GOV’T MULE – Warren Haynes

By: Lori Smerilson Carson | Photos: Emily Butler

Fall is here and fantastic Florida shows are still occurring. One not to miss is the Dreaming the Same Dream Tour with GOV’T MULE, ZIGGY MARLEY, and an opening DJ set by YOLA. Florida fans can experience this phenomenal show September 30^th in Key West at Coffee Butler Amphitheater, October 2^nd in Hollywood at Hard Rock Live, October 3^rd in St. Augustine at St. Augustine Amphitheatre, October 4^th in Clearwater at The BayCare Sound, October 6^th in Fort Myers at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, and October 7^th in Tallahassee at the Adderley Amphitheater.

Catching up with GOV’T MULE’s frontman, Lead Vocalist/Guitarist Warren Haynes, he revealed some details about the new show that he and bandmates Drummer Matt Abts, Bassist Kevin Scott and Keyboardist/Guitarist Danny Louis will be performing. This extraordinary Grammy Award winning musician (songwriter/producer) also divulged a bit about his music, past experiences, and what GOV’T MULE fans can look forward to.

SFL Music Magazine: This tour with Ziggy Marley looks really exciting!

Warren Haynes: Yeah, we’re definitely excited about that! It’s going to be a wonderful tour.

SFL Music Magazine: You have several dates in Florida with this Dreaming the Same Dream tour which was from a song that you did with Ziggy, correct?

Haynes: Yeah, we wrote that song together a few years ago and then I recorded it on one of my live albums, a record called LIVE AT THE MOODY THEATER. There’s never been a studio version of it, only the live version.

SFL Music Magazine: How did that come about?

Haynes: We’ve known each other for a long time, and we were just talking at one time when I was in L.A. His family has a place there, and we were talking about getting together to do some writing. We just hooked up and wrote a couple of tunes together and it just kind of worked out organically.

SFL Music Magazine: So, what prompted you two to decide on doing this tour?

Haynes: Well, we’ve just been looking for cool packages that have the right amount of contrast and the right amount of similarity from a fan-based perspective. It’s good when you do a package tour that there’s enough of an overlap where the same kind of fans will like both bands, but also that each band will kind of gain some new fans that haven’t heard them before. So, I think it’s perfect in that way.

SFL Music Magazine: And YOLA is doing a DJ set. How did that come about?

Haynes: Yeah. YOLA joined GOV’T MULE at our New Years Eve show this past New Years. We did a thematic show like we always do. We did Twenty Years at the Beacon Theatre in New York City and we usually have some special guests, and Yola joined us for that and did a fantastic job! So, when it was brought up, what about having a D.J. slot to open the shows before Ziggy goes on, YOLA’s name came up and we thought, yeah, what a great idea and we can also kind of snag her to sit in with the band, and it’ll just be a cool win, win.

SFL Music Magazine: What can fans look forward to with the new show?

Haynes: Well, GOV’T MULE does a different set list every night. We usually don’t know until about three days before exactly what we’re going to play and even then, it can change even in the middle of the show. We just call an audible sometimes based on the energy of the crowd, but usually what we do is we base tonight’s set list on what we played last night, what we played the night before, and even more importantly, what we played the last time we were in any particular town. We like to make sure when we come back to any city, that we’re playing a different show than we did the time before. So, it really starts with pleasing ourselves, not wanting to play the same songs night after night after night, but I think a large part of the audience really enjoys that aspect of it as well.

SFL Music Magazine: You all are playing around six different cities in Florida.

Haynes: Yeah, which is great!

SFL Music Magazine: The last time we spoke, you told me about things you like in Florida. How did we get so lucky that you’re playing so many shows in the state?

Haynes: We love playing in Florida and feel like the last few years we haven’t been able to hit as many different Florida markets as we hoped. So, trying to cover as many bases as possible this time around and really looking forward to that.

SFL Music Magazine: The last time we spoke, we also talked about your albums THE WHISPER SESSIONS and MILLION VOICES WHISPER. You also advised new musicians to try different types of music which you do. On September 18^th you are releasing Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey which is a live recording in Ashville with a 64-piece symphony orchestra (the Asheville Symphony Orchestra). How did that come about?

Haynes: Well, my first introduction to working with the symphony came a few years before that when I got asked to do the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration doing the music of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. His estate had called me and said they were going to do these shows with Jerry’s music with an orchestra and guest artists and were interested in me being the first one. I said, I would be honored to do that. So, I did a couple of tours that way which was my introduction to working with orchestras for the first time. I just kind of somewhere along the way, got the idea that it would be cool to do. I guess it could be looked at as like a retrospective of what I’ve been up to the last thirty something years. There’s GOV’T MULE songs, Allman Brothers songs, Grateful Dead songs, songs from my solo records, but all interpreted with an orchestra. Normally I wouldn’t gravitate toward just doing rock music or jazz or blues or whatever with an orchestra. I think it’s more of a song-by-song choice, but I had a lot of material to choose from. So, we were able to just choose the ones that I felt worked the best because I think sometimes it doesn’t work so well. Luckily, choosing from this large of a catalogue I was able to just rely on songs that really work with an orchestra extremely well.

SFL Music Magazine: Like “Shakedown Street”, “Banks of the Deep End” and “Raven Black Night”. Those have already been released, correct?

Haynes: Yes, and we just released “Thorazine Shuffle” as well. That was the fourth one, and then as you said, the record comes out September 18^th. So, I’m really excited! This is like a once in a career release for me and that’s why it took so long for it to come out. We recorded it before COVID, and it took until now to come out because we didn’t want it to get lost in the shuffle because it’s such an important release.

SFL Music Magazine: What would you say inspires you when you write your music? You’ve written so many songs in such a variety of styles and genres.

Haynes: Well, it could be anything. Mostly life in general. I’m surrounded by a lot of colorful characters (he chuckled). There’s always inspiration out there. Where you find it varies from song to song. As Gregg Allman used to say, “there is as many ways to write a song as there are songs.” But I’m lucky that I’m just surrounded by a lot of interesting characters in this world and that seems to be a constant source of inspiration as well as just what’s going on in a day-to-day basis. A lot of what I’ve been writing recently has been more centered around personal relationships. I think ever since COVID I’ve been concentrating more and more on writing about the things that are most important in your life.

SFL Music Magazine: You were inspired by everything going on?

Haynes: Yeah. I realized once we got into the lock down mode that I didn’t want to be writing a bunch of like COVID centric songs that I wouldn’t want to hear five years down the road. It wasn’t even such a conscious thing. It was more just naturally gravitating toward looking at life through a different lens and being appreciative of what you have and what you’ve lost. You know, relationships and opportunities.

SFL Music Magazine: Is that something else you might recommend to a new musician?

Haynes: I’ve written a lot of dark songs from a lyrical perspective in my career and largely because I’ve always gravitated toward songwriters that were really deep and heavy.  I think as a songwriter, songwriting is kind of like therapy. You’re getting all these emotions out and writing is amazing therapy, actually. So, whatever possesses you to be inspired and to write, it’s all good. There’s no right or wrong. I just feel like, as someone who’s been doing it a really long time, it’s always important for me to find something new to write about from a lyrical standpoint and from a musical standpoint. Nobody wants to repeat what they’ve done in the past. My advice to any young songwriter is just listen to all your favorite songwriters and try to take that influence where you can but also try to figure out who you are.

SFL Music Magazine: That’s great advice, and you as a Grammy Award winner with many achievements, would you say that is how you have sustained such longevity and success?

Haynes: Well, I’ve been lucky to have combined all my influences together in a way that seems to connect with people in a way that reflects who I am as a person and as an artist and as a songwriter. I’ve made most of my decisions based on what felt right to me in the moment and try to never base it on what I thought people expected of me or what I thought might be appropriate for the current marketplace. I’ve just always kind of done what’s in my heart and I’ve been lucky that it worked more often than not, and that I’m still doing it.

SFL Music Magazine: You do a lot of charity work also like on this Dreaming the Same Dream Tour, two dollars per ticket will be donated to Food For The Poor which is the organization for Jamaican victims due to Hurricane Melissa. How did this come together?

Haynes: Well, it just seemed like the right thing to do. Jamaica has been hit really hard, and GOV’T MULE does an event down there every January called ISLAND EXODUS and it’s a destination event where our fans come from all over the world to Jamaica to be part of this five-day musical experience, and we’ve been doing it for fifteen years or more. This past January, we couldn’t do it because the flood damage was so bad that the resort that we use was not going to be ready for months and months due to the need of repair. So, it kind of is close to home for us, and we have a lot of friends down there. Of course, Ziggy’s history there, it just seemed like a good thing to do.

SFL Music Magazine: Is there anything else new coming out for fans to know?

Haynes: We’re looking at a lot of archival releases. We’re hoping to put the first GOV’T MULE record out very soon in a remastered format with a bonus disc of unreleased material from the original trio which we’re all very excited about. There’s also a live record from that same era that’s in the process of hopefully coming out as well, and we’re just kind of combing the vaults looking backwards and forwards at the same time.

SFL Music Magazine: Will GOV’T MULE be releasing any new videos?

Haynes: Well, that’s a good question. If there’s something that we feel like is worth putting out there, we surely will, and as far as the symphonic record that’s coming out, the four videos that we’ve released so far, people seem to be enjoying. So, maybe we’ll add to that as well. It’s just a good time for sharing whatever is there.

SFL Music Magazine: Is there anything additional that you want people to look forward to with your new shows?

Haynes: If you haven’t seen GOV’T MULE in a while, the band is really in a great place right now, and I just would highly recommend this package with us and Ziggy. I think it’s going to be a wonderful night of music.