Warren Haynes may be the coolest guy in rock. He’s not just a virtuoso guitarist, soulful singer and songwriter, but gets to play all the music he grew up loving, and often with the very artists who first produced it. When you add that Warren has a depth and breadth of knowledge that gives him deep insights into rock music and its roots, and then hear how articulately he speaks on the subject, you just want to hang out with him for awhile – a few years, maybe a decade would be nice. Lacking that opportunity, there are quite a few good published interviews with Warren that are worth the time. Here’s one. And, of course, we can always survey the diverse musical landscape of his career. Better yet, catch a live performance or three – no two are alike, and you never know what you’re going to get, except greatness.

Warren was born in Asheville, NC, on April 6, 1960. Soul singers were his pre-rock musical influences. He first picked up a guitar when his older brother got an acoustic when Warren was 11. Dad noticed Warren played it more than his brother, and bought Warren an electric rig for his 12th birthday. Like many great guitarist we’ve featured in TIMH, Warren is self-taught, learning by listening to records and painstakingly reproducing the sounds. He was into Eric Clapton’s Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Winter. Like any good student of music, he dove back into the artists that influenced those idols, and discovered the blues canon. Then he fell in love with the Allman Brothers Band, with twin guitarist gods Duane Allman and Dickey Betts.

Dickey Betts – Warren Haynes – Allen Woody

In 1980, 20 year-old Warren hit the road running, playing guitar for country outlaw David Allan Coe’s touring band. Somewhere in that 4-year long journey, Coe introduced him to his heroes the Allman Bros. Band, and he had a chance to sit and jam and jaw with Dickey Betts and Guy Clarke. After leaving Coe, Warren played with the Nighthawks, and did session work. Then, in 1987, Dickey called him to join his new band. When ABB unexpectedly decided to reunite in 1989, Dickey took Warren along with him. Warren played the Duane Allman slide guitar role opposite Dickey until 1997, when he and ABB bassist Allen Woody left to devote their full energies to Gov’t Mule, a side band they started three years earlier with drummer Matt Abts. Allen Woody died suddenly in 2000, and ABB invited Warren back to play along side guitar phenom Derek Trucks. Warren and Trucks remained a formidable duo in the ABB until they both left at the end of 2014.

Warren Haynes – Derek Trucks

ABB’s schedule was such that Warren and Gov’t Mule survived and thrived, expanding from the original trio to a quartet (often with a featured artist). They became famous for their holiday jams at Halloween, X-mas, New Years, the summertime Mountain Jam and the Island Exodus in Jamaica in January. You might show up and hear them play Who’s Next, or Dark Side of the Moon, or sets covering the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin or AC/DC.

Warren has also released 3 solo albums, was featured on a Dave Matthews Band tour, and since Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995, has been asked to play lead guitar in concerts by The Dead, and Phil Lesh & Friends.

Here are the schedules for up-coming Gov’t Mule and Warren Haynes solo and Grateful Dead shows.

Happy Birthday to Warren Haynes!