Go Down Swinging
Warren Haynes. Shervin Lainez photo
For the better part of 40 years, guitarist Warren Haynes has been well-regarded as one of the hardest working musicians in rock ‘n’ roll. Though it’s been a decade since the acclaimed singer-songwriter has released a solo record, his “Million Voices Whisper” collection recently appeared to wide acclaim.
Between recording and touring with his rock juggernaut Gov’t Mule (which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2024) and a slew of other projects, including the “Soulshine” Hurricane Helene benefit concert last fall at Madison Square Garden (featuring Dave Matthews Band, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Mavis Staples Goose, Trey Anastasio, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, etc.), Haynes’ calendar is perpetually busy and full.
And for good reason: Warren Haynes simply lives to create and perform music. Ever since he first picked up a guitar in his native Asheville, North Carolina, and began plucking melodies either heard and captured from the radio or simply swirling around the vast sonic landscape of his mind, Haynes remains as hungry as ever.
At its core, “Million Voices Whisper” is a rock album; a slow burn of searing riffs from Haynes’ trusty Gibson Les Paul. It also contains thick threads of blues and soul elements, where the listener is surrounded by a cacophony of sound and scope amid appearances by Trucks, Lukas Nelson and Jamey Johnson—all captured through the lyrical lens of the eternal optimist that is Warren Haynes in a modern world seemingly gone mad.
Smoky Mountain Living: You love to create and you’re constantly involved in different projects. But, where did you find the time or the desire to put out a solo record amid all the other things you’re doing?
Warren Haynes: Well, after writing and recording two Gov’t Mule records side-by-side during the whole COVID lockdown, it started seeming obvious that the next project was probably going to be a solo record.
Even during that time period, I began writing songs in this direction that wound up on this new record, in addition to all the songs that I was writing that turned out to be Gov’t Mule songs. I’ve just been writing so much in the past five or six years that I’m dying to record as much of the new material as possible.
Two or three of the songs on this record go back to the COVID lockdown period, but most of them are newer than that, written in the past two or three years. But, once I get four or five that seem like they’re headed in the same direction, then it starts indicating that it’s time to make a solo record.
I really love the fullness of it. Obviously, Gov’t Mule has its own sound. But, this album has a real soulful richness to it, a lot of melodic layers. Was that the intent or how things evolved?
A little bit of both. I wanted it to be the follow up to “Man in Motion” (2011). But, initially, I was thinking of it more in kind of a Muscle Shoals sort of vibe, because three or four of the songs that I had written kind of had that feel.
But, as I continued to write with this project in mind, it was just very soul music influenced, combining that with my singer-songwriter influences, jazz and funk and all these other elements that creep in there.
I wanted to see what this band (drummer Terence Higgins, bassist Kevin Scott, keyboardist Matt Slocum and saxophonist Greg Osby) would sound like in the studio. This band had never played together as a unit prior to January [2024], when we went in and started learning and rehearsing these songs.
I had obviously played with everyone. But, it was the first time that the four of us had played together and it just instantly had its own sound, its own personality.
And I came into the studio with a lot of preconceived notions of where some of the songs were going to go. I wanted to present them to the band first and see what the interpretations were before I got locked in to anything, because a lot of the magic happens when you just get people on the floor together, kind of letting it grow from the ground up, you know? And that was a very exciting part of making this record.
You have a general idea of where you want to go up to the top of the mountain, but you don’t know which trail you’re going to take when you’re standing at the bottom.
Yeah, and you decide when you have to.
With the way things seem to be these days in the music industry, people just put out singles or EPs. But, you put out these beautiful LPs. What is it about putting out a full record that still means something to you?
You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the concept of releasing songs one at a time. I love the idea of a collection of songs that have a common threat and a common mission—that’s where I’m coming from.
And I’m sure that’ll always stay with me. I still toil over sequences that most people don’t care about these days. But, it’s important to me. Most of my favorite music was presented in a collection that had some sort of theme—the opening and the closing, what song follows what song.
I realize that most of the world doesn’t listen that way, But, in our world, there’s still a large percentage that do listen that way. And our fans like excess—we give them excess, we give ’em a lot.
Go Down Swinging
Want to go?
The Warren Haynes Band “Million Voices Whisper” tour will roll into the Southeast for a handful of dates, including February 7 at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee, February 8 at the Mars Theatre in Huntsville, Alabama, and April 5 at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina. Haynes will also appear with Gov’t Mule at FloydFest 25, which will take place July 23-27 in Floyd, Virginia. The gathering also features The Black Crowes, JJ Grey & Mofro, Mt. Joy, Futurebirds, Larkin Poe, Maggie Rose, The Travelin’ McCourys, and others. For more information, visit floydfest.com or warrenhaynes.net.