Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - Warren Haynes Returns!

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

The legendary Warren Haynes has returned to the podcast! We discuss his influences, his early years in Nashville, touring with David Allan Coe, his time with the Allman Brothers, songwriting, and more. This is a deep dive with some awesome stories. Check out Andy opening for Gov't Mule on Oct 25th and 26th in Newport, KY and Charlottesville, VA. 👉 Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday 📲 Follow Andy on Instagram: @andyfrasco The World Saving Podcast is part comedy podcast, part music podcast — with raw musician interviews, funny podcast clips, and highlights from Andy’s adventures on the road. Each week features musicians, comedians, athletes, or everyday legends. Watch this episode now on Volume.com & YouTube. We're psyched to partner up with Volume.com! Check out their roster of upcoming live events and on-demand shows to enrich that sweet life of yours. Call, leave a message, and tell us about your musical awakening: [phone] Check out our new album Growing Pains on all platforms 5/23/25!! Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For all things Frasco, go to: AndyFrasco.com

What was Nashville like back then? The reason that I went to Nashville, my first gig as a professional musician, was with David Allen Coe, who was like the fucking outlaw personify, you know. Holy shit. And his bass player recommended me for the gig, and I was 19 or 20. And I was young and cocky and said, well, you know, if I can play like myself, I might be interested.

But if you want me to play like somebody else, probably not. I fucking love you. 20 years old. dude this is why you're the goat 20 years old by the way it was like being in a band that was more like a biker game so it's real it's not a act huh i've been in the band less than three months before somebody pulled a gun on us what i'm tell us that story tell that story what happened fucking crazy i might have to tell it to you off camera actually it's more exciting about yeah tell me okay story redacted

Story redacted. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Annie Frasco. How's your heads? How's your minds? How's your soul? I don't have a soul. That's true.

He sold it. He sold it to do trivia every Monday. I sold it on eBay. It's 60 bucks. He sold it so he could ask people about what O.J. Simpson's doing now. Check out the new wrong trivia podcast on a YouTube channel. You are getting so good at it. I keep, you know.

Last one was fire that you were at. I was bang. I'm riffing. I'm out here riffing. I'm really good. I'm playing the room. I'm going to take it on the road, man. You're very good.

Evan was talking about maybe doing a live one. It serves with a live band. I love telling you shit. I hate you so much. I just fucking hate you so. No, I've just been pitching it out and they're finally listening about it. You know how long I've been asking to do this? No, but they are, I've been asking them.

It's okay. Make it about you. Yeah, Evan, Evan. Shout out to Evan. Jesus Christ. I didn't say it was this idea. Shout out to Evan. I swear to God, I'm going to murder you one day.

Oh, put a gun to my mouth. I'm just saying they're finally open to the idea, not they thought of it. You're so hot when you yell at me. Well, sometimes you need to be yelled at, so you fucking listen for once. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. We got Warren Haynes on the fucking episode. What are the fuck you fucking people say?

Is that what it is? Yeah, yeah. More of a new testament. It's Yom Kippur now. Yom Kippa. Yeah, we got Warren Haynes on the fucking show today. Yeah, he's the man. Dude, that was awesome interview.

I want to buy Gibson, Les Paul now. Just start shutting, man. No, I'm just kidding. He's got a great hair line, too. You know who he kind of looks like? Who? Jason Hunt a little bit. Did you see that, too?

That's a brilliant. Yeah, he looks like Jason Han. Holy shit. Jason Han actually, my bad. Jason Han. Both great guys. Warren Haynes drinks a little more water. Yeah, he looks a little.

He can tell us hair. You can tell he does facials. Yeah. Jason Hayden does do face. I'm just saying they come from the same composite, if you will. Yeah. Both great musicians, both great guys. True.

We've got to get Jason back on here sometime. We should. It's been a minute. He's a fun hang. Yeah, we should start getting more people that we had a while ago. He's never been on since I've been doing it. Really? Yeah.

Oh, we'll get him on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have Warren Haynes. Almond brother. Fucking legend. Government Mule. We are, I'm having them on the show because we're going on tour with them next week. Yeah.

I can't believe we're touring with government mule. He starts to see how that fan base reacts to our shows. I think they'll like you. Yeah. Yeah. They're white. Yeah, they'll like me either way. What?

It's pretty funny. Pretty funny. It's a big demographic, so it's good. Yeah. I'm excited. Any updates on you, Nick? Are you pregnant? I am pregnant.

I'm six-month pregnant. You look good for being six-month pregnant. It's a dinosaur. No, I'm just kidding. No, pretty much everything's the same. Just chugging along. Yeah. Are you happy that we're back?

You know, my tour's over, and now we're back on the grind. Great to have you back. Great to be back. It's great to have you back, Andy. Last week, I had so much fun with you. We were giggling after trivia. We stayed. We stayed and just, we did.

We did gossip. We were gossip, little girls. We were gossiping. Everyone was like, what the fuck? We were laughing. We were sitting at the bar like this. Everybody around us, like it was date night. And they were like, go away, Nick.

Shoot, bird. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to talk to Nick. We were hanging. Yeah, what a blast. That was fun. That was after trivia, right? Yeah, it was a good time.

And then you didn't want to hang out the next day Remember? Oh yeah, I know why Because I was We were bad We were bad boys You were badder than me You stayed an extra hour and a half

I stayed an extra hour and a half And I just got I was talking with Carly She's funny I don't really get to talk to Carly She's hilarious She's smart too Yeah

And I was hanging out with Anna You know I love Anna I love Anna Very high approval rating for Anna She's the best Anna is the best She dresses cool too She's just so cool

Barbara, that's who he's talking about, the Barbara drumist. Oh, she's just the coolest. I just like, I'm smitten every time I hang out there. She's a sweetheart. Yeah, she's the best. Yo, Warren Haynes. I went to a roo-roo with her. I don't even have to do an intro.

It's the goat. If you don't know who Warren Haynes is, stay and listen, you'll learn. Yeah, one of the best guitar players that's ever existed. And everyone, he mentors everyone. A good southern man. A little guy named Derek Trucks. Heard of him? Ever heard of him?

Ever heard of him? He's in Tedeschi Trucks, I think, right? He's the trucks part. So you're going to love this interview I want to just get to it We should just get to it So shout out to volume Do you think he ever is ever like

I'm playing with trucks And people think he's playing with little toy trucks You think Warren has a hog? Yeah for sure dude He's got out of hog He's so chill And whenever guys are that relaxed and confident Hogg

Yeah he's just like he I think people have hogs When they put their shoulders down If your shoulders are down You're kind of walking like this You have a hog There's a relaxation This is why I walk like this

There's a real yeah There's a relaxation to having a big hog I think I know, just so, it's probably just so freeing. Yeah, you know when they get there, it's going to be good. You know what I mean? Here we go, five minutes in. We're talking about Warren Haynes' penis. We didn't talk about hog at all the last episodes.

I think Derek Trucks has a hog. Dude. Of both a literal and figurative. Oh, my God, that thing is like a snake going through the Amazon. My God. You're probably right, though. He's in the bathtub. It's just like, it builds its own wave.

There's a gravitational pool. It's like a whirl. You don't even need the jets. It's just his hog just working so hard. Wow. We are adult, man. There we are, 37-year-old men talking about other men's hogs. I should have my mom listen sometime.

All right, guys, enjoy Warren Haynes, and we'll catch you next week. Oh, I have shows. Hold on. Hog. Hog. Who's next week after Warren Haynes? Hogs City. I think it's me and you or something. Yeah, I think it is.

Oh, no. Yeah, it's me and you. Just kissing. We're going to kiss. And it's, oh, we're going to have almost a Halloween special. You know what I just, you know, oh, Nick, I need to book your flight. I just talked with Todd. We're doing the holiday extravagance. I'm going this year? You're going this year. Hell yeah. Is he going to let me in his house? Yes.

Okay. I never tell if he likes me or not. But it's Thanksgiving time. Okay. I don't know. My family doesn't do Thanksgiving. Okay, perfect. You'll do Thanksgiving with my family. Yeah, yeah. You'll do thanksgiving with my family. Cool. And then if you want to bring Julie. She might be down to go to L.

Yeah, for a weekend Todd would love Julie They would love each other Oh my god She takes mushrooms right She would yeah Cool she has And like

Yeah all right cool And then It depends on the dog It's the Friday Yep After Thanksgiving We're gonna take mushrooms For a high dose

And do a three hour podcast That sounds amazing It's a lot of fun We buy We buy leftover And we just make Turkey sandwiches And we eat a shit ton of mushrooms

Turkey and mushroom I'm flying out I'm flying out to see Todd for his show That's before that, bro Yeah, this is next week I'm flying out to see Todd November 3rd

Or no, two weeks I want to see one of those shows Sometime When's he gonna come to Denver I'm doing the open I think he's got dates in Denver But he's really focused on this He's already sold out

Four shows That's what you do You sell out the New York one And everybody else wants a piece of Todd Yes, I can't wait to see Todd The most likable man on earth I talked to him yesterday yelled to me about my

About my speech about my your politics saying American speech why what was he mad about he said you're two in the middle when you're you know I'm like that's the point of social media

so people can debate I don't think you were that in the middle actually I don't think so either I think but I think that you were just I don't think you were talking about like that I don't it doesn't matter it doesn't matter no but you know Todd's very opinionating

he's really proud of me so he's also he's my mentor with like comedy and how to do social media so i think he was just trying to you know big you know i get where he's coming from like from one angle but i don't think that's the angle you're taking i think i wasn't you're just like relax and maybe one side needs to relax more than the other everyone needs to calm down yes nobody panic nobody panic i'm just the musician talking politics i mean but you weren't talking politics i wasn't i'm talking about human human nature you didn't say one everyone needs to

they don't need to equally calm down anyway enjoy warren haines this is a call to action you guys love this podcast this is your way to support us head over to volume.com slash andy frasco and support the podcast it's five bucks a month you're going to get extra podcast episodes extra nick episodes Monday morning motivations of the whole nine keep this podcast going because uh I love doing it and I want to just be part of this forever we just need your help so head over to volume dot com slash Andy frasco subscribe to our only frasco because without you, Nick will be on the street. And do you want Nick to be on the street?

No, I don't want him to move into my house either. Okay, so you either subscribe to this or Nick will be on the street. All right, bye. Wow. Round two with one of the greatest guitar players that's ever been existed. Warren Haynes, how you doing, buddy? Doing great. Thank you for the compliment.

How's it been, my man? You put out a new record. Are you excited about it? Yeah. I mean, it's been great. You know, the past, I guess, almost a year, because I released my first solo record in about 10 years this past November. And so we started touring around July or something of last year. And then we just released the companion piece to it called The Whisper Sessions.

and it's like stripped down versions of a lot of the same songs. A really interesting concept, and I'm really pleased with the way people are reacting to it. Were you nervous about how people were going to react towards it because it's different? You know, I guess to a certain extent, I mean, I'm kind of used to doing different things through the years and kind of, I think at least my audience and those to expect, the unexpected so you know uh it's it's nice when when people respond positively but i i feel

more like it's it's about making myself happy first you know yeah like what's a different when you make a mule record and a warren record well i think mule kind of has its own sound uh and so if there's a mule record on the horizon then i'm writing with that sound in mind. And then I think also the lyrical approach in Government Mule is kind of a unique thing. That's one of the ways that I separate the songs. I usually, if there's a project in the future, I'll write with that project in mind. But a lot of the songs get written in between times.

And I don't decide until later after the song is finished, which way it should go, if at all. a song might not belong in either camp you know but um it's it's fun deciding and i feel like there's always room on a government mule record for one or two songs that could have been on a solo record you know there's no steadfast rules you ever uh is there any been a time where you gave the song to the right the wrong group like ah fuck i should have kept that damn like god damn it well you know not really but you know it reminds me of going back to my first solo record which i did in 1992 that came out in 1993 tales of ordinary madness which chuck lavelle produced

and the uh the song soul shine was on the list of songs that we might do and there was about 25 songs and we had to narrow it down to 11 or something and we just decided not to include Sol Shine on that record. Maybe that was a good decision. Maybe it wasn't. It's hard to say. But it wound up being recorded by my friend Larry McCray, who did the first version of it. And then the Alma Brothers did it not too long after that. So that was just kind of a weird happenstance sort of thing. But that, you know, if we had made a different decision, Sol Shine would have been on my first record. And like, that would have been, damn, that would been fucking legendary if Solichite was on the first record. We only had a time machine. Maybe, maybe not. But it also, you know, it also goes to how you're going to produce that song

because that song is so intimate. Like, maybe Chuck wasn't the right producer for that song. Or maybe he was. You never know. And also, we had made the decision that it was going to be more of a rock record. And we felt like Sol Shine was a little too much R&B. for that record and that was kind of the decision-making process

yeah a different producer or a different approach might have changed it the demo that I did way back when was pretty similar to the way government mule does it now but an odd kind of

part of that story too is when I made the demo it almost became a reggae song we tried it reggae and really liked it and we tried it with more R&B approach and like that a little bit better. So we had to choose and the R&B won. So, you know, it could have been a reggae tune.

And then later on, Phil Lesh and friends used to do it reggae, which was fun. Next thing you know you're in the whalers. Next, yeah, it's like, I could hear, I could hear Warren do it. Job bless. Opening for slightly stupid or something. Hey, Warren, I had a question about guitar and guitar for, future generation do you think the guitar is dying uh i think it intermittently kind of goes away for a while and comes back i kind of feel like it's always going to come back and i think we're in a pretty good place

right now there's a lot of good guitar music out there it usually is is about the music or an artist or band that comes along and kind of brings it back um but people have been asking that question for decades you know i think going back to uh early 90s when people were saying rock and roll was dead and you know bands like the black crows came along and proved that it wasn't you know so yeah i think it's kind of a sign way people people get tired of whatever it is they're hearing and something fresh comes along and kind of changes their palette for a while but uh i kind of feel like guitars here you stay yeah do you any new bands you think that you like you dig or just guitar players or guitar players

well there's there's a bunch you know uh i don't stay as on top of it as i probably should that band robert john in the rec is cool oh sick uh i think that's what they're called they i dug them of course uh marcus king is making a lot of headway um but i think there are a lot of young kids that are hearing like Derek Trucks playing OpenE like this guy John Stachula that plays with

the Alam Betts band are kind of taking the cue from the Open E slide guitar thing and there are a lot of people breathe a new life into that these days this band

Dirty Honey that I heard recently it's kind of a rock band in the in the traditional sense of the word and and i think uh it's fun to see people kind of a generation that didn't grow up here in all this music that we heard right and they're discovering it for the first time and discovering bands that keep that music alive as well you know it's it's so odd because like we get these young kids at government mule shows uh occasionally and they're 14 and 15

and they're just now discovering government mule but they're also just now discovering Hendricks and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd you know so and Warren Haynes. And that music, it has the same effect on them that it had on us, you know? Do you remember your first memory of who played guitar was it then you're like, holy shit, I needed to do this.

The spark. My first three guitar heroes were Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendricks, and Johnny Winter. and that really inspired me to want to pick up guitar. Prior to then, I had mostly been listening to soul music, the Temptations and the Four Tops, and Wilson Pickett, notice Redding and Rita Franklin, Sam and Dave. And my older brothers were also listening to the Beatles

and a little bit to the Stones as well, but this is going way back. So everything I was listening to at that time, I was focusing on the singer and the songs themselves. I remember hearing B.B. King and the fact that he played guitar and sang was really interesting. But I fell in love with his voice before I even realized he was a guitar player. But I guess once I heard Cream and Hendricks and that stuff, it really shook me up. Yeah.

Any of them assholes? You know, sometimes they say don't meet your heroes. I've been lucky that way, you know, there have been a few people that I kind of purposefully didn't, uh, didn't meet or didn't push it, you know, but for the most part, I've been lucky that everyone has been pretty cool. You know, I'm lucky because most of the folks that I met, I met through being a member of the Alma Brothers. So there's that kind of built in respect factor that, that, makes it a little easier than I would, if I was just Joe Schmo. Yeah. I was amazed by I joined the Allman Brothers in 89. Obviously, I knew how much respect I had for that music, but I don't know if I knew how much the whole world looked at the Almond Brothers music

with such reverence and respect. And so every door imaginable opened at that point. What were the backstage and the after parties like in 1989 versus 2005. No camera phones. Well, yeah, right. And also versus, you know, the old days, because when we did the reunion tour in 1989, everybody was either sober or trying to get sober or something along those lines, you know, there was still still some struggling going on, but it wasn't a party vibe

backstage and of course fast forward I was in the band for 25 years it only got more and more familial or I guess less and less raucous you know but I can only imagine the band in the old days which is legendary for the backstage

just the lifestyle just being off the hook you know yeah the doctor's orders tour were you like like you're the doctor's orders store um you know because like was that ever in your DNA to party were you a partier it doesn't seem like you were really a partier i you know not not that much you know going way back uh you know i stopped drinking alcohol i think around age 24 or something like that and it wasn't because i needed to it was because i had a a stomach only

issue and I had to stop and it was it was because I went to Europe in 1983 and contracted some some bacteria that gave me these serious stomach issues and the doctor told me I had to stop drinking if I did and they said when you're when your stomach heals up you can start back and I just never started back I kind of enjoyed not drinking yeah seems like you always get fucked up when you're in Europe or Costa Rica or right broke shoulder blade yeah like what the hell what's going on and so i should stay home that's what you're trying to stop enjoying your life yeah stop enjoying don't take a break warren just keep working um i never thought of it that way but uh is it you know i've been looking you know i've had

i've traveled the world playing music and you know what a great opportunity uh you know i want to talk about that 89 years for a little bit more than we'll talk about present stuff was it a weird dynamic being a new guy in a band that's had so much ups and downs in the band and like were they listening to you as a you know no pun intended as a brother right or was it did they did they just approach you like the new guy could you like actually open up to them and like bond and talk about their addiction and talk about how they you could be a brother to helping them get through because you'd never really partied.

So, like, you'd be a great resource to kind of get them through to sobriety. Well, you know, when I was asked to join the Allmer Brothers, I had been in Dickie's band for two or three years at that point. So that kind of was an initiation period for me. I don't feel like I was just thrown into the situation. Right. And I also had written songs for both. camps i had been writing with dicky for uh his solo record at that point which i was part of

but i also had written a song that uh was the title track of gregg's most recent uh solo record at that time so they they brought me in as a songwriter in addition to a guitar player sly guitar player and singer they let me sing from the beginning as well which was amazing um but i think the fact that I was already working with Dickie kind of helped, at least helped me feel more comfortable. I don't know if it helped them. But we, you know, we had a lot of discussions. I wasn't involved in trying to keep anybody sober or anything that, you know, that was more of a individual personal thing. But there was a lot of, you know, just deep discussions and hanging in life, you know, especially in the early days, because I knew Dickey pretty well at that point.

I knew Greg a little, but we became closer and closer over the next few years. And Greg and I and Alan Woody shared a tour bus together. And that bus was having fun, listening to music and comedy and just enjoying life. you know so it was it was somewhere in between everybody being sober and everybody being fucked up yeah was there anyone in the band where there was um you know looking back in retrospect like there was like friendly competition or like kind of just like budding head competition to uh try to like either be accepted by one another or or who could write the better song was there any stuff like that well i think there was uh because it was the alma brothers

there was this feeling that the new guys had to be uh an equal part of the music right not necessarily the songwriting which i was lucky that they were including me in but contributing on a musical level bringing your personality to the table much more so than most bands that had been around for a long time the dynamic between the old musicians and the new guys it had to be a much more at least on stage much more of an equal musical kind of situation because that's what the Allman brothers was all about where most fans that would reunite and bring in new members it would be the original members in the front and the new members in the back and there would be this definite wall between the two but it wasn't like that in the almond brothers and once we made

the decision to go beyond the reunion tour uh it became more uh even more that way you know i was really thankful that that uh i was included in the songwriting process from the very beginning, but it was, you know, it was an open discussion pretty much all the time. You know, Greg had not been writing a ton at that time. So there was some effort made to kind of pull Greg back into the writing domain, so to speak, because he wasn't writing a lot. And once he and I became good enough friends, we started writing. together and I found it easy and natural and he and I really enjoyed writing together but it took a year or two you ever have any songs or you thought it's a great song and they just

said that's a piece of shit so sorry new guy sorry no you bring a song to the table to them you're like man I fucking love this is a great song and they're like nah this ain't it uh no I mean because most of them we were writing together oh but uh and once again I don't don't want to keep dwelling on soul shine, but the way Sol Shine came about as an Alma Brothers song was when we were making that record where it all begins, Tom Dowd, the legendary producer was producing it. And we had recorded every song that we rehearsed and had planned for the record. And we miraculously found ourselves ahead of schedule with extra studio time at the end and Tom Dowd came in and said hey guys uh you know we're ahead of schedule

anybody got these songs that uh we should record in addition to what we've done and Greg turned to me and said hey man let's let's do your song soul shine up until that point he had never mentioned it to me and I I knew that he liked a song but I never knew that he thought of it as an Allman brother's song oh my god and so that was a last minute thing. That's the last thing we recorded for that record. Damn. Oh, my. Then what the producers say, think of that song, like, holy shit, this is the tune.

Well, Tom loved it. And he was familiar with the song and was glad that that we chose it. But up until that moment, I really didn't know where everybody stood on it. As a songwriter, what song do you think is your opus? Oh, man, I don't know. That's a hard one. I mean, some of the ballads are the more personal kind of intimate ones. Songs like My Separate Reality and Towering Fool, Nothing Again, I Shall Return, because from a lyrical, from a songwriting standpoint, you can really pour your soul into the ballads.

of, you know, stuff like Thorzine Shuffle and Blind Man in the Dark. But that's a tough question for me to answer because, you know, most writers want to keep moving forward and not look back at what they did in the past.

And so I'm always looking for a method and a reason to kind of travel down a new path, you know? Are there any songs that you're like, God, have to play this fucking song again? Is there any song where you're like That you know the fans love it

But you just don't want to fucking play it anymore Right Well I mean Now we're talking about soul shine again I You know Part of our thing

You know part of our thing Is we don't do the same set list every night We'll go three or four nights Without repeating a song Lately we've been repeating soulshine a lot because people really want to hear it. I would probably prefer to play it less, but if we don't play it,

the new fans that are coming for the first time are going to get pissed off. Right. But we're lucky in the way that we don't do the same show. And so if there's a song I'm sick of, we'll just kind of not play it for a while. You know, but I've been lucky, I think, that I

there are not many songs that I've recorded that I wish I hadn't it's more about staying excited about it and sometimes that means reinventing it and playing it different yeah

are there any songs are just so hard for you to sing like it just brings you back to the moment you wrote it of mine yeah yeah I mean for the most part I can still do everything

from a vocal standpoint that I did 30 years ago there are a few things that there are a few notes that that are a little tough to hit trying to think of what about emotionally like the lyrically like brings you back into this moment

yeah yeah absolutely you know like there's a song on my solo record Ashes and Dust there's a song called Company Man that I wrote about my dad. And it's the most honest version of that song I could possibly deliver. I wanted every word to be the truth. And my dad passed during COVID.

And he was a great person and a really great role model for me. But he had a tough life. And the first four or five times I sang that song, I started crying. in the middle of singing it. So I knew I had to do it a bunch of times before we got into the studio because I didn't want to start crying in the middle of a take.

Now when I do it, you know, sometimes I get emotional, but I'm kind of past that part of it, you know? What about that song that makes you emotional? Like, give me some details of your father's life that makes you feel like that song is so heavy for you. Well, the song's called Company Man. And it's about him and his principles and his values and not caving into the pressure of doing something you know is not in your heart.

You know, my dad, my dad lost his job when he was in his 50s. and they told him if he relocated he could he could continue to work for the same company but he didn't want to relocate so he quit and started over and got a job in a factory and you know the whole concept of I never wanted to be a company man you know my dad was a really good singer

but he never pursued music and so I think one of the reasons that he supported me so much is that he knew how much I loved it and he, in the back of his mind, he probably would have loved to have tried to make some sort of something happen as a singer, but he never did. What does he taught you? That's actually, that's fucking beautiful.

It's like, what does he taught you about being a dad that you brought to your fatherhood? you know whenever anything comes up that i think is a bit too challenging and can i deal with this can i do it uh i just think about the way he would have dealt with it which was basically this is your job you fucking do it right yeah that's i mean so simple but it's so hard to achieve yeah man i mean you inspired me i mean i've done i'm on year 15 now doing 200 plus shows a year warren and i see you guys doing it And, like, you're the reason why we're fucking running.

I mean, Kevin Scott is one of my closest buddies. I love Kevin. He's fucking insane. Yeah, what's it like having a crazy guy in your band? Yeah, what's it like having a crazy person in your band? Hell yeah. He's also a badass baseballer we should have. I mean, he's amazing.

I mean, just, I love every personality is. Yeah, Kevin has brought his personality into government Mew and into my solo project. and it's such a beautiful welcome interjection of personality he's fantastic and we we love hanging together you know i think we're all a bit crazy and so uh we need company you think having kevin in the band is kind of like you joining almond brothers in 89 kind of give you a boost of uh you know spark it up a little bit yeah i mean uh from two different angles. I guess I think you're thinking about it from my perspective or from the band's perspective because he brings this energy and it's just inspiring. But also the other side of it being

that he told me that he was a big government mule fan. So when he became enamored with mule, I think he was still in high school. Wow. It's not quite as young as I. I was when I became a huge Alma Brothers fan, but I was such an Alma Brothers fan that I'm sure that has a lot to do with why I was the right person for the job. Yeah, no, totally. You know, it's like, he's a Southern guy too, right, Kevin? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's from Dothan, Alabama.

Oh, wow. No, I think about that, you know, I want to go back to this idea of company, man. Have you ever had a point in your life where you just said, it i don't want to play guitar anymore i don't want to sing anymore i want to change it up or was that never was that ever like you ever have a moment like that like some like existential crisis one no i'm i've never wanted to give up music uh i've i've had thoughts about changing my direction uh from a career standpoint and but let's go back to when i moved to nashville when i was 23 my my my idea was that I wanted to be a studio musician. I wanted to be a session guitar player.

Right. And, you know, obviously in a songwriter. But I grew up in Asheville, which was five hours away. So Nashville was the obvious choice. I didn't want to go to New York or L.A. at that time. That would eventually change. But after a few years of working really hard to become a session guitar player about the time that I was starting to make headway and get work and get some sort of reputation in town, I also realized that that's not what I wanted to do, that I wanted to either be in a band where I was the singer-songwriter or one of the singer-songwriter, or I wanted to be a solo artist, but I didn't want to do what the producer told me to do anymore. I didn't I didn't want to be a chameleon because to be a session musician, you kind of shed your own

personality. You kind of take on whatever personality is needed at that moment. And at that time in Nashville, you know, I was getting some decent work, but it was not fun. It was not inspiring. And so that drove me to the point of being like, I've got to do my own music. So before it was too late, I made that decision that. this is not for me company man you don't want to be a company man you don't want to be a company man that's why you felt so bad that your dad was a company man yeah you know because he did it to

raise kids and i i didn't have kids at the time yeah uh and that was obviously one of the reasons that i waited a long time to have uh to have a kid uh was because i didn't want to be the absentee dad you know my dad spent his whole life making sure that that his kids were okay and it kept him from being able to do anything for himself and so I knew that in the back of my mind that in order for me to achieve what I wanted to achieve if I did it having a family early on I would be the guy that's never there and I didn't want to do that yeah it's uh you know it's like the idea of like um you know i think about love you know are we ever going to love anything as much as we love our music and uh i'd like to ask you that like how what did how long did it take

until you found something that you'd love just as much as your songs and music well having a kid uh changes everything yeah because you for the first time you realize this whole thing with placing something above yourself and it just kind of happens automatically people tell you that's going to happen but you don't really believe it until it does you know um but if you work hard and try to make the right decisions and dust yourself off when you don't you can you can not have at all but you can have both worlds you know right have you ever been broke in your life like oh yeah later in your life later in my life no i i've had pretty lean years uh later in life but uh by choice when i i moved to nashville in the 80s uh we had we had six people living in a three

bedroom house and we were still like months behind on our rent holy shit you know um i mean broke broke yeah like so broke i couldn't afford gas to go home you know but uh you know when you're in your 20s that's that's something you can deal with yeah it's almost fun sometimes what what was national like back then yeah it was kind of fun i remember that what was natural like was with all those outlaw guys and those Hank william juniors and like what what was it like was just fucking drug filled or drug fueled or was it just like everyone was trying to compete like was it like a was there beef on the street on who could write the better song was it competitive like what what what was

Nashville like back then because I was starting to pop off yeah you know um the reason that I went to Nashville was because my first gig as a professional musician was with David Alan Coe who was like the fucking outlaw personify you know uh holy shit and and so and it was kind of weird the way that whole thing came about. I wasn't familiar with his music or his lifestyle and

his bass player recommended me for the gig and I was 19 or 20 and I said you know I'm not really interested in playing country music and he said that he wanted

to add a blues rock guitar player to his band to add an edge to the music and I was young and cocky and said, well, you know, if I can play like myself, I might be interested, but if you want me to play like somebody else, probably not. I fucking love you.

20 years old. This is why you're the goat, dude. 20 years old, by the way. But, you know, or stupid, you know, maybe. But I think he liked that, you know, he liked that part and said, you know, come on down.

But I kind of, I didn't know what I was getting into it was like it was like it was like being in a band that was more like a biker gang and that whole that whole atmosphere and lifestyle centered around

bikers and motorcycles and craziness that a little hippie mountain kid from Asheville was not prepared for it's all real that's real shit so it's real stuff like yeah it's not an act Yeah, I mean, you know, I had been in the band

Less than three months before somebody pulled a gun on us What I'm Tell us that story. Tell that story. What happened? Well, we were Fucking crazy I might have to tell it to you off camera Actually, it was more exciting about the story-redacted story redacted um was there uh it was it was a club i'll just make give you the cliff's notes version

we were playing a club in kentucky and we were uh late showing up and when we got there uh co decided that the stage was too small for us to set up on so he told the owner of the club we were going to set up in the floor and they got up they got into an argument him and about it and it wound up with them like getting in each other's faces and co said fuck it we're out we're not playing and we started to leave and a bunch of cats with guns kind of surrounded us and the owner of the club had a like an AR oh my god he's pointed at co and I'm like five five feet away thinking uh I guess I should have gone to college after all maybe I shouldn't wanted to play like myself

Hold on Are you scared? Maybe I shouldn't have been so coffee Yeah Were you scared? Yeah And so yeah And so the next gig was in Knoxville

And Co went on stage We're in a bulletproof vest It was a Damn You know That's the crazy shit That I got myself into

Without without knowing But Confidence is a hell of a drug Yeah What's that? Confidence is a hell of a drug Yeah Yeah, well, but

Coe knew that I was a big Allman Brothers fan, so he made a point of introducing me to Dickie Bitts and Greg Allman, which wound up establishing that relationship. So as crazy as that whole thing was, I owe him that. You're like, get me the fuck out of here. I do not want to hang out with guns. Please introduce me some hippies, please, God. I know they say never meet your heroes, but please introduce me to my heroes.

Gardenista might have a great story about this I went on a date She kind of was looking at me funny because I was kept on asking for Jameson on the Rocks at this really fancy restaurant So I saw Gardnista these guys are my sponsors I thought it'd be cool to like say hey I'll I'll grab Gardenista on ice and I did and She so do you want to be a dirt bag fucking drink Jameson but if you want to be sophisticated Go to Gardenista drink some on ice and tell them Frasco sent you any beef any guitar player beef has there anyone in the in the past that you just like you guys just never liked each other no not that not that i can think of um off the top of my head um you know i tend to get along with people in general pretty good and i and i find that that most serious musicians uh are pretty open-minded people you know uh usually

the biggest assholes also don't take their music in serious uh you know that's that's not a steadfast rule but that happens a lot and you always wonder why is this guy an asshole he he's not good enough to be a fucking asshole that's so true man that's so true dude it's always a me medium guys. It's always the medium guys who are trying to like fucking act bigger because they're hiding something. Right. It's called insecurity.

Yeah, because they're bluffing their way through. Yeah, exactly. That's why I'm a dick. You know, it's true actually, Nick. That's exactly true. Have you, how do you stay inspired to play to get better at guitar and get better at songwriting? Any things you could teach me?

I mean, I'm on my second 10,000 hours. you're probably on here what third fourth let's not date the guy too much here but it's about hours I'm kidding I'm kidding you know how do you keep sharpening the tools what I'm asking you or keep sharpening the blade well I'm lucky to be surrounded by so many great musicians

that's really inspiring and also I think if you compare yourself to the people that you absolutely think are the top of the heat and strive to get there, in your own mind, you're never going to get there. But it keeps you motivated and it keeps you reminded of how far you still have to go and why you do it in the first place and the difference between accepting mediocrity and striving for greatness.

You know, I think whenever I'm bummed out, I go listen to the stuff that I think is the greatest music of all times, and it'll put you in your place pretty quick. Yeah, I definitely get humbled by that, especially, like, nowadays where I'm, like, opening, like, I'm opening for you. And I'm like, that's very humbling. I'm like, what do I do? What do I do?

What the fuck? I'm like, you know, it's like a lot of this thing. Or like watching Kevin Scott play one of his jazz wrestling shows. Yeah, I see that. I'm like, oh my God. So it's, it's, I guess the question is like, what drives you, Warren? What makes you want to keep writing songs? Like what, what is it in it that you're searching for in songwriting that keeps you going to, you know? Well, this is weird to say, and it probably sounds cliche, but, and I've heard a lot of people say it, that the feeling that I haven't written my best song yet, you know, and I'm not saying that I have or haven't, but I have that feeling where I know there's a song in the hopefully not so distant future that I will feel in my heart is one of my best songs.

And I feel like the last government mule record and my last solo record had some of my best songs on them. And someone else may disagree. That's their prerogative. But I know how the songs make me feel when I write them. And we know as writers, we know when we wrote something that meets our own critique, you know. And I feel like somehow the whole COVID lockdown experience forced songwriters into this situation where you, to keep your sanity, you had to utilize that time to write as much music as possible. And for me, it worked because I was going nuts, not being able to tour or travel, perform on stage.

So I just sunk myself deep into this writing process. And then once we could be around each other and get in the studio, General made two records at the same time. And it carried us through until we could start playing again, which was just so fucking scary. to not know if the music business was changing in a permanent way. And especially if you're a live band. You know, you make your living on the road.

Absolutely. That's scary. And, you know, we've seen that change so much because when the whole free music thing started happening and bands and artists and songwriters were not getting, paid for their work like they used to, and sales went down, record sales, airplay, everything went down. The bands that were accustomed to hit records and album sales and radio play got hit the hardest.

Bands that were live bands that depended on touring kind of were already in that mode somewhat. So we just kind of continued doing what we did, whereas a lot of commercially successful bands found themselves having to tour way more than they had ever thought about. Right. And it would be a little scary. And then you go fast forward to the COVID thing and where is this all going to go. But now we're on the other side of it and every band is touring at the same time. Now it's cannibalism. Right.

Now it's fucked up. Yeah. I think it's the same. It's like everyone's stepping on my toes and everyone's raising the prices on tickets that how is this in a sustainable thing for the live music economy? That I hate. I hate the fact that a lot of music fans can't afford to go to the shows. It's crazy. You know, and I love that bands like Pearl Jam are trying to be so fan friendly and keep ticket prices down and always have affordable tickets of some sort. But, you know, when I was growing up, going to a concert, didn't really cost that much money. Even, you know, you could go see Len Zeppelin for $10. Right. not that I ever did

I never saw a leg up on but the fact now that people spend thousands of dollars on a concert experience is just crazy to me and it's it's definitely gotten out of hand and I agree with you

100% on that come see Warren Haynes in a baiting suit for $1,500 dollars you know you can either put a down payment on a house or go see government mule come see Andy Frasco drink shitty tequila for $1,500 you know

in Mexico Mexico in America American made Mexico yeah you know what no else I was thinking to I was wondering I was thinking about you when you during your Costa Rica trip

when you fucked up you fucked up your shoulder scapula yeah was that a scary moment was that the longs you ever couldn't play guitar like what what was going through your head day in three months i couldn't play for three months and once i was told that i didn't have to have surgery that it would actually heal on its own that i was able to kind of relax it a little bit but up

until that moment i was scared shitless you know i remember the story about less paul uh breaking his arm and having them set his arm in a position where he can play guitar oh my god i never heard that that always freaks me out you know uh and obviously with your shoulder blade it's it's a different thing but i've never gone three months without playing uh i've never had to cancel tours you know it's just a frightening time and to be on a family vacation having a wonderful fucking time and then the next moment uh everything goes crazy because of you know falling and breaking my fucking shoulder what what what what happened give me a play by play i just come from the pool and gotten a massage and i don't know if i if my the bottom of my feet were still oily or what but i fell and hit

and landed on a step oh my god uh and my shoulder blade hit as perfectly on the step as you could possibly hit. And I was in immense pain more than I've ever been in my life. And I knew at that moment that it was bad. And then I had to get in an ambulance and go about an hour to the closest hospital. Oh, my God. I didn't think about that. Oh, fuck all that, dude. A bumpy mountain road and I'm in the back of the ambulance. And they wouldn't give me morphine until they figured out if it was broken or not. And the first x-rayed, they couldn't see the break. And the doctor was great.

The hospital was great. Everything about that experience was really top-notch. But they said, okay, now we want to give you an MRI. And when they did, he saw the break. And he's like, okay, it's broken. You can have morphine. and at least for 20 minutes I felt okay again you know it starts wearing off but I'm never broken a bone I've never yeah me either never experienced that kind of pain before

this is the difference between why Americans are addicted to opiates versus other people because like every other country is like we're not giving you that shit yeah yeah we're not giving you that shit unless you are absolutely broken in America they're like we have a headache All right, here's morphine. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Sad. Damn, that must have been scary, man.

Did you think your career was over? It crossed my mind, yeah. And, you know, once I got back to the States and saw a doctor and he said, you're not going to have to have surgery and it's going to take about three months before you can play guitar, but you're going to be fine. Then I, you know, at that point, I, started to kind of relax a little bit but it was it was scary and in the moment you know when it first happens it just it freaked me the fuck out especially in fucking costa rica you're not in

you're not like in america right you're in a different country and you're far away from any civilization you're not by the mayo clinic you know by the mayo clinic yeah um i want to talk before i let you go thanks for your time man i always love talking you're great you're always so awesome i can't wait to hang out with you for for a week it's going to be fun torn with you yeah yeah i'm looking forward to the show we're doing man it's going to be great yeah you know i want to talk about this uh new record uh whisper sessions what's the what's the philosophy on making an acoustic record versus making a live record what's your philosophy how to get the intimacy and how to get the you know the ups and downs of a record

even uh acoustically well this record came about in a weird way it was kind of like an afterthought after we did Million Voices Whisper I went into Power Station in New England to film some promo videos of me doing some of the songs

by myself and I wasn't thinking about releasing it as a commercial release at that time it was just a promo thing and we continued that process and went to a few different locations and I did a few songs with Derek Trucks and when I started listening back to them

I could, I was getting a sense of how those performances kind of would give the listeners some insight to where the songs came from before they turned into full band arrangements and productions. Yeah. and it was it was kind of I thought you know at least the hardcore fans would love this and then we started talking about it with our team and the management and the record company and everybody was like you know I think even beyond the hardcore fans there's something there what about putting out like a companion piece so uh all but two of the songs are from million voices whispers

there's three that I did with Derek but the ones that I did by myself you know I'm just accompanying the vocal I'm not really doing anything fancy on the guitar and it's you know singer-songwriter mode and I love going there I don't get an opportunity to do it that much and so when I do it I really enjoy it

you know it's another side of me and a kind of seeing things from angle that most people haven't seen or heard from me and it's it's interesting because the focus becomes on my voice and the songs themselves and not the guitar and then that changes for this like I said with the stuff that Derek and I did together we kind of back each other and you know it's just of all the releases that I've done this one is completely different. than anything I've done before. Yeah, that's great.

And also it's like, you know, what, how do you build intimacy when you have to strip down? Like, what's your philosophy on intimacy when you're super stripped down? Like, is it how you approach the vocals, how you approach the guitar tone? I love the way I'm allowed to sing in a different way when you're. there's no band. Yeah. You know, it's not something that I think about consciously. It just, I sing differently when I'm playing by myself

than I do when I'm singing with a band. And I'm sure everyone feels in the same way that has had that opportunity. It's like when I do solo performances, I don't have to worry about whether or not I remember the arrangement of the song. I don't have to worry about a set list. I don't have to worry about how I did it the last time I did it.

It doesn't matter because I'm by myself. I can make my way through it. Yeah. And I enjoy that, you know. But it does, it does calls me and allow me to sing differently, which is nice. You know, when I think about with Greg Allman, who I spent so much time with, when Greg played acoustic his voice was

completely different than he was when he was singing on top of the Alma Brothers and that's why the song Melissa has such a special place in my heart because I love that side of him, that acoustic side of him and the way he's sang stripped down like that

so Derek and I decided to do Melissa on this release and it's beautifully intimate yeah I love that version we were just listening to before we were I was thinking like what about like do you give a shit what traditional fans think of it like because it's not the version do they want it to be perfect or do you care what they have to say about it like how your heroes did it versus how you did the song you know how do you feel about no I mean a I mean I wouldn't want to cover anything especially for an release if it wasn't different from the original right right right right you're not a robot and yeah and and be if i like it uh i i have to assume that other people are going to like it too because i'm my own worst critic i think you know there's sometimes that i might find flaw in a performance

and other people go no there's nothing wrong with this it's great and i'm and i think well no i don't like this i don't like that so if it's if it makes it past me it's usually uh i think good enough for for people to to like it but you know you never know what even your hardcore fans are going to like and i can't really worry that much about that you know i think i've always said that we have to please ourselves first and if people know you're happy doing what you're doing then it makes them feel. What are you more critical about, your vocals or your guitar? Probably vocals because, you know,

if you're having a great night vocally, everything just flows. And if you're having a tough night, you can't make it happen. Right, right, right, right. I get so pissed off. Yeah, you know, it's a human thing. There's nothing you can do about it. Everybody has bad nights to the extent that some people cancel shows based on it. But I think that's the most vulnerable thing.

I think that's the thing I'm most critical of. But you never know. Some nights you might think my voice sounds like shit and then you walk on stage and everything's fine. Right. And vice versa. you know you might wake up and go well my voice is in great shape to do tonight and then you walk on stage and it's not working uh it's just it's unpredictable what about you know i always think too like i always think like in the mornings i think the venues help too like there's like you know

like the fillmore west or like these rooms that have so much enriched some ghosts and soul you know like you get that sometimes with rooms like what are your favorite rooms to play yeah absolutely I just played the film more recently for the first time in a long time. And you're reminded of the spirit that's in that room. All the great recordings that have been done there. And it also, you can hear it, you know, in the sound with the sound reverberating off the walls. You hear that sound and it's inspiring. I think a great room can definitely inspire you to.

perform your best and vice versa. Some room sound like shit and it's hard to have a great night. Well, Warren, you're the fucking man. I don't know what, I mean, I could talk to you forever. Like I want, when we get on tour together, let's have, let's have some coffee and let's just shoot the shit, man. I would love to just pick your brain and be your buddy because, you know, I talk to Kevin. But let's do it. Warren Haynes, thanks for being on the show.

Grab the whisper sessions. It is a Warren record. Not a government mural record. Solo album. It's a fucking solo record. It's like Tupac Shakur. Didn't have to... Didn't have to pay a drummer.

Didn't have to pay a drummer. It's him and Derek Trucks. One more question. And then I'll let you go. You've watched Derek grow so much. Have you seen a difference in his mentality in his later life versus his younger life? Or has he always been the same guy?

You mean, musically? personally. Let's go both. Both. Let's go both. Well, I've known Derek since he was 11. Yeah. It's crazy. At 11, he was already playing incredibly well.

I watched him year by year get better and better and better and better, which is an amazing feat in itself. Then when he had his own band and being

forced at a young age to be a band leader uh you can see how uh it caused him to look at the overall picture uh as opposed to just being a guitar player right and especially once they started to desky trucks band with such a big powerful band like that uh to be able to navigate that and to you know to be the person that everyone's looking to do to make the decisions on what needs to happen, that requires a whole different insight into the music that, you know, not everybody's cut out for being a band leader. And I think he's really good at it and he's an amazing musician. And we've been writing together recently and I really enjoy the stuff we're writing together together. I think he's just kind of continuing to grow, which is amazing, you know, this far down

the line. But hey, that's what we're here for. If we don't do that, it's not, it gets harder, the older you get, but it's, but it's what we have to do. Either that or you, you know, you don't want to rest on your laurels. You don't want to quit. You've got to keep pushing for new inspiration. right and he's a jacksonville jaguar fan that humbles you he is yeah oh yeah yeah god that team is hot garbage it's crazy it's crazy it's crazy to think that he's still getting better especially when you consider where he started it's like yeah like these yeah it's pretty crazy well he's got mentors like fucking warren true you're his you got he's got guys like you in his corner yeah what about the songwriting is he getting better at songwriting too it's fucking rad

well keep keep being a badass keep being everyone's mentor warren you're our mentor too i can't wait to hang out with you in a couple weeks um and uh you know tell everyone i say hello and i can't wait to hang out with you and kevin in a couple weeks yeah man looking forward to it uh enjoy enjoy yourself warren thanks for being on the show all right brother lay bud bye bye that was great yeah oh that was fun Warren fucking Hay Look at us Let's start crying