Photo by Dean Budnick

Tonight marks the opening show of the Allman Brothers Band’s annual Beacon Theatre run. A few days ago, following ABB rehearsal, Warren Haynes took some time for a wide-ranging conversation that initially focused on the group’s Beacon plans but also touched on the range of activities that occupied his time in February, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Ceremony with the Brothers, dates with Phil Lesh and Friends (including a webcast from Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads), a performance at the White House, the Hubert Sumlin memorial at the Apollo Theatre, a gig subbing for Levon Helm at one of his famed Rambles and even some studio work with Gov’t Mule. In this feature Haynes discusses all of these happenings as well as the Live at The Moody Theatre DVD with the Warren Haynes Band, which is set for an April 24 release.

To read a preview of the Beacon Theater shows (with some hints from Haynes on what the band has in store), click here for the piece on Jambands.com.

You had quite an extraordinary few weeks in February. You performed for the President, actually you performed with the President and then a few days later you appeared at the Apollo Theater for the Hubert Sumlin memorial benefit. This meant that you played with both Keith Richards and Mick Jagger over the course of a few days. Let’s start with the Red, White, and Blues event at the White House. How did that came about and what that was like?

We got a call one day saying that this was supposed to happen and would we be available? Absolutely. Which wound up for me – I don’t know what you know about my schedule that week – but I went from the Grammy thing which became ten days in L.A. – to being in San Francisco for rehearsals and that webcast with Phil. Then we did the four days in Denver with three shows. It would have been easier for me if I had just gone to D.C. for the next three days but I had a commitment in L.A. on the 20th. So I went to D.C. on the 19th for the rehearsal for the White House, back to L.A. to the 20th, and back to D.C. on the 21st. But I would never have turned down such a wonderful opportunity. I was extremely honored to be part of it and I thought it turned out great. I had to miss one day of rehearsal but I thought the whole experience was amazing.

Did you know the President was going to sing “Sweet Home Chicago” or did that come up spontaneously?

That was totally spontaneous. That was Buddy Guy. As the President was about to leave, he said “We heard you sing Al Green. You gotta sing with us.” And the President was going, “No, no, no” and Buddy’s going, “Come on, come on, you can do it!” He was genuinely not prepared to do it. It wasn’t planned. And he genuinely was saying, “No!” and Buddy was like, “Come on!” Then finally Mick Jagger gave him his mic and there was nothing he could do, so he had to sing. But that was totally impromptu.

*There’s a moment, before he does it where Michelle Obama rolls her eyes as if to say, “here we go again…” *

That’s right. That was all real.

There’s also a video of you performing by yourself in the White House. How did that come about and where exactly are you?

In one of the other rooms earlier in the day. They asked me if I would do something by myself and I said sure. So I chose “River’s Gonna Rise” because it’s kind of a political statement. And the way it all comes across is that the President is introducing me.

Did you have any interaction with the President in that setting?

In this case, it was just the show itself and everybody had their picture taken with him and all that stuff. But I’ve been very fortunate to have been there four or five times.

And Mick Jagger, that was the first time you performed with him, correct?

That was a first. That was the first time for me playing with Mick Jagger and with Jeff Beck. Then two nights later at the Apollo for the Hubert Sumlin tribute, I played again with Eric Clapton and Billy Gibbons as well as with Keith Richards for the first time. So I played with Mick and Keith in a three day period, both of whom I had never played with before.

Do you have a Keith Richards story from that Hubert Sumlin night?

Eric Clapton was working up the Howlin’ Wolf version of “Goin’ Down Slow.” The Wolf version has a recitation in the beginning and in the middle that was done by Willie Dixon, who wrote “Goin’ Down Slow.” Eric didn’t want to do the recitation and he wanted someone else to do it. Originally he had asked Willie Weeks to do it and they were kind of just joking around but I could tell Willie didn’t want to do it. Now Keith Richards was sitting by the piano just watching the whole rehearsal, he wasn’t playing at that particular moment. And you could see it leading up to, “Why doesn’t Keith do the spoken recitation?” So I saw it coming and then Eric said, “Keith, you do it,” and Keith’s like, “I don’t know it.” And he said, “It’s right there on the teleprompter.” So Keith got up and did the recitation in rehearsal and then it carried over to the show, which was absolutely perfect. It was exactly what needed to happen.
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I’ve seen the version of “Smokestack Lightning” from the finale where there are about 35 people on stage and you sing the first verse. Was there a rehearsal for that or was it a case where everybody just jumped in and followed along?

I think about half of us rehearsed it a little bit and the other half of people weren’t around when we rehearsed. Steve Jordan, who was the musical director said, “Do you want to sing the first verse?” He was delegating who would sing different verses and that kind of thing. Other than that it was very impromptu though because it’s a one chord song.

You mentioned the Grammys earlier. If you think back to the Lifetime Achievement Award, that whole reception, what moment jumps out at you from that experience?

It was so wonderful in the way that George Jones was being honored and he’s one of my heroes. Also the Memphis Horns who I love and I’ve worked with. And people like Rudy Van Gelder who recorded some of the greatest jazz records of all time. It was really great company, Glen Campbell, Diana Ross, and Gil Scott-Heron. So we were honored just to be part of that.

I don’t know if they were prepared for how many of us were going to speak and for how many people were going to be on the stage (laughs). It was just a great feeling to see all the family and all the extended family up there. I don’t know if any of us had really thought about the entire journey until we were standing there and it hits you in an overwhelming way.

Now, I can only speak for my 23 years in the band but for the original guys these amazing memories came flooding back. We probably could’ve sat around in a circle and heard stories for eight hours that people haven’t told in years. It was a wonderful feeling. I’m proud of the guys, the original members, for creating what they created and for getting acknowledged and I’m proud to be associated and of my involvement.

When you were describing your schedule, you mentioned that you were in LA for ten days. What else were you working on out there?

For five of those ten days Gov’t Mule was writing and doing pre-production for an upcoming new record.

People will be excited to hear that. What’s the status and when do you plan to continue working on that record?

As soon as we get everybody in one spot again we’ll continue doing what we just did which was writing, rehearsing, and even recording. Jorgen has a studio in L.A. We went into his studio and worked up songs from the ground floor since all of us were there. We actually put a few songs down on tape and we’ll continue that process the next time the four of us are all together. It was very productive and we’re all very happy with what we got.

In terms of the Mule, you have Mountain Jam and then a handful of dates announced, including some in Europe. Is it looking like there’s going to be a full-scale Gov’t Mule tour in the U.S. before the album is done? Or are you using your time with the band to write and record?

I would say we’re probably going to add more dates and maybe even play some of the new songs live. At this point we haven’t completely made up our mind as far as are we going to record first or tour first or both, but there’s going to be a lot of Mule this year.

In terms of your songwriting process, when you’re just by yourself these days writing songs, are you in the Gov’t Mule mode or do you just wait and see where a song might fit once it’s complete?

If there’s an upcoming Mule record that always makes it easier to get into Mule mode as far as songwriting is concerned. Otherwise, I’m just writing for the moment and I figure out after the fact where a song belongs – if it belongs in any of these camps and if so which one. But now I’m really thinking a lot about Mule because we’re working toward a new record. When I get an idea for a song I instantly start thinking, “Is this a Mule song and if so how can I make it more so?” In some cases I might sit down and think about music with Mule in mind. So I guess it depends on which project is on the horizon. But now that there is a Mule project on the horizon, that’s in the forefront of my mind.

Continuing on your February timeline, can you talk about those shows, with Phil and Sco out in Colorado. What was your take? Was there a night, a song, or a moment that stands out?

I thought all three shows were really good. I thought in some ways we got better every night but I thought all three shows were really good and all of them had great moments. I didn’t feel there was a weak night of the three. I felt really positively and I think all of us felt really strongly about what we did and that the chemistry really worked and that we’d all like to see that chemistry explored more in the future.

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You’re certainly more familiar with that catalog than Sco. How does that play out from your perspective?

He’s done stuff in the past with Phil but not a ton so he has to kind dig in and study the stuff in his own way. But he’s such an amazing musician that a) it’s not a problem and b) he’s going to add his own personality to it regardless, so it works out great. I think it’s kind of a nice wild card that he’s not thinking about, “Oh, in such and such a year Jerry played it this way.” He’s just thinking, “Oh, this is a cool song that I just checked out and this is what I feel.”

One final February performance I want to ask you about is the Ramble up in Woodstock where you stepped in for Levon Helm. That night you performed with Donald Fagen. How many times had that happened before?

I think we’ve played together three times prior to this past time.

I was stunned when I first learned he was singing “Shakedown Street” on that Dukes of September Rhythm Revue tour [Fagen later performed the song with the Allman Brothers Band at the 2011 Beacon Theater run]. Did he ever explain to you how that came about?

No, I just heard that he had been doing it with Levon’s band. So when he was coming to sit in with us, he and I communicated by email. I brought up, “Hey, what about ‘Shakedown Street’? I know you’ve been doing it with Levon.” He said, “Yeah, that would be cool.” Then he responded, “What about ‘Down Along the Cove’?’” a Bob Dylan song. Now the ironic thing is I don’t know whether he knew it or not but the Johnny Jenkins version of “Down Along the Cove” had Duane Allman playing side guitar. So it was a perfect suggestion. Then he came in and rehearsed in the afternoon with us and we went through both of the tunes and played them later that night. It was very cool.

Next month the Live at The Moody Theater DVD with the Warren Haynes Band will come out. Right now you have one gig announced for this year with the band. It sounds like you have a lot of things going on, but do you anticipate that the group will come back together for any other dates in 2012?

There’s been talk of doing another run which would be in addition to all the other Mule stuff that’s going on. I don’t want to be held to it but we’re hoping to do three more weeks this year or something like that.

I know that you have a lot of other recording projects on the horizon but do you think you might go into the studio with that band at some point?

I think that would be fun. We become very close as a unit and developed a band personality and we work together very well. It would be really fun to do that.

As for the DVD have you watched it at all?

Yeah, I had to give my insight on the mix and the editing and all the creative parts of it. So yeah, I watched it a few times.

In doing that and checking out the band from an altogether different perspective, was there anything that you learned about yourself or the group?

The band had grown a lot by the time we got to Austin, which is where we filmed it. We started playing together in April, so by November we were smoking. There’s an ironic thing that ties into this story. One of the covers we chose to do that night was [Steely Dan’s] “Pretzel Logic.” We played a really, really long show knowing that if some songs weren’t up to par we could always eliminate them but in the tradition that goes along with what we do, our audience doesn’t want you to eliminate anything. They want the whole show, warts and all, which is what we decided to give them. So there’s a 12-minute “Pretzel Logic,” which was really good, and I was talking to Donald Fagen about it and we decided to do “Pretzel Logic” at the Ramble the other night. So I was really honored that he and I sang it as a duet. We traded verses which was a big thrill for me.