Warren Haynes, Daniel Donato, Grahame Lesh and John Molo at the Pre Jam, photo by Jay Blakesberg
On Saturday, Dec. 13, Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam lit up its host’s hometown of Asheville, N.C., with an all-star lineup spanning genres and generations. The revered holiday tradition’s 33rd annual staging marked a triumphant revival, returning to its longtime venue of ExploreAsheville.com Arena after a year away in the wake of Hurricane Helene. With all proceeds once again advancing the missions of Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity and BeLoved Asheville, the show was supercharged by a spirit of community, bringing more excitement to a night packed with surprises.
The 2025 Christmas Jam began with Appalachian folk heritage trio Songbird Holler, who properly embodied the region’s resilient spirit and tradition of song with the stirring ballads “Little Willie,” “I’ve Endured” and the classic “Cold Rain and Snow.” The latter was helmed by member Donna Ray Norton, an eighth-generation traditional balladeer who performs her family’s enduring version of the standard, her uncle Obray Ramsay’s version of which introduced the Grateful Dead to the tune. To bolster that striking finale, the trio welcomed support from Haynes and Grahame Lesh.
Saturday’s second act was Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, who turned in a tight four-track cycle following their participation in Friday’s intimate Pre Jam. Donato and company began by merging “Broadside Ballad” and “Hangman’s Reel,” both featured on the band’s recent 2025 studio album Horizons, then merged into longtime favorites “Lady Justice” and “Dance in the Desert.” The night’s third set paired Haynes and his old friend Edwin McCain for four songs, including the latter’s chart-topping original “I’ll Be” and covers of “Bold as Love” and “I Shall Be Released.”
MJ Lenderman has emerged in the past few years as a definitive new voice in Americana-tinged indie rock and a champion of Asheville’s burgeoning musical community, so the celebrated singer-songwriter and guitarist’s first appearance at Christmas Jam was a highly anticipated highlight of the show. Lenderman, backed by his virtuosic ensemble the Wind, set off their performance with the appropriately tongue-in-cheek “Rudolph,” and later covered Advane Base’ “Christmas Steve” to the same effect between roaring originals like “Joker Lips,” “Wristwatch,” “She’s Leaving You,” “You Have Bought Yourself a Boat” and finally “Knockin’.”
After Texas-based rising rocker Cody Jasper retired for his fourth Christmas Jam set, which included a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” long-running grunge powerhouse Stone Temple Pilots stormed the stage with an hour-long, ten-track set. The ‘90s rock titans got rolling with “Wicked Garden,” then touched on other essentials like “Vasoline,” “Down,” “Big Empty,” “Plush,” “Crackerman” and 1994 Purple breakthrough “Interstate Love Song” before closing on “Sex Type Thing.”
Saturday’s centerpiece came with the first of three supergroup sets helmed by Haynes. The beginning of the evening’s guest-packed final movement brought the host’s loosest, most intimate configurations, pairing him with Lenderman for a poignant duo version of Vic Chesnutt’s “Gravity of the Situation” before banding together Donato, Maggie Rose and Jason Crosby for John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery.” Stone Temple Pilots returned to the stage, alongside Gov’t Mule keyboardist Danny Louis, to wrap the quick frame with ripping treatments of “Knock on Wood” and “Mississippi Queen.”
Haynes remained onstage for his Warren Haynes & Friends set, which assembled a dream team of Louis, Kevin Scott, Greg Osby, Jeff Sipe and Duane Trucks for some classics from the bandleader’s catalog. Tight core group takes on “Spots of Time” and “Go Down Swinging” paved the way for “River’s Gonna Rise,” which called on McCain and Rose for guest vocals. Mike Barnes, Haynes’ childhood friend who’s always good for a sit-in in Asheville, signed on for an enthralling “Sco-Mule” and remained in the mix for set-closing renditions of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Dreams” and “Whipping Post.”
Haynes earned a break for the evening’s penultimate set, and in his place came bob., a tribute to Bob Dylan featuring moe.’s Al Schnier and Vinnie Amico. The 35-year jam firebrands paid homage to the Bard with six covers, including “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Meet Me in the Morning,” “Peggy O” and a closer of “Handle with Care.”
At long last, as the show wound into the early hours of Sunday, Haynes took the stage again to participate in a stacked Tribute to Phil Lesh, featuring the Grateful Dead bassist’s regular collaborators Donato, John Molo, Jason Crosby and his son Grhame Lesh. Whenever Phil’s musical compatriots from a lifetime of supporting emerging voices in improvisational rock assemble, the artist’s legacy is manifested in sound, and no assembly of artists could be more capable of conjuring his spirit than those that met to close out Christmas Jam. After flying through inventive and reverent versions of Dead essentials “China Cat Sunflower,” “I Know You Rider,” “Unbroken Chain” and “Cumberland Blues,” the group welcomed Rose and Schnier to support “Sugaree.” Osby stepped out again for a soaring medley of “Dark Star,” “Stella Blue” and “The Other One,” then the band sent the crowd off into the night with powerful renditions of “Box of Rain” and “Touch of Grey.”
In all, the return of Haynes’ Christmas Jam built on decades of acclaim with a show that simultaneously honored the past and looked forward to the future. Learn more about the event at xmasjam.com.
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