MUSIC

Warren Haynes & Gov’t Mule Play Point of the Bluff Vineyards

By Bryan VanCampen

Warren Haynes has decades of gigs behind him, playing with the Allman Brothers and e Dickey Betts Band and Phil Lesh. He and Matt Abts and the late Allen Woody formed the jam band Gov’t Mule as a side project in 1994, and since then, the side project became the project. Gov’t Mule will play Point of the Blu Vineyards on August 6th.

Warren Haynes talked to the Ithaca Times about Gibson guitars, in uences and how to “Dance with the one that brung ya.”

IT: I’m a Fender guy and you’re on record as being a Gibson guy. Warren, what is it about Gibson guitars that you love?

WH: I dunno, I just always gravitated toward the Gibson sound, and a lot of my early in uences were playin’ di erent Gibsons and stu . My rst two good guitars were a Gibson SG Junior and then a Gibson SG Custom. I didn’t get a Les Paul for decades, you know. But when I nally started playin’ a Les Paul, it seemed more like the voice I was lookin’ for, and I think eventually I realized, I love Fenders, a lot of people are playin’ Fenders, playin’ di erent guitars, I love hearing someone else with that sound, but it never felt like my voice. And then I eventually realized I was trying to have my singing voice and my guitar voice kind of complement each other and be an extension of the same thing. When I [ rst heard] B.B. King, I had not put it together, but that was always important to me.

IT: Watching live clips on YouTube, I got the sense that you’ll throw in anything from Prince to Pink Floyd. Where is Gov’t Mule musically these days?

WH: We’re playin’ more blues these days, but we’re also kind of visiting every kind of period of our career. A little bit of everything. And then, we also recorded another record that’s in the can Celebrathat’s gonna come out early next year that sounds like what people would expect a te Spring with Us!

Gov’t Mule will bring their jam band and other styles to Point of the Bluff

Vineyards. (Photo: Eric Gettler) Gov’t Mule record to sound like, but it doesn’t sound like anything we’ve done in the past. I think in some ways it’s more “song” oriented, and in some ways, it’s more adventurous from an arrangement/ improv sort of aspect. It’s hard to describe, I’m not good at describing music, but….

IT: Is that something you can verbalize, or is it all feel?

WH: A little bit of both. As with any band, we’re a product of our in uences. We have a lot of di erent in uences, and some of ‘em haven’t found their way to the surface yet. And so, any time something comes up that doesn’t resemble anything that we’ve done in the past, it’s always comforting and inspiring. You know? But it’s also important to kind of feel like you’re re-doing what you’ve already done. At the same time, you have to straddle the fence and, as they say, “Dance with the one that brung ya.” We have some hardcore fans that have been with us from the very beginning that have similar tastes to ours, but somewhere along the way, we’ve picked up a lot of fans and a lot of di erent directions. So I think the only way to be true to that is to please yourself and make yourself happy, and then your fans can tell when you’re feeling inspired. is band has done way over a thousand shows together, which is kind of hard to imagine in some ways, but the key to growing is to play night a er night a er night. at’s something you only get from being in a band.

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