Name Warren Haynes
Best known for Wearing a lot of hats (musically speaking).
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Current city Bedford Corners, NY.
Really want to be in I lived in New York City for over 20 years – that probably covers it. But since we’re dreaming would love to see what LA was like between the late ‘50s and the mid-‘70s.
Excited about My new solo record [released in November], Million Voices Whisper, which has collaborations with Derek Trucks, Lukas Nelson, and Jamey Johnson and features a song co-written with Gregg Allman that he started years ago and I finished after he passed away.
My current music collection has a lot of Blues, jazz, soul music, old school rock music, everything from Bob Dylan to Otis Redding to Led Zeppelin to Cannonball Adderley to Van Morrison to Bob Marley.
And a little bit of Country music – mostly old-school like George Jones, Merle Haggard, Stanley Brothers, and Conway Twitty.
Preferred format I prefer vinyl, but I’m cool with CDs or even streaming. If the music is great, it translates.
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
It’s hard enough to narrow it down to 5 – I could easily give you 50. Also, due to my being in the Allman Brothers Band for 25 years, I will not include ABB’s [live album] At Fillmore East which is easily one of my all-time faves.
1
The Chess Box, Willie Dixon
Picking this keeps me from having to choose between all my favorite blues artists and recordings. This box set features all my favorite blues artists like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Otis Rush, and Sunny Boy Williamson doing songs written by Willie Dixon, whose songs were covered by everyone from Cream, The Doors, The Allman Brothers Band, The Grateful Dead, Johnny Winter (well, you get the point). Too bad it doesn’t include BB King, Albert King, or Freddy King, but you can’t have everything.
2
True to Life, Ray Charles
Hard to pick a favorite Ray Charles album but this one is special for so many reasons – one of which is you can’t find it on CD. To my knowledge it never came out due to contractual reasons. This record captures Ray singing at the ultimate peak of his career. All recorded “live” in the studio with a great band and orchestration. His version of “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” is possibly my all-time favorite vocal performance.
3
The Royal Scam, Steely Dan
I love every Steely Dan record (and every song on every record), but this one is my favorite, not only from a song standpoint but sonically as well. They were still a “rock” band at this time and even though it was mostly studio musicians, this album has a rock edge to it.
4
Oh Mercy, Bob Dylan
Again, it’s hard to choose a favorite, but I keep going back to Oh Mercy because it’s such a fantastic album that was made at a time period when many people didn’t think he could possibly make a record that rivals his many early masterpieces. Produced by Daniel Lanois, this record sounds different from every other Bob Dylan record but will remain timeless. Every song is brilliant.
5
Nefertiti, Miles Davis
One of my favorite all-time bands is the Miles Davis Quintet with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter. This band created music that defied even the category of jazz. Driven by Tony Williams’ fresh, hard-to-describe, and uncharacteristically powerful drumming, their music was a continual conversation of five brilliant musicians influencing each other’s next musical phrase in a way that had never been done before. The resulting music created its own category.
6
Waiting for Columbus, Little Feat
One of my all-time favorite bands, Little Feat (cut short by leader Lowell George’s untimely death) made a bunch of great studio records—even after Lowell’s passing—but remain one of those bands who was better captured live. Some of the song performances here are stretched out way beyond the studio arrangements and in some cases the tempos are even slower than the studio recordings which is rare—the sign of a great band settling into a groove after hundreds of nights playing together. The way they combined their influences of rock, soul, jazz, country, and New Orleans music made for a unique musical style that’s still unmatched.
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