Warren Haynes Presents the 25th Annual Christmas Jam

Warren Haynes is a musician from Asheville.  He knows his way around a Gibson Les Paul.  In fact he dominates the ’58 Les Paul just like Duane’s.  Warren is a musician with a lot of friends.  The company in which Haynes has spent his burgeoning career is second to none. Early on he found a love for the blues, channeling in on Hendrix and Clapton.  Their influences became his influences; like B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf.  A storied musical career starting early on with David Alan Coe, blossoming into a regular for the Allman Brothers reunion in ‘89.  Oh and he also has two bands of his own; Gov’t Mule and the Warren Haynes Band.  Clearly the man lives up to the hype, and if you’ve heard him play, there’s no question.  A strongly talented musician and songwriter that cares enough to grab some friends and give back to where he came from; that’s what this weekend is all about.

            December 13-14 marked the 25^th anniversary of the Christmas Jam, an event that began in 1988 at the old 45 Cherry Street music club in Asheville.  It became a reason to gather musicians and friends, play together, give back to the community- and have a damn good time while doing it.  The 25^th Xmas Jam called for something special, so the jam was extended over 2 nights.  That grew the number of musicians scheduled to perform.  A line-up that’s about as impeccable as it gets. 

The night started around 7 with a Gov’t Mule set to open the weekend.  Haynes and legendary Nashville songwriter Ray Sisk performed ‘Glory Road’ on acoustic first.  The rest of the band came onto the stage and moved through a few rocking numbers before landing on the ominous, thought provoking ‘Opium’ with Ike Stubblefield and Bill Evans.  The song is a Moe. original that Haynes has sat in on before with Moe.  As is the norm, Mule finished their freight train of a set, and handed things off to Keb Mo.  He changed gears and came out for a solo acoustic set.  Keb Mo is a young legend among blues guitarists, known particularly for his post-modern Delta style blues.  In my opinion, the perfect act to sandwich in between two rollicking electric sets.  Not to mention renowned jazz-man John Scofield joined Keb Mo for 2 songs of the set. 

Things moved right along.  The equipment crews are machines, nothing more can be said about them.  It’s hard to imagine all the hard work and organization that goes into corralling 13 bands together to play for 2 nights.  Kudos to everyone in the crew. 

John Scofield & the Uberjam Band played a fast and funky set of tunes carried by Scofield’s sensational picking.  Next, Gregg Allman’s set with Warren Haynes was a great thing to witness.  Such an amount of respect between the two men and you can hear it in their voices as they pour their souls into each song.  This set saw hits like ‘Midnight Rider’ and ‘Long Black Veil.’  Also a Neil Young cover; ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ and closing it out with ‘Melissa.’  There were a few tears in the house I’m sure. 

Loads of anticipation preceded the next band to take stage.  The return of the Phil Lesh Quintet brought out the heads, as do any shows involving Lesh, but this one was special.  “The Q” as many call it, includes Lesh, Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Rob Barraco on keys and John Molo on percussion.  Deadheads around the country were no doubt tuned in to the live video/audio stream provided by TourGigs.  The set weaved in and out of staples and lesser known’s.  Heavy hitters like Playin’ In the Band > China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider kept the crowd on their toes and antsy for more.  Everyone can appreciate what these gentlemen on stage are doing and where they came from.  Hell, Lesh and the Grateful Dead pretty much paved the way for many of these artists and the way they tour the country today.  Not everyone in the house was a Grateful Dead fan, but they damn sure enjoyed and appreciated it.  The second half of that set proved to be just as sensational as the first.  Now, I never got the chance to see Jerry so any post GD performance is a special occasion for me, a sort of time-traveling musical experience.  We were on the rail, left side, second level- giving us a view of the entire house.  The band segued out of a jam into St. Stephen > The Other One > Somewhere Over The Rainbow > The Other One > Terrapin Station.  Yes, it happened.  It seemed to me these guys are enjoying each other’s company on stage.  The entire set was a real musical conversation, with Haynes and Herring trading licks back and forth, supported by Lesh’s thunderous, yet subtle bass bombs.  I could tell Herring was loving it and although WSP is his current gig to date, I think he misses playing GD tunes.  All ears were eagerly awaiting the set’s encore.  A Terrapin Station finished us off.  It was a great experience.  Everyone in the building singing and jamming a legendary GD tune in unison- truly uplifting.  I’ve failed to mention that at this point, things were running about an hour and a half behind schedule-which is bound to happen.  That put Widespread Panic’s set STARTING at 2:30 AM. Might be the latest they’ve ever played. 

Haynes played host and introduced the southern rock jam titans; “Almost everybody in this next band has been here before, some quite a few times, but as a band they have never been to Christmas Jam… Widespread Panic.”  Cue the crowd roar.  The band clearly had no problem playing so late, crushing the first part of the set with Disco > Pigeons > Papa’s Home.  Herring’s hammering licks sent the crowd to the moon.  Herring has settled in to his lead position with this band.  Not to replace Mikey Houser, but to carry on the legend of that lingering lead and gentle spirit.  An appropriately placed ‘Up All Night’ gave a nod to the late show as well as the time of the season.  “The best thing about New Years are the Christmas lights!” JB cheerfully sang with a smile as the crowd swayed.  ‘None Of Us Are Free’ was a real crowd pleaser.  The whole house was rocking.  Dropping into a smoking hot Surprise Valley the band kept the pace and the energy super high.  The late-staying crowd reciprocated the band’s energy well into the wee hours.  JoJo Hermann spiced things up playing the first licks of ‘Ride Me High’, a fan favorite.  Randall Bramblett, saxophone kingpin and longtime sit-in champion brought his soothing jazz sax on stage to help the boys work this one out.  At over 11 minutes- the tune allowed for improvisation on everyone’s part.  Dave Schools shot a glance across stage to Hermann, a total “let’s knock ‘em dead” look on his face.  The rest of the band took a breather while Sunny Ortiz and Todd Nance took us on a Drumz journey.  Back into ‘Surprise Valley’ almost out of nowhere.  ‘Expiration Day’ slowed things down before the upward paced end of set.  Haynes strolled on stage and joined Bramblett and the band for an ethereal ‘Angels On High.’  I’ve always dug the tune but with Haynes and with Bramblett’s sax, it really doesn’t get any better.  ‘Jesus Just Left Chicago’ put a nice cherry on top of an already stellar set.   A guitar tech brought a revealing instrument out to JB and with that, Panic closed night 1 of Christmas Jam with ‘Ain’t Life Grand.’  Often played, but very well received, this song stands out and has become more or less Panic’s mantra; a word or phrase that is repeated often or that expresses someone's basic beliefs.  This is life.  We all live it. Ain’t it grand? Yes, especially when the set ends at 4 am on a Saturday morning.

Night 2

Day two of Christmas Jam started with a nice meal at Luella’s BBQ.  My good buddy Bobby C and I downed some beers and nursed our hangovers with sliced brisket and collard greens.  Thank goodness for that.  A dreary cold afternoon prompted staff to open the doors 30 minutes early, so we got inside and picked out a row of seats, because standing for 10 hours straight just simply wasn’t going to happen again. 

Warren came out and addressed the crowd as the lights dimmed.  “Some times things happen, forces converge and merge with each other. They go in and out of alignment in a way that only they are capable of.  Ladies and gentlemen, from the four corners of the universe Matt Slocum, Jeff Sipe, Jimmy Herring, Oteill Burbridge, Col. Bruce Hampton… the one, the only, the Aquarium Rescue Unit.” A band well-worthy of Haynes’ fitting introduction.    They expand the definition of jazz fusion.  They play fast, they play loud, and they never miss a note.  The tune that comes to mind when I think of Col. Bruce is ‘Fixin’ To Die’, which they ripped to open the weird, funky jazz set.  Oteill showed his musical prowess with a constant scat singing right in tune with his outrageous solos that run way up the neck of his bass.  This is one of the sets I was anxiously awaiting, because Col. Bruce and Friends played probably my favorite set at this year’s Lockn music festival on Sunday afternoon.  I’ll never forget it.  The sit-ins would continue with Bill Evans on sax and Roosevelt Collier on steel for ‘Compared to What/Yield Not To Temptation.’  Others joined the stage for the last 2 songs of the set.  For the closer, ‘Right Now,’ there were no joke, 15 musicians on stage.  Sax, keys, pedal steel, you name it, just an all out everyone jam session.

          

  The biggest surprise of my Christmas Jam experience was a band hailing from Maryland, O.A.R.  I listened to them when I first started expanding my musical pallet some years ago.  Let’s just say I decided to move on to bigger and better things.  I retracted that statement in my head while I watched them kill their set.  With a full band and horn section, they kept the energy up and had the audience’s full attention early and kept it throughout their set.  Cruising through some of their biggest hits while showing quite a bit of depth, the band dropped hints of Outkast’s ‘Spotti-Ottie-Dopalicious’ and also Sublime’s ‘Pawn Shop.’ The band stuck to what they know and they know it well. They have an almost ska like sound mixed with some dub-reggae and rock and roll.  A far cry from what I remember listening to in 8^th grade.  The staple, ‘Black Rock’ was well received by the crowd.  Warren joined the band for a nice cover of ‘Fool in the Rain.’  Led Zeppelin’s 80’s latin-vibed hit.  You know the part where John Paul Jones goes nuts on the keys, yea, it sent the crowd into a dancing frenzy. After an acoustic number from frontman Marc Roberge, O.A.R. sent us out on a high note with ‘Crazy Game of Poker.’  I was truly impressed by their set.  They were very gracious with the crowd and Warren as well and you could tell they were having a blast.

           

The highlight of my weekend was the following set.  Gregg Allman and Friends.  Featuring a full band- Warren Haynes, Audley Freed, Ron Johnson, Jeff Sipe and Count M'butu.  A true spectacle.  Gregg seemed almost at home, in high spirits among great company.  The set opened with Statesboro Blues, a song I’ve been around my whole life.  Whether at a backyard barbecue, or hanging with my uncle Jeff that can tear up an electric guitar, I’ve always known it and loved it.   The horn section joined the band for the next few songs.  Wonderful, house-rocking versions of Just Another Rider, Soulshine, Stormy Monday, Dreams (the highlight  moment of Christmas Jam in my opinion) and finally closing with One Way Out.  Being from Georgia and growing up around the Allman Brothers Band’s music made this an especially awesome experience for me.   Truly one of the coolest live music experiences I’ve had in my short 26 years.
            Michael Franti brought his fun-loving, musical gospel to the stage inciting hugs and hands in the air.  Where else in the world could you see Franti on stage with Warren Haynes, Artimus Pyle(Lynyrd Skynyrd) Jeff Sipe and several others?  The crowd enjoyed the happy set with musicians cycling on and off stage.   
            Grace Potter and the Nocturnals then shook the foundation of the Cellular Center.  A band whose presence and sound is so enormous, they’re only highlighted by the soulful, stirring vocals and guitar of their wild front woman.  If you haven’t seen GPN, get to it.  They rock harder than most.  The second song of the set, ‘The Divide’ is a new favorite I can’t stop listening to.  A killer set that spanned genres and brought a nice mesh of fast and rocking songs, to slow and beautiful.  An almost country-rock-gospel tone in the song ‘Big White Gate.’  I loved every minute of it.  The set continued on into the night.  Stop the Bus > Paris (Ooh La La) > The Lion The Beast The Beat.  ‘Nothing but the Water’ featured a solo intro from Grace on her signature Gibson Flying V playing with a slide.  I’m pretty sure I heard touches of Zeppelin’s ‘In My Time of Dying.’  GPN closed out their rowdy set with Gimme Some Lovin.’  Grace was jumping up and down, hyping the crowd for this final rock and roll blues party and a party it was.  “I’m so glad you made it! So glad you made it, You got to, Gimme some a loving.”  Awesome.

The final set of the night reached deep into the Sunday morning hours with the weary fans and musicians alike finding themselves still pushing on at 3:30 A.M.  Gov’t Mule would be the last group to perform at the 25^th annual Christmas Jam.  A sought after reunion of Haynes and Scofield, known as ScoMule that hasn’t seen a stage since 1999.  The duo complement each other’s styles well, Haynes with his deep blues roots and Scofield versed in elements of jazz and rock fusion.  ‘Hottentot’ opened the set, a funky number, climbing in pitch and intensity.  Things got jazzier from there with Ron Holloway and Bill Evans bringing in the sax.  Haynes went on to explain that due to the show running late, basically they would not be taking a break pre-encore.  Grace Potter joined Haynes and the band for the encore and to close out the epic weekend.  ‘Soul’ a slow building tune was followed by ‘Gold Dust Woman,’ the perfect duet for Grace’s voice and Warren’s slide on his 12 string Gibson Les Paul.  Grace has sung the tune with the Allman Brothers, but this version with Mule was a little darker.  They killed it and that was a wrap.


It was an amazing weekend in Asheville filled with some incredibly talented musicians.  Probably some collaboration you may never see again.  I’ll be at Christmas Jam as long as Warren wants to keep it up, standing front middle, about 10 people back, happily spending my money for a good cause.  An awe-inspiring event that took place 6 blocks from my new home, I couldn’t be more fortunate.  Thanks to Warren for all he does, and thanks to the crews and all the helping hands that put time and effort into such an awesome event for us music fans to enjoy.