Early in the Zoom call, as volume adjustments are being made, the topic of hearing loss and \u201crock and roll\u201d ears comes up.\u00a0 When asked if he ever uses hearing protection while on stage, Warren Haynes is adamant: \u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0 After over 40 years of steady touring, Haynes does concede to a bit of a deficit in the midrange frequencies, but he notes that his hearing is \u201cbetter than it should be, probably.\u201d\u00a0 Nevertheless, no earplugs for this guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just kind of defeats everything you\u2019ve done your whole life,\u201d Haynes explains.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t even like in-ear monitors.\u201d\u00a0 Which makes sense.\u00a0 Haynes is an old-school sort, the type who understands that there is truly nothing like blasting your guitar through a tube-powered amp at volume levels that move some serious air.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Haynes\u2019 current tour \u2013 which stops in Houston at the Heights Theater on Tuesday, February 24 \u2013 features the esteemed guitarist flexing his acoustic chops.\u00a0 Haynes is best-known for his fiery electric lead guitar work in Gov\u2019t Mule and with his solo band, along with previous stints in the Allman Brothers Band, the Dead (a latter-day Grateful Dead offshoot), Phil Lesh and Friends and outlaw (literally!) country artist David Allan Coe.\u00a0 But his acoustic playing has occasionally been put in the spotlight, as when he did a solo acoustic set at the Bonnaroo music festival in 2003.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the first time I did something like that,\u201d Haynes recalls.\u00a0 \u201cIt was pretty odd, doing it in front of a big festival crowd like that.\u00a0 I did that show not knowing that we were going to release it as a record (Warren Haynes: Live at Bonnaroo), but I was happy with it overall, and we thought, \u2018Let\u2019s put it out!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then, Haynes has done a few other solo shows, but never a full tour.\u00a0 In marked contrast to his solo debut at Bonnaroo, Haynes\u2019 current \u201cWinter of Warren\u201d jaunt includes performances at smaller venues, allowing for freedom and experimentation.\u00a0 \u201cThese shows are more about the singer-songwriter part of what I do,\u201d Haynes says.\u00a0 \u201cThe emphasis is on the song and my voice.\u00a0 There\u2019s very little flashy guitar playing.\u00a0 It\u2019s mostly me just accompanying myself.\u00a0 I try to pull out the slide and play some cool stuff here and there, but it\u2019s mostly me taking a back seat to the song and the voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Hanes points out that he does play some electric guitar here and there.\u00a0 \u201cFor the first four or five songs of each set, I play on acoustic, and then I switch over and play some electric,\u201d Haynes explains.\u00a0 In addition to custom-built acoustic guitars from Rockbridge and McAlister, Haynes is toting a couple of Gibson 335 electrics and a Les Paul, plus an Epiphone 12-string.\u00a0 At several concerts on the current tour, Haynes had the opportunity to play a guitar with a historic past.\u00a0 \u201cFor the California shows, I borrowed Jerry Garcia\u2019s 1946 Martin Herringbone that he played on \u201cRipple\u201d and American Beauty and stuff like that.\u00a0 It\u2019s a beautiful instrument, and I was honored to have it in my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Considering that Haynes\u2019 reputation was built as a guitarist in bands that feature group interaction and extensive improvisation, the notion of a solitary Haynes goes against the grain.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cI enjoy it, but it\u2019s weird being on stage by yourself,\u201d Haynes notes.\u00a0 \u201cBut most shows are in front of more intimate audiences, which is appropriate for this kind of thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not rowdy, and everyone is quiet during the performances.\u00a0 I enjoy it because it exposes a different side of what I do.\u00a0 In the same way that going back and forth between Gov\u2019t Mule and the Warren Haynes Band, or when I was doing the Allman Brothers and the Dead, or whatever project I\u2019m doing, it just allows me to do more different things.\u00a0 Which keeps me from getting stagnated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Haynes\u2019 approach to making music stands in stark contrast to that of many of his contemporaries, classic rock artists who continue to grind it out night after night, playing essentially the same 18-song set at every show.\u00a0 \u201cI couldn\u2019t do that,\u201d Haynes says.\u00a0 \u201cNothing against people that do, because some bands, appropriately, are playing the same songs every night, because that\u2019s what their audiences expect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[I\u2019ve] been fortunate to have built an audience that doesn\u2019t expect that and doesn\u2019t demand that and is excited to see what we\u2019re going to play night after night.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to me to be able to shake it up and do different stuff,\u201d Haynes says.<\/p>\n
So was this adventurous approach that Haynes currently puts into practice with Gov\u2019t Mule, the Warren Haynes Band and his solo appearances a planned strategy, or did it just happen organically?\u00a0 \u201cA little of both,\u201d Haynes says.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I joined the Allman Brothers in 1989, we were playing pretty much the same set list every night.\u00a0 Then we started shaking it up a bit and alternating a few songs here and there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter two or three years of doing that, Kirk West, who was the Allman Brothers\u2019 tour manager at that time, came to me and [bassist Allen] Woody and [lead vocalist \/ keyboard player] Gregg [Allman] and said, \u2018You guys should consider changing the set up night after night, the way the Grateful Dead does, because there are a lot of fans who would come to multiple shows if they knew that they were different.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the three of us liked that idea, and we presented it to the rest of the band, and everybody was like, \u2018Yeah, that makes sense.\u2019\u00a0 So from that point forward, the Allman Brothers started doing that, and then I adopted that philosophy for my shows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0By presenting a larger repertoire and including lengthy stretches of improvised music making in their shows, the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers both helped to show their audiences that such a live experience could be more interesting that listening to records or note-perfect performances with no sense of spontaneity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that those bands were able to turn on the audience to the concept of music being better when it\u2019s unscripted \u2013 not for everyone, but for those of us who love that sort of thing \u2013 that\u2019s a pretty amazing achievement on their part,\u201d Haynes says. \u00a0\u201cBut if you go back to the great jazz bands and the great blues bands that were touring, they were doing a similar thing.\u00a0 They were taking a similar approach.\u00a0 So the Dead and the Allman Brothers were taking a cue from that.\u00a0 The fact that the concept is still around is pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warren Haynes will perform at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, February 24, at the Heights Theater, 339 W. 19th.\u00a0 For more information, call 214-272-8346 or visit theheightstheater.com<\/a>.\u00a0 $57 and up.<\/p>\n