Testing Warren Haynes’ Music Knowledge

introduce yourself. Hey, I'm Warren Haines. Here you go. This for you. I'm going to play you some songs. You just have to tell me who the artist is. To be Hendrix. Yeah, I heard this when I was a wee child. Tell me about Jimmy. I first discovered Hendrix due to my oldest brother who had smash hits. Prior to that, I had heard like, "Sline the Family Stone." Prior to that, I only heard soul music and stuff. When I started hearing cream and Jimmy Hendrix and Johnny winner and stuff like that, it moved me and made me kind of want to think about playing guitar. Did you ever see him? You know, videos and stuff back in the old days. I was really young when Jimmy died. I was, I think I was 10, but you just heard that sound on the records and you're like, "There's something special." You know, it was so different at that time than anything anybody had ever heard. And I had two older brothers that had really great taste in music. So they played a lot of great stuff around the house. And when I heard Hendrix for the first time, I'm like, "Wow, it was just so different, one for one." "There is nothing that is. " Eric Clapton to lay down Sally. So I couldn't hear for a second, but because of the fire truck. Another one of my early, early, early influences, not this song. This is later on. Yeah. One of the things that that turned me on to rock and roll music and guitar was Clapton and Hendrix and Johnny winner. As I mentioned, those were my three big ones. Clapton was probably my first guitar hero. Millions of people's first guitar hero. What is it about his playing? Well, he took the blues to another level. He just filtered it through his brain, his personality and combined with all the other influences that he grew up with and created this style of playing at that time. No one had done before. So he kind of just took it further than it had gone, combined all of his influences. Freddie King and BB King and Albert King and buddy guy and all this stuff and he took it further. BB King, early BB King. His tone was different on the early records. Yeah. A little brighter, a little more aggressive. What's one thing to listen for when you're listening to BB King? He could play one note and that's all you needed to hear. He was the master at that. I tell people when they ask young guitar players, if you can figure out a way of making one note sound good, you got something going for you. Okay, this is the King Test. Freddie. Who's Freddie King? Eric Clapin said Freddie King taught him how to make love to a guitar. Freddie, fantastic player, but I always tell people that if Freddie didn't play guitar, he would still be one of my favorite singers. What a voice, just unbelievable. And as he got older and his voice got huskier and more distorted, I liked it even more and more and more. He was just one of the greatest. Albert King, born under a bad sign. Who's your favorite? They're all three my favorite. BB is the one that I heard first. Yeah. I actually loved BB before I even picked up guitar because I loved his voice so much. It's so hard to choose. Albert is the one of the blues guitar players that influenced rock music the most because he had such an impact on Hendrix. With most great musicians and with BB King and with Freddie King, they're unique, but you can hear the influences and see where it came from. With Albert, you can't see where it came from. He was like an alien. Nobody played like that before him and I'm yet to figure out who he was influenced by because nobody sounded like Albert King. Studio version of the- I love that you said Studio version. Yeah. Most it has don't listen to the studio versions, but the studio records are really cool. You know, the live versions are different and in some ways may be better. Broke down Palace, beautiful, beautiful Garcia song. Isn't it funny? They're almost self sabotaged. They're records because they're such an iconic live band. Yeah. And all the taping and how different it's almost like they dismiss their own records for the sake of the show. But I think at the same time they took pride in those records and they made some amazing records. But I get it, you know, a lot of times what happens is you go in the studio and you work all this time to get a somewhat definitive at the moment version of the song. But then when you get out on the road and play it a bunch of times, it comes together in another way. So it was that way with the Almond Brothers. A lot of times we go in the studio and do a really good version of a tune, but then the hundredth time we played it live, something magical happened. You go, okay, we're going to do this from now on. You know, those two bands are kindred spirits. Absolutely. Yeah, I think different. Very different. I was obviously part of the Almond Brothers for 25 years, but I'm speaking about the original band as a fan. The Almond Brothers and the Grateful Dead or the two main four runners of the Jam Band movement. And it's because they had this great way of improvising, but they also had great songs. And it was the combination of the two that made it timeless and worth the adventure. Oh, Tideski Trucks. Beautiful song. Beautiful song. They've created this thing that's so welcome in a modern world of music. Imagine bringing back this whole concept of a large band like that. You know, I remember Derek and I having a conversation on the bus when we were still touring with the Almond Brothers and he was telling me they were thinking about doing that. And I was like, wow, it's an undertaking, but one that needs to happen. When you first met Derek, he was a kid. He was 11. And what do you think about his playing? He was playing like a full grown man at 11 years old. He obviously got better and better and better and better. But at 11, if you shut your eyes, you didn't think you were here in 11-year-old kid playing. Yeah. We played together hundreds of times. Yeah. No doubt. Oh, studio version. That's the greatest three chords ever recorded. But it's classic Neil. You know, he's one of the greatest. Yeah. Cortez, you know, I remember the first time government mule played it in Pittsburgh when Almond Woody was still alive. And now a lot of people play that song, which is great. You know, the versions I've done with the Dave Matthews Band are fantastic memories for me. And I don't know why those three chords make you want to hear it over and over and over. You can play it for 20 minutes and you don't get tired of it. Oh, wow. This is St. Smeral Blues. So I know the blind Willie McTale version. That's it. Wow, I hadn't heard this in ages. Ages. All right. It brings to mind the Taj Mahal version, which is kind of where the Almond Brothers got it from. I was trying to figure out is it going all the way back or is it somebody copying that? These characters that became larger than they're almost like from a book. They're like mythic characters. Alan Wolf. Muddy Waters. They built the foundation for what all we do. And they all have such a distinct thing. Yeah. Wolf had his thing, Muddy had his thing, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker. You know, you have to study those different ways of playing and singing the blues, you know, and you spend a lifetime doing it. Okay. I got another one for you. If I get my love to you. That's David Alicote. I haven't heard that in a million years. Of course. My first professional gig as a kid. I had never toured before. I had never been in a recording studio. I was thrust into this crazy environment that I was not prepared to deal with. But it was through him that I met Dicky Bess and Greg Almond, which led me to eventually joining the Almond Brothers. Got to start somewhere. Absolutely. You got to get your sea legs, your stage legs. And boy did I, last one. Mississippi Queen. Come on. I remember hearing this on the radio. How fucking heavy was that? What's that? You know, oh, no question. What a great sound in record, what a great performance. Leslie's voice. You know, he was a fantastic guitar player and an influence on so many of us, but his voice was tremendous. And that recording in particular just really captures the magic. Why aren't they bigger? You know, it's a good question. I think one of the many bands that had internal conflicts. And, you know, all those bands were so young between being thrust into a world that you weren't prepared for. And there was a lot of drugs being done. And it just seemed to be a pattern with a lot of bands. Will he spending your time listening to? I listen to Ray Charles and Otis Redding. And I listen to Miles Davis a lot. But I also listen to yes. And shit that people might not expect. But I would encourage young listeners to go back and discover music that was made that was that ambitious. For a kid my age at that time, it was fantastic. Great to meet you. You as well. Thanks for coming on. My pleasure.