Legendary guitarist Warren Haynes stopped by the Setlist office to talk with Bree Wilde about his prolific career that began with David Allan Coe and Dickey Betts which led to him joining the reformed Allman Brothers Band before forming his own band Gov't Mule.

Haynes is also an acclaimed solo artist, releasing his first album in nearly a decade, 2024's Million Voices Whisper.

The Grammy-winning guitarist and singer/songwriter told us about his thoughts on seeing Weather Report, the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, and a hilarious Spinal Tap moment with none other than Jimmy Page.

Click the video below for the whole convo and keep scrolling for highlights of the chat.

Bree Wilde: Before we get to the first memory, I heard they named a guitar after you.

Warren Haynes: Well, I have a new signature model Gibson Les Paul that we've been working on for a while. I've done a couple in the past but I guess they weren't considered signature model guitars, they were considered "inspired by" guitars.

Warren Haynes: I have a great relationship with Gibson Guitars. I've played Gibson all my life and they've just been really wonderful to me through the years. So, when they first started approaching me about making a signature model Les Paul years ago, maybe decades ago, my first reaction was, well, there's only one Les Paul, Les Paul invented the electric guitar and I happened to play a Les Paul guitar.

So, we were able to make a Les Paul that was different than normal and then they also copied my 1961 ES-335 and made a signature model of that.

But this new guitar is the first actual, I guess what they're calling signature model, that's more in full production and it's an honor to do that.

We're talking technical shop now but the big difference being it has P-90 pickups instead of humbucker pickups and that's not normal. But I really like it a lot, I think they did a fantastic job.

Grateful Dead, Charlotte Coliseum, 1979

Bree Wilde: Let's go to your first memory. Grateful Dead, North Carolina, Charlotte Coliseum, 1979. Set the scene.

Warren Haynes: I don't have a lot of memories of that. It was my first Grateful Dead show and I wasn't really a Deadhead.

My oldest brother had a few Grateful Dead records and a few Jerry Garcia solo records and I had heard a lot of that music in the background but I had taken a different turn from a fan perspective at that point.

But a bunch of musicians that I was playing with at that time --we had a band and we had an old school bus that we traveled in -- and it was terrible. It would go about 58 miles an hour and so we were late everywhere we went but we took our school bus down to see the Grateful Dead at the Charlotte Coliseum in 1979.

And my biggest takeaway was the audience, I had never seen an audience like that, I felt like I was tripping just watching the crowd.

I remember being up in the balcony and looking down at the people twirling and doing the Grateful Dead dance and just thinking, wow, this is something I've never experienced before.

I think they played "Terrapin Station" which later became maybe my favorite Grateful Dead song. But fast forward years later, when I started playing with Phil Lesh in the late '90s, we were having a conversation and I brought up that show and he said, "Yeah, I remember that show."

Frank Zappa, Fox Theater, 1978

Warren Haynes: I grew up in Asheville, North Carolina and nothing came there, we had to drive three hours in some direction to see a decent concert or more. And so, Frank Zappa was playing at the Fox Theater in Atlanta when I was a senior in high school and I was a huge fan and drove down with a friend of mine to see the show and it was probably the best show I ever saw.

I've never heard a tape of it, I would love to, at some point, dig up a recording of that. One of the things that stood out to me or that I took away for the future was ... He did two shows that night, two separate shows, each show was two hours or two-and-a-half hours and a friend of mine went to both shows and they only repeated one song over the two shows.

So, similar to the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa was doing the different setlist every night, not repeating songs, going way back as well, of course, in a parallel universe but I love that philosophy. And so, we adopt that philosophy now, we do a different setlist every night and it's just fun for the band and for the artist.

And the audience picks up on that. You get a lot of people that come to multiple shows because they never know what they're going to get.

He went to his first concert at 12 years-old

Bree Wilde: So, you've been going to shows since you were really young. Were you always observing as a guitarist as well?

Warren Haynes: Well, my first show, I was 12 and that coincidentally was the year I started playing guitar, but my first show was the Edgar Winter Group.

Their hit single on the radio at that time was the instrumental song "Frankenstein." And I had that 45" vinyl record. My brother took me. I was too young to go by myself, and the opening act was the Marshall Tucker Band and nobody had ever heard of them.

Their first record had just come out and, over the next year or so, people would start to learn about them. But yeah, I wanted to see shows at a young age and it was hard in Asheville. But whatever shows came, I would try to go.

Led Zeppelin, O2 Arena, London, 2007

Bree Wilde: So, Zeppelin reunion, O2 London, 2007. Set the scene for that one.

Warren Haynes: That was fantastic for me and for my wife as well. My wife had tickets to see them at the Capitol Center in Washington, DC, but John Bonham died [in 1980] and she couldn't go to the show.

I never had the opportunity to see Led Zeppelin in the old days and they would be at the top of my list of who I would love to have seen.

So, fast forward, I had been doing some work with John Paul Jones, the bass player.

We had played together a few times and we became friends and my wife and I knew that the Zeppelin reunion was happening in London and we were like, "we really should go. It's going to be really expensive but we should check into getting tickets."

And then I was in San Francisco late night and got an email on my computer from John's manager saying, "John would like to invite you to the reunion in London."

And it was so great. The concert itself was fantastic, the band sounded tremendous but John has an interesting circle of friends and they were all sitting together. My wife and I were sitting with Ben Harper and Laura Dern who we're friends with and we all just felt like we were in high school, it was like going back in time.

And then it would look down and, oh, here's Dave Grohl, here's James Taylor and here's Bela Fleck and all these people -- a lot that I knew and some that I was fans of. We were all sitting in the same section and it was just surreal. I'm so glad that I was able to attend that show.

Spinal Tap moment with Jimmy Page

I had never met Jimmy Page until Gov't Mule did a show in Milwaukee during Summerfest and we were opening for Jimmy Page with the Black Crowes.

Jimmy came up to us as we were about to walk on stage and said, "hey, I want to come watch your set, can I just walk with you guys?" And we're like, "Yeah, of course. Why would we possibly say no to that?"

And this particular venue is very confusing and the tour manager we had was pretty new and he didn't really know his way around.

So, we opened the first door and it was a broom closet or something and we took a detour. We opened the second door and it took us back to where we were going.

And then we opened the third door and it was wrong and Jimmy Page quoted Spinal Tap, he goes, "Hello, Cleveland!" and I thought it was hilarious.

We haven't hung out much but I'm a fan and really loved hearing him play that night.

Catch Warren and Gov't Mule as they tour around North America this summer and fall.

Tickets available at Mule.net

Gov't Mule Back in the Saddle Tour 2025

7/24 – Floyd, VA – FloydFest
7/25 – Louisville, KY – Iroquois Amphitheater
7/26 – Johnstown, PA – Flood City Music Festival
8/27 – Milwaukee, WI – Aurora Pavilion
8/28 – Columbus, OH – KEMBA Live! Outdoors
8/30 – Peoria, IL – Peoria Blues and Heritage Music Festival
8/31 – Paw Paw, MI – Warner Vineyards
9/1 – Buffalo, NY – Outer Harbor Live at Terminal B (with moe.)
9/3 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage (with Tedeschi Trucks Band)
9/5 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Broadview Stage at SPAC (with Tedeschi Trucks Band)
9/6 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center (with Tedeschi Trucks Band)
9/7 – Sidney, ME – Bowl In the Pines (with Big Sugar)
9/9 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion (with Tedeschi Trucks Band)
9/10 – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre (with Tedeschi Trucks Band)
10/10 – Bowling Green, KY – Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center
10/11 – Macon, GA – Atrium Health Amphitheater (with Tedeschi Trucks Band)
10/12 – Charleston, SC – The Refinery
10/14 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
10/15 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Au-Rene Theater at Broward Center
10/17 – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheater
10/18 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre Outdoors
10/19 – Virginia Beach, VA – Sandler Center for the Performing Arts
10/21 – Spartanburg, SC – Memorial Auditorium
10/22 – Rome, GA – The Forum River Center
10/24 – Maryville, TN – The Shed
10/25 – Newport, KY – MegaCorp Pavilion
10/28 – Reading, PA – Santander Performing Arts Center
1/15–1/19 – Montego Bay, Jamaica – Island Exodus 16