Photo by Dino Perrucci
It’s ironic that guitarist/singer/songwriter Warren Haynes lists the late James Brown as a life-long musical influence: Haynes himself is certainly a contender to wear Mr. Brown’s title of “The Hardest Working Man In Show Business.” If you’re reading this, that means you have some familiarity with the jamband world – and are therefore aware of Haynes’ many musical contributions over the years as both bandleader and supporting figure. The man is a relentless performer and the kind of humble genius who inspires others to serve the song.
Warren Haynes’ latest musical project Man In Motion was the result of a six-day recording session at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studio in Spicewood, TX. Surrounded by a group of killer players (Ruthie Foster, vocals; Ron Holloway, tenor sax; Raymond Weber, drums; George Porter, Jr. bass; and the twin keyboards of Ivan Neville and Ian McLagen), Haynes went back to where it all began for him: sweet soul music and R&B. With ten well-crafted songs left free to jam at will, Man In Motion may well be Haynes’ finest moment to date.
We had a chance to catch Warren on the phone in Boston, MA: he’d just checked into his hotel room and graciously shared all of his 15 minutes of peace before heading over to the Orpheum Theater for soundcheck.
As ol’ Willie Nelson himself says, “Still is still moving.”
BR: Warren, before we talk about the new album, I have a question that I think a lot of people would like to know the answer to: when do you sleep?
WH: (laughs) Every chance I get.
BR: Yeah, but you don’t get that many chances, man. Promise me you’ll take care of yourself, okay? We want you around for a long time.
WH: Well, thank you – me too. (laughs)
BR: It helps to be married to someone who’s as into what you’re doing and supportive as Stef, doesn’t it? [Note: Haynes is married to Stef Scarmardo, who’s voice is a familiar one to listeners of SiriusXM’s Jam On channel. Besides her DJ day job, Scarmardo works as Haynes’ manager.]
WH: Yeah, we make a good team.
BR: The two of you have always struck me as good buddies as much as you are husband and wife.
WH: Thanks – we are, you know?
BR: How long have you been together?
WH: We’ve been married for 14 years, but we’ve been together almost 22 years.
BR: Well, more power to you both – that’s cool. I guess the first thing I wanted to say about Man In Motion is, for all the different settings I’ve seen you play music in over the years, this album feels as natural as any of them.
WH: I appreciate you saying that; it definitely feels natural to me because that’s where I started out. I was listening to soul music before I ever heard rock & roll. In some ways, I’m going back to my earliest influences – I learned how to sing listening to those great soul singers. So, that’s going to come through to some extent in the context of any style of music I’m approaching, just because that’s how I learned.
BR: Along with your approach to singing, you’ve always adapted your guitar style to the setting you’re playing at that moment – but there’s some serious channeling of players like Freddie and Albert King on this album. How much pre-thought did you put into your parts and the manner in which you were going to approach your solos?
WH: Not much at all, really. We put a lot of work into getting good sounds which might have inspired me to play a certain way, but once we started rolling the tape, whatever I played was what I played. I don’t like to go back and overdub the solos; I like to play live on the track as the band’s recording.
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