Gov’t Mule is one Haynes’ many musical outlets
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The audience Sunday at Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre might get a double dose of collaboration.
Joe Bonamassa and Gov't Mule, led by Warren Haynes, are playing eight shows together this summer, including the Youngstown date. At the tour opener on July 29, Bonamassa came out during Gov't Mule's set for a cover of "Stateboro Blues," a Blind Willie McTell song that was a concert staple of the Allman Brothers Band, who Haynes played with for more than 20 years.
After intermission Haynes returned the favor, playing Billy Cobham's "Stratus" with Bonamassa's band.
"I think we’re going to try to do that every night, different songs, but try and have him join us in our set, and me join him in his," Haynes said during a telephone interview.
It's an arrangement that makes everyone happy.
"Anytime old friends can get together and play music, it’s always a win-win, just from a personal gratification standpoint," Haynes said. "But then, from the audience perspective, they’re getting to see us play together, which is something that rarely happens. Some of his fans will be turned on to us for the first time, and some of our fans will be turned on to him for the first time, so it works out in a lot of different ways."
The co-headlining tour also may have an influence on the rest of the Mule's set as well.
"We’re looking at the setlist a little bit differently," Haynes said. "Usually, on these kinds of co-bills or festival sets or whenever we’re not the only band on the bill, we usually keep the setlist a little more up tempo and probably play more of the recognizable songs. Part of the mission is to give our fans an action-packed set, but part of the mission is also to win over some new listeners."
Bonamassa has collaborated with many musicians in multiple genres, but he's best known as a solo artist and has had 31 albums top Billboard's blues chart to prove it.
Haynes has bounced between frontman and sideman throughout his 45-plus years of playing professionally. He backed David Allan Coe and Dickey Betts before Betts invited him to join a reunited Allman Brothers Band, his first of two stints with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. He also played with the post-Grateful Dead acts Dead & Company and Phil Lesh & Friends.
Gov't Mule grew out of his time with Allman Brothers with Haynes forming a blue-rock power trio with Allmans' bassist Allen Woody and drummer Matt Abts, who Haynes played with in Betts' band.
Woody died in 2000 and Gov't Mule now is a four-piece with Danny Louis (keyboards, guitar and backing vocals) and Kevin Scott (bass), but the Mule has remained Haynes' predominant creative outlet. The band released its 12th studio album, "Peace ... Like a River," in 2023, and it has put out nearly as many live recordings.
Haynes credited the band's chemistry for its longevity and prolificness.
"It started out with the chemistry that myself and Allen Woody and Matt Apts had as a trio. The first time we played together, it was just obvious that we needed to be a band. The trio is a really challenging format. It really depends even more on the chemistry than larger bands because in a trio, every band member has to be sitting on all cylinders at all times. There’s no time for anybody to relax and just kind of lay low. We knew when we first played together that the chemistry was something special, and it’s a wonderful place to start.
"But allowing yourself the time and space to grow is really the key. What you can do with that chemistry, if you allow yourselves to stay together for years, it just continues to advance in an uncanny way. And of course, Governor Mule’s been through a lot of changes, but that starting place is still a huge part of where we are today."
Haynes will be heard with a much bigger band on his next release, "Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey," a live album recorded in 2019 in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, and backed by the 64-piece Asheville Symphony Orchestra.
It was his first time playing with an orchestra, and he didn't expect it would take seven years for it to be released.
"The plan was to put it out within the next year or so, but when COVID happened and we all got hit with the lockdown situation, I really didn’t want it to come out during that time period because I looked at it and still do look at it as a once-in-a-career release," Haynes said. "It’s kind of like a retrospective of what I’ve been up to for the last 30-something years, and I didn’t want it to get lost in the shuffle, so we delayed it, and thankfully now’s the time for it to come out.
"Well, those nights were fantastic. It was a wonderful band that we were able to put together for those shows, and being able to do it in my hometown was amazing. When I hear the final version of it now, it just brings all that back. I think most music lovers will connect with it. It’s not what people would normally expect from me, but we were able to find a way to blend those two worlds together in a way that I think is very unique."
If you go …
WHO: Joe Bonamassa and Gov't Mule
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre 201 S. Phelps St., Youngstown
HOW MUCH: Tickets start at $35 and are available through Ticketmaster.