guitar prodigy Derek Trucks. He returned to the band as a full-time member shortly thereafter.
On January 8, 2014, Haynes and Trucks jointly announced their respective plans to leave the ABB by the end of 2014, following the conclusion of the band's celebration of its 45th anniversary, with the band subsequently announcing that they would disband at the same time.
In 1994, Haynes formed Gov't Mule with Abts and Woody. Haynes and Woody initially split time between Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band, but after The Allman Brothers' last show of their 1997 run at New York's Beacon Theatre on March 26, 1997, both left the band to focus on Gov't Mule full-time. They released three albums and became known for their powerful live performances. Some of these performances have been released as official live albums (Live at Roseland Ballroom, Live... With a Little Help from Our Friends and Mulennium; the latter two capture consecutive New Year's Eve shows).
On August 26, 2000, Allen Woody died unexpectedly while the group were on tour. Following his death, a decision was made to finish the tour acoustically as the "Smile at Half-Mast" tour. Gov't Mule released two studio albums (The Deep End, Volume 1 and The Deep End, Volume 2) and a live album/DVD (The Deepest End, Live in Concert) featuring many of Woody's favorite bass players. In 2003, Andy Hess (bass) and Danny Louis (keyboards/backing vocals) were added as permanent members to the group. Late the following year, this lineup released their first studio effort, Deja Voodoo, which later included an EP of newly recorded material titled Mo Voodoo. After recording 2006's High & Mighty, Gov't Mule also released a dub EP titled Mighty High and a DVD titled Tale of 2 Cities that contained two full performances recorded in 2004 and 2006. The two shows on the DVD captured the first show of the Deja Voodoo Tour and the last show of the High & Mighty Tour, serving to encapsulate what was created over those two years. In 2008, Hess left Gov't Mule to pursue other projects and was replaced by relative unknown Jorgen Carlsson. By a Thread, the first studio album from Gov't Mule featuring Carlsson, was released in 2009 on Haynes' own label, Evil Teen Records.
In 2010, they went back to the vault and released Mulennium, a three-disc recording of a show from New Year's Eve 1999 in Atlanta. This was the first official recording released of the original trio since the death of Woody in 2000. It also featured an appearance by Little Milton, one of Haynes's guitar heroes from his youth.
Since the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Haynes has performed and toured with many of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead. In 1997, Haynes and Abts came onstage to jam with Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman in a small club. The performance was being filmed for Robert Mugge's film on Robert Johnson, Hellhound on My Trail. Then in 1999, Phil Lesh approached Haynes to play lead guitar and sing for his solo group Phil Lesh and Friends. He played regularly with Lesh for three years and has continued making occasional appearances in the ever evolving lineup of his "friends" in subsequent years. In 2004, when the Dead (remaining members of the Grateful Dead) were in need of a new guitarist, they called upon Haynes to come play lead and sing for that summer's "Wave That Flag Tour". His run with The Dead ended on a night where he came in with them, then performed a solo acoustic set, and then ended the night playing with the Allman Brothers Band and starting out on their next tour. He played lead guitar for the Dead again in late 2008 when they performed at a benefit at Penn State for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, later touring with them in the spring of 2009.
Solo artist and guest appearances
In 1993, Haynes released his first solo album, Tales of Ordinary Madness, which was produced by former Allman Brothers keyboardist Chuck Leavell. He toured briefly in support of the record with various musicians, including Danny Louis.
In 2003 and 2004, Haynes released two solo acoustic albums, The Lone EP, a collection of live performances and Live From Bonnaroo which documents his solo performance (part acoustic, part electric) at the 2003 Bonnaroo Music Festival. When not touring with one of his electric bands, Haynes will often take time out to do solo acoustic shows, which include a variety of well-known and rare covers along with his own material. In 2004, Warren Haynes performed five full-length solo acoustic shows, as well as opened 23 times for The Dead and once for The Allman Brothers Band.