September 23, 2024 • 11 mins
Scott at iHeart talks to Warren Hayes ahead of his show at Salem Civic Center! Find more here: Win tickets here!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From My Heart Radio and on behalf of ninety six
three ROV The Rock of Virginia. I'm Scott Stevens. There
is a show coming up at the Salem Civic Center
that every rock fan, every classic rock lover should be
planning to go to. The Warren Haynes Band coming up
September twenty ninth at the Salem Civic Center. Warren is
(00:21):
coming in support of his new album Million Voices Whisper,
and it's his first solo album in almost a decade
as the former Alman Brothers guitarist and founder of Government Mule,
kind of changing up from his last more acoustic oriented
solo effort, and it's our honor right now to talk
to him about this album, about this tour, and welcome
(00:43):
him to the Salem Civic Center in advance. Warren, how
are you, buddy, great?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'm doing great, looking forward to the big show coming
up on the twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Ninth, Absolutely myself as well.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You guys are touring all over the country. We always
like to ask, knowing that interviews are recorded where you
are right now, if you don't mind.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I am home, oh good, for like about fifteen more
hours and then I get on a plane to Florida
in the morning.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh my goodness, Well, enjoy your time at home. I
know that that it's treasured, but I also know that
it's treasured time getting to perform in front of rock
and roll fans, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, And especially after all we've gone through the last
few years, I think musicians in general are glad to
be back doing what we love to do, and so
it's nice being back on the road.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It is, absolutely And I saw some of the interviews
that you actually did during COVID on YouTube, and that
was a strange time to be making music, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It really was. You know. The upside was that I
wrote a ton of music. I wrote more music than
I've written in a long time. But not being able
to travel and perform on stage was really frustrating, and
I think, as most people would agree, it just made
(02:06):
us all appreciate what we love to do and be
psyched to get back to it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, for the fans listening that want to try to reconnect,
tell us a little bit about your history and when
you joined the reformed Alman Brothers band in nineteen eighty nine,
that must have been an exciting time for you.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah. Somewhere around eighty six or eighty seven, I had
been playing with Dicky Betts, who was one of the
founding members of the Alma Brothers who recently passed away.
I was in Dickie's band for two or three years,
and then in nineteen eighty nine, unbeknownst to me, they
were looking to reform, and so they called me and
(02:46):
asked me if I would want to be in the band,
of which I obviously said overwhelming yes. But I thought
it was going to be for a reunion tour and
we were just going to do the one year and
then go back to what we were doing. But it
was very successful, and the original members were getting along
famously at that moment, and the music sounded great, so hey,
(03:11):
let's do it again next year. Let's do it again
next year. And then I wound up doing it for
twenty five years, which was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Absolutely, And in the meantime there was something going on
that was kind of a side project initially but then
became the main project in Government Mule.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah. Somewhere around ninety four, Alan Woody and myself, Alan
was the bass player in the All My Brothers at
that time, and myself and Alan Woody and Greg Almond
shared a tour bus, so the three of us were
always hanging together. And we were on the bus listening
to the Hendricks Experience or Cream or some trio from
(03:50):
that era, and Woody said, you know, nobody's doing that anymore,
that whole improv power trio thing. He's like you and
I could do that, and it's the right drummer. And
I said, yeah, Matt Apps, who was the drummer in
Dickey's band when I played in that band. And so
we scheduled a jam session that took place in la
(04:13):
where Matt was living, and it was beyond our expectations.
We thought, well, we should go make a record. It
was just something to do for the heck of it.
You know, we weren't thinking it was going to turn
into any major project, but it just kind of grew
from there. What we thought was going to be one
album and one tour turned into what will now be
(04:35):
thirty years coming up. This is our thirtieth anniversary, so
it's hard to believe that Government Mule has been doing
it for thirty years.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
It is amazing. And of course now the solo effort
tell us a little bit about this new album that
you just put out, Million Voices Whisper.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, this is my first solo record in over nine years,
and it's in some ways similar to the record that
I made Man in Motion, which kind of combines soul
music and blues together, but this record is a bit
different as well. We put a really great, interesting band
(05:15):
together to make this record, which is John Medeski on keyboards,
Kevin Scott, who's the new bass player in Government Mule
on bass, and Terence Higgins, who was in my band
over ten years ago, who is a fantastic drummer from
New Orleans. That's the core band. We've added Greg Osby
on saxophone, who is one of my favorite jazz artists.
(05:38):
He's in the band that's touring with us currently. On
the record, we brought in Derek Trucksford three songs. Lucas
Nelson and Jamie Johnson sang with me on one of
the tunes that Lucas and I wrote together, and there's
also a song that Jamie and I wrote together. The
(05:58):
songs we did with there trucks two of them he
and I wrote together, and the other one Greg Alman
had started writing and never finished, and I finished it
after he passed away, which kind of was the whole
catalyst for this reunion between me and Derek going back
into the studio together. I really wanted him on that song,
(06:22):
and once we were making plans for that, we thought, well,
let's get together and write some other songs and see
where it all goes. So that was great. We haven't
collaborated since since the Alma Brothers stopped performing, and it
was really great to get back into the studio together.
I'm very, very pleased with this record.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Absolutely. It sounds like it's a lot of magic. And
I've had the opportunity to hear the first single, This
Life as we Know It, and I'm actually gonna I'm
gonna play a little hook of that right now in
the interview so folks can hear it.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Great.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It does not that we survived. Keep me on this sad, stronger, Yeah,
stronger strong. I won't say it to the cloud saying something,
(07:21):
saying left. I won't make my feelings. No, I won't
keep on holding to this slide as we know it,
to this life as we know it, to this life
(07:42):
this we know.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
What an awesome song, and it's so powerful and positive.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Good job on that, thank you it is. It has
a very positive, uplifting message. Uh. And musically as well,
I feel like the whole record UH can to be
forward looking and if there's a theme, it's that, you know,
it's time to embrace what we love and look at
(08:09):
the future through a different lens. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, it's positive. It talks about change, but in a
positive way. But there is I have not heard it,
but I'm told about a more forceful call for change
in Day of Reckoning, kind of the almost the flip
side to the song we were just talking about.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, Day of Reckoning is dealing more with like a
modern day civil rights and people's freedoms and change that
is coming and that needs to come. And that's a
song that I wrote with Lucas and the three of
us are singing together, myself and Lucas Nelson and Jamie Johnson.
(08:48):
It's a very gospel feeling sort of song, and I
love the way our voices blend together. We had discovered
that harmony when we work together on the last Waltz
were a few years ago. So I always wanted to
get the three of us in the studio together to
capture that vocal blend together, and that song really really
(09:11):
turned out great as well.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, and it actually supplies the title. It's sort of
the title track for the album.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That's right. The chorus a million voices, whisper getting louder
when we sing. The title comes from that.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And of course we always when we talk about guests
on the album, were you name names? But for the
guitar lovers out there, we got to talk about the
guitars that you play on the album, and there's there's
more than one, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I mostly played my signature model list Paul and my
blonde Gibson Ees three thirty five. Those are the ones
that got the most play. I did. On one song,
I played this Jay Maskus signature model jazz Master that
he gave me when I played with him recently, and
I had never recorded with one of the guitars before,
(10:00):
but it was it was really fun and had a
great sound. I didn't bring nearly as many guitars to
this party as I did to the last couple of
Government Mule records, which we recorded during lockdown, so I
brought like tons of gear out of boredom, you know.
But making this record, I only played four or five
(10:21):
different guitars.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well, we're looking forward to hearing however many guitars you play.
I know you're looking forward to coming to the Salem
Civic Center on September twenty ninth. And folks, you can
get your tickets at the Salem Civic Center box office
or just go to ticketmaster dot com. But be careful
who you bum from. Those are the only two certified
sources right now. Okay, Salem Civic Center box office and
(10:43):
ticketmaster dot com. There's a lot of scams out there
in the world, and we don't want you to be
a part of any of them. And I also want
to mention that on our website rov rocks dot com.
Not only are we giving away tickets, there's going to
be a grand prize winner of a guitar player package. Man,
you got some You got a pick guard that you've
signed that you're given the winner, some guitar picks and
(11:05):
a lot of other great prizes.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, there's a lot of guitar players that come to
the show, so we figured it would be nice to
offer that and thank you guys for giving it away.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Hey, absolutely, I mean the Rock of Virginia is very
excited about Warren Haynes Band coming to Salem Civic Center
September twenty ninth. Thanks for the time talking. We look
forward to hearing you and meeting you.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
My pleasure. Thank you,
From My Heart Radio and on behalf of ninety six
three ROV The Rock of Virginia. I'm Scott Stevens. There
is a show coming up at the Salem Civic Center
that every rock fan, every classic rock lover should be
planning to go to. The Warren Haynes Band coming up
September twenty ninth at the Salem Civic Center. Warren is
(00:21):
coming in support of his new album Million Voices Whisper,
and it's his first solo album in almost a decade
as the former Alman Brothers guitarist and founder of Government Mule,
kind of changing up from his last more acoustic oriented
solo effort, and it's our honor right now to talk
to him about this album, about this tour, and welcome
(00:43):
him to the Salem Civic Center in advance. Warren, how
are you, buddy, great?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'm doing great, looking forward to the big show coming
up on the twenty.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Ninth, Absolutely myself as well.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You guys are touring all over the country. We always
like to ask, knowing that interviews are recorded where you
are right now, if you don't mind.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I am home, oh good, for like about fifteen more
hours and then I get on a plane to Florida
in the morning.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh my goodness, Well, enjoy your time at home. I
know that that it's treasured, but I also know that
it's treasured time getting to perform in front of rock
and roll fans, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, And especially after all we've gone through the last
few years, I think musicians in general are glad to
be back doing what we love to do, and so
it's nice being back on the road.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It is, absolutely And I saw some of the interviews
that you actually did during COVID on YouTube, and that
was a strange time to be making music, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It really was. You know. The upside was that I
wrote a ton of music. I wrote more music than
I've written in a long time. But not being able
to travel and perform on stage was really frustrating, and
I think, as most people would agree, it just made
(02:06):
us all appreciate what we love to do and be
psyched to get back to it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Well, for the fans listening that want to try to reconnect,
tell us a little bit about your history and when
you joined the reformed Alman Brothers band in nineteen eighty nine,
that must have been an exciting time for you.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah. Somewhere around eighty six or eighty seven, I had
been playing with Dicky Betts, who was one of the
founding members of the Alma Brothers who recently passed away.
I was in Dickie's band for two or three years,
and then in nineteen eighty nine, unbeknownst to me, they
were looking to reform, and so they called me and
(02:46):
asked me if I would want to be in the band,
of which I obviously said overwhelming yes. But I thought
it was going to be for a reunion tour and
we were just going to do the one year and
then go back to what we were doing. But it
was very successful, and the original members were getting along
famously at that moment, and the music sounded great, so hey,
(03:11):
let's do it again next year. Let's do it again
next year. And then I wound up doing it for
twenty five years, which was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Absolutely, And in the meantime there was something going on
that was kind of a side project initially but then
became the main project in Government Mule.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah. Somewhere around ninety four, Alan Woody and myself, Alan
was the bass player in the All My Brothers at
that time, and myself and Alan Woody and Greg Almond
shared a tour bus, so the three of us were
always hanging together. And we were on the bus listening
to the Hendricks Experience or Cream or some trio from
(03:50):
that era, and Woody said, you know, nobody's doing that anymore,
that whole improv power trio thing. He's like you and
I could do that, and it's the right drummer. And
I said, yeah, Matt Apps, who was the drummer in
Dickey's band when I played in that band. And so
we scheduled a jam session that took place in la
(04:13):
where Matt was living, and it was beyond our expectations.
We thought, well, we should go make a record. It
was just something to do for the heck of it.
You know, we weren't thinking it was going to turn
into any major project, but it just kind of grew
from there. What we thought was going to be one
album and one tour turned into what will now be
(04:35):
thirty years coming up. This is our thirtieth anniversary, so
it's hard to believe that Government Mule has been doing
it for thirty years.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
It is amazing. And of course now the solo effort
tell us a little bit about this new album that
you just put out, Million Voices Whisper.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, this is my first solo record in over nine years,
and it's in some ways similar to the record that
I made Man in Motion, which kind of combines soul
music and blues together, but this record is a bit
different as well. We put a really great, interesting band
(05:15):
together to make this record, which is John Medeski on keyboards,
Kevin Scott, who's the new bass player in Government Mule
on bass, and Terence Higgins, who was in my band
over ten years ago, who is a fantastic drummer from
New Orleans. That's the core band. We've added Greg Osby
on saxophone, who is one of my favorite jazz artists.
(05:38):
He's in the band that's touring with us currently. On
the record, we brought in Derek Trucksford three songs. Lucas
Nelson and Jamie Johnson sang with me on one of
the tunes that Lucas and I wrote together, and there's
also a song that Jamie and I wrote together. The
(05:58):
songs we did with there trucks two of them he
and I wrote together, and the other one Greg Alman
had started writing and never finished, and I finished it
after he passed away, which kind of was the whole
catalyst for this reunion between me and Derek going back
into the studio together. I really wanted him on that song,
(06:22):
and once we were making plans for that, we thought, well,
let's get together and write some other songs and see
where it all goes. So that was great. We haven't
collaborated since since the Alma Brothers stopped performing, and it
was really great to get back into the studio together.
I'm very, very pleased with this record.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Absolutely. It sounds like it's a lot of magic. And
I've had the opportunity to hear the first single, This
Life as we Know It, and I'm actually gonna I'm
gonna play a little hook of that right now in
the interview so folks can hear it.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Great.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It does not that we survived. Keep me on this sad, stronger, Yeah,
stronger strong. I won't say it to the cloud saying something,
(07:21):
saying left. I won't make my feelings. No, I won't
keep on holding to this slide as we know it,
to this life as we know it, to this life
(07:42):
this we know.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
What an awesome song, and it's so powerful and positive.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Good job on that, thank you it is. It has
a very positive, uplifting message. Uh. And musically as well,
I feel like the whole record UH can to be
forward looking and if there's a theme, it's that, you know,
it's time to embrace what we love and look at
(08:09):
the future through a different lens. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, it's positive. It talks about change, but in a
positive way. But there is I have not heard it,
but I'm told about a more forceful call for change
in Day of Reckoning, kind of the almost the flip
side to the song we were just talking about.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, Day of Reckoning is dealing more with like a
modern day civil rights and people's freedoms and change that
is coming and that needs to come. And that's a
song that I wrote with Lucas and the three of
us are singing together, myself and Lucas Nelson and Jamie Johnson.
(08:48):
It's a very gospel feeling sort of song, and I
love the way our voices blend together. We had discovered
that harmony when we work together on the last Waltz
were a few years ago. So I always wanted to
get the three of us in the studio together to
capture that vocal blend together, and that song really really
(09:11):
turned out great as well.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, and it actually supplies the title. It's sort of
the title track for the album.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That's right. The chorus a million voices, whisper getting louder
when we sing. The title comes from that.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And of course we always when we talk about guests
on the album, were you name names? But for the
guitar lovers out there, we got to talk about the
guitars that you play on the album, and there's there's
more than one, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I mostly played my signature model list Paul and my
blonde Gibson Ees three thirty five. Those are the ones
that got the most play. I did. On one song,
I played this Jay Maskus signature model jazz Master that
he gave me when I played with him recently, and
I had never recorded with one of the guitars before,
(10:00):
but it was it was really fun and had a
great sound. I didn't bring nearly as many guitars to
this party as I did to the last couple of
Government Mule records, which we recorded during lockdown, so I
brought like tons of gear out of boredom, you know.
But making this record, I only played four or five
(10:21):
different guitars.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well, we're looking forward to hearing however many guitars you play.
I know you're looking forward to coming to the Salem
Civic Center on September twenty ninth. And folks, you can
get your tickets at the Salem Civic Center box office
or just go to ticketmaster dot com. But be careful
who you bum from. Those are the only two certified
sources right now. Okay, Salem Civic Center box office and
(10:43):
ticketmaster dot com. There's a lot of scams out there
in the world, and we don't want you to be
a part of any of them. And I also want
to mention that on our website rov rocks dot com.
Not only are we giving away tickets, there's going to
be a grand prize winner of a guitar player package. Man,
you got some You got a pick guard that you've
signed that you're given the winner, some guitar picks and
(11:05):
a lot of other great prizes.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, there's a lot of guitar players that come to
the show, so we figured it would be nice to
offer that and thank you guys for giving it away.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Hey, absolutely, I mean the Rock of Virginia is very
excited about Warren Haynes Band coming to Salem Civic Center
September twenty ninth. Thanks for the time talking. We look
forward to hearing you and meeting you.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
My pleasure. Thank you,
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