Photo by Dino Perrucci
Warren Haynes has a new project on the horizon.
After wrapping up his Gov’t Mule’s annual New Year’s Eve dates at the Beacon Theatre, he’ll head over to Negril, Jamaica in mid-January for the sold-out 8th installment of the group’s Island Exodus (with Soulive, Nicki Bluhm, Marcus King and Ron Holloway and a bonus Warren solo set). Island Exodus runs from January 14-18 but Haynes will make a quick return to the U.S. because on Saturday, January 21, he’ll open a special series of dates with Don Was, John Medeski, Jamey Johnson, Ivan Neville and additional celebrated players.
The Last Waltz 40 Tour: A Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of The Last Waltz originated with a two-night, sold-out concert event which took place during Jazz Fest 2016 at New Orleans’ historic Saenger Theatre. Those shows, dubbed Last Waltz New Orleans: A Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of The Last Waltz, were so fun and successful that everyone is having another go at it. Haynes and producer/bassist Don Was will once again served as musical directors of the all-star ensemble which also includes Michael McDonald, Terence Higgins, Bob Margolin, Dave Malone, Mark Mullins, Medeski, Johnson and Neville along with the original horn arrangements of Allen Toussaint. After opening in Hollwood, Florida on January 21 (Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino) the tour will route up to the Northeast before dipping down to Washington D.C. for the closing night on February 4.
We recently spoke with Haynes about the tour, his frenzied schedule, upcoming Gov’t Mule album and his remarkable abilities as an unflappable multi-tasker.
How did this project come about? And how did you get involved?
I’ve done several of these tribute shows for Blackbird Presents. The first one was for Levon (Helm). Then I did one for Gregg Allman, followed by one I did one for Dr. John and one I did for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Don Was and I are friends, and I’ve become friends with Keith Wortman who is the producer of the shows. Don and I were friends prior, and then I discovered he was the musical director for a lot of these shows and we started talking about doing one together. So they called me in November of 2015 and asked me about doing “The Last Waltz” concert in New Orleans. I was intrigued about the idea, so the first thing we talked about was who the singers would be. And they turned out to be myself, Mike McDonald and Jamey Johnson. Everybody loved the idea. So then we started talking about who the band might be and it all came together very quickly. We invited a lot of guests, some of whom were New Orleans staples. The whole thing was supposed to be a one off show, and then everybody started saying we ought to take this on the road and it became a bigger project.
Was it a problem trying to coordinate the time commitments? You tour a lot on your own and with your various bands. How did you manage that?
It’s definitely been a chore dealing with everybody’s schedules, but when something is worth doing it’s definitely worth trying to make it work. We just decided to pound it out and see what we came up with and I’m really glad that it worked out. I think it’s going to be a blast.
Had you mostly worked with these musicians before?
The only one I hadn’t worked with was Jamey Johnson. I’ve worked a lot with Medeski and a lot in the last few years with Don Was. Terence Higgins was the drummer in my band after I released the Man in Motion album and toured behind that. I worked with the horn guys off and on through the years. It didn’t take a ton of rehearsal. Everybody showed up prepared, we rehearsed a few days and that was that.
How familiar was everybody with the material?
In varying degrees, everybody was familiar with the songs. But everybody had plenty of time to live with the music. We decided on the song selection well in advance. We couldn’t possibly tackle the whole show because the original show was so long. When everyone showed up the first day of rehearsal everyone showed up prepared and it just clicked.
Is the majority of the repertoire Band songs?
It’s mostly Band stuff. But I did “Caravan” by Van Morrison. We did a version of “I Shall Be Released” that was similar to the Band’s but also kind of different. There were a lot of cool covers. Dave Malone did “This Wheel’s On Fire,” which is a Band song but we had a special guest vocalist doing it. We approached it differently from song to song.
What did The Last Waltz and the Band’s music mean to you as an individual? Was that an influence on you early on? Did it make a big impact on you musically?
When I was a kid, everybody had The Last Waltz triple album in their collection. They were mostly people my brother’s age, older than me because I had two older brothers. One was three years older, one was five years older. So everybody we hung out with had The Last Waltz album. So we would hear it a lot long before I ever saw the movie, and when I finally saw the movie it was so intense to have all those people in one place that were all connected to the Band’s music. I think that music is more important now to me and to a lot of people more now than it was then.
You’ve been a part of so many great bands, be it your solo material, the music you make with Gov’t Mule, and of course the ongoing role you’ve played with the Dead and the Allman Brothers Band. You could have done tributes connected with those bands and their classic albums.
This opportunity came up because it was the 40th anniversary of The Last Waltz and it was something we were all excited about doing. The one-off version exceeded our expectations and we decided to keep it going a bit longer. I’m very excited it’s going to happen, and of course I was very close to Levon the last 15 years of his life and I really loved him and loved playing music with him as much as possible. We celebrated his 70th birthday with him at Mountain Jam a few years back and we had a lot of guests join us for that. It just feels right. It just feels natural.
Speaking of which, can you give us some idea of what you have on your slate for the coming months and the new year?
We’re just wrapping up a new Gov’t Mule album, which, if all goes well, we’ll have out sometime in May. So once that’s out, we’ll be touring with Gov’t Mule for the next year, year and a half or so. We’ll be going to Europe and Japan and all over the world to spread the word. Of course, there’s always other projects going on, but that will be the main focus for me from that time forward.
Are you ever home?
These days it’s either work or family, and those are the two things I focus on. When I’m not working, I’m home with family and I don’t really have a lot going on beyond that.
It seems like you would have to set aside time to be with the family because you tour so much. It must be a challenge.
It’s a challenge but I’ve gotten better and better with dealing with it through the years. I have a five year old son now, and when he was born we started looking at ways to keep me home more and gradually my schedule will slow down more. But as long as things are exciting and pertinent, I really enjoy my work and I feel fortunate to be able to do it.
