Warren Haynes touches on his time with the Allman Brothers, his solo career, and his love of the blues in an inspiring three-song performance for Rolling Stone’s In My Room series, presented by Gibson.
Setting up shop at Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut, Haynes, with a mask around his neck, kicks off the mini set with “Soulshine,” recorded by the Allmans, with lead vocals by Gregg Allman, for their 1994 album, Where It All Begins. Haynes accompanies himself on both acoustic and electric, melding the two separately filmed recordings into one.
The North Carolina native and founder of Gov’t Mule also nods to his appreciation of the blues and gospel by playing a rendition of Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground,” with help from Brendan Muldowney on piano.
The set wraps up with a hopeful “River’s Gonna Rise,” off Haynes’ 2011 solo LP, Man in Motion. Backed by Johnny Montagnese on hand drums, the vocalist offers hope for better times to come. “The sun is gonna shine/Shine on a brand new day,” he sings.
Haynes’ In My Room arrives in tandem with an auction presented by Gibson Gives to benefit the Equal Justice Initiative. Fans can bid on an autographed Les Paul via charitybuzz.com from June 25th through July 9th.
“I’m honored to partner with Rolling Stone and Gibson for this performance and auction, and wanted to do something a little different — seeing as how we all have a little more time on our hands — so instead of just doing ‘solo acoustic’ songs I thought I would accompany myself as well as incorporate a couple of friends. I chose these songs based on what we’re all going through together,” Haynes says. “I chose the Equal Justice Initiative because all citizens deserve equal justice, and the fact that there even needs to be an organization dedicated to fighting for this illustrates how important the work they do is.”
