Warren & Stefani Haynes
PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREA CERASO
UP CLOSE, AT HOME IN BEDFORD
After a half-century of rockin’ and rollin’, Warren Haynes is still filling arenas playing with his band, Gov’t Mule, and still selling a whole lot of solo and collaborative work! He’s a grand ‘ole dude among the guitar g.o.a.t.s, having most famously played for a quarter-Century with the Allman Brothers Band. And while he looks every bit the part of a down-home rock n’ roller, complete with a bit of a Southern drawl - and by all outward appearances seems totally incongruous as a suburban dad, no less a New Yorker! - Warren and his wife of 26 years, Stefani Scamardo, and their now teenage son, Hudson, have been proud B&NC MAG locals since 2011!
Born in 1960 in Asheville, in western North Carolina, Warren grew up in humble circumstances, raised by a single father after his parents divorced when he was 8. “I guess I started singing in my bedroom, and then I was singing all the time with my two older brothers. We had a record player and we used to listen to a lot of Little Richard, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, the Temptations, Clapton, and then Stevie Wonder. My dad got me an acoustic guitar when I was 11, and I’ve never stopped being infatuated. I got my first electric for my 12th Birthday. My dad was working a double-shift, but he could tell I was serious about playing, and he would upgrade me every year with a better guitar or a better amp,” Warren recalls. “My dad was a super-sweet person. Everybody loved my dad. He passed during Covid. He seemed to understand that music was going to be my thing, and supported that. He taught me everything about morality and duty, and not to lose sight of what’s important in your life. He had a bad opinion of people who look down on other people - and I feel the same way. And he used to say it was ‘better not to meet your heroes because they might not be who you expect’, but I feel like I’ve met more good people than bad in my life.”
“There was a kind of underground club scene in Asheville when I was a kid - that’s now pretty vibrant, and I started sneaking into places when I was about 14…first to listen…but then I was also invited to play. I got hooked on the feeling of performing!”, Warren tells about his start as a professional musician. “When I was 16, my band and I built-out an old school bus with some living room furniture and a generator, and started touring the Southeast, driving the bus to play wherever We could find an audience. I moved to Nashville when I was 23 and was getting a lot of good session work. When I was 26, Dickey Betts, who was already famous for being a founding member, guitarist, singer, and songwriter for the Allman Brothers, asked me to sing background on an album for him. He called me back after we did the recording and said ‘I’m really not happy with that album, but how’d you like to get together with me to start a band?’ I toured with Dickey for two or three years and then, in January 1989, when Dickey and the guys were reforming the Allman Brothers, they asked me to join, for what we thought was going to be a ‘one year anniversary tour’…and that was my main gig until the band ended in 2014.”
Modest even about his musical accomplishments, Warren doesn’t describe or project himself as a rock star. He doesn’t talk about himself unless you ask, and when he says the Allman Brothers was his ‘main gig’, he doesn’t get into how big the Allman Brothers were or are, and he doesn’t mention that he also toured with The Dead from 2003 through 2009, or that he continues to play as a regular guest with Phil Lesh and Friends. As Pete Shapiro, the legendary impresario, friend of the Grateful Dead, and owner of the Allman’s and Dead’s favorite Capitol Theater in Port Chester, and the Brooklyn Bowls around the U.S., says about Warren: “Some people may think of Warren as an Allman Brother, but he is an overall Rock & Roll legend.
I feel fortunate that Warren and I go back to when I was running the Wetlands in Manhattan in the 90’s and he would come in and play with his own band and be a very special guest for a number of the top bands coming through. He’s an iconic performer - renowned for both his easily identifiable voice and his guitar shredding. He really is the consummate professional, and he’s always super kind and a pleasure to be around. I feel lucky every single time I get to see Warren perform!”
Indeed, Warren has played with just about everyone and in a variety of musical genres, including appearances and recordings with the Dave Matthews Band, Peter Frampton, Chris Stapleton, Coheed and Cambria, Dave Grohl, Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton, to name just a few.
Warren is also the longtime leader of Gov’t Mule, about which he says, “The Mule has been a rewarding musical journey for me, and we’ve been blessed to have a large and loyal Gov’t Mule audience along for that journey. We’ve been known to do 100 to 150 performances a year and I still appreciate doing it. We’re extremely comfortable together, and improvisation and experimentation is a big part of our musical experience. It’s fun to do different things depending on the situation. We feel an energy from our audience when we’re performing live, and that energy inspires us to achieve greater heights. It’s the same thing that got me so excited performing as a teenager. The touring part of my life - all the constant traveling and different hotels - is the hard work. But I usually don’t have to be on the road for more than three weeks in a row without at least a week of time at home. I think the band sounds better than ever - I certainly hope so! We released two new Gov’t Mule albums in the last 3 years, including a Blues record that was nominated for a Grammy. It still feels fresh, I still get a charge, and the 3 hours I spend on stage are always the most fun part of the day!”
And then there’s the half-dozen albums and the performing Warren has done solo or as the Warren Haynes Band. “From the beginning, I’ve always been into writing music. And I love being able to write, sing, and perform my own tunes. I’ve got a lot of creative energy,” Warren smiles. “I’m always working on something, and I’ve got a new solo album called Million Voices Whisper being released this Fall.”
"No matter how big a rock star Warren is...he's one of the most down-to-earth, soft-spoken, thoughtful, and kind guys in town," says Sam Hollander - a famous and multi-Platinum songwriter, who grew up in Bedford Hills and, after selling a bunch of his songs for a big bundle, moved back to his hometown.
“Early on, Warren played a big role in my decision to follow my songwriting passion,” Sam declares. “When I was 19, my late pal Jaik Miller befriended Stefani and Warren and we were invited to a rooftop party at their apartment on the lower east side of NYC. Man, I was totally starstruck. Warren was the first guitar god I’d ever met in person! After a few drinks, I dared to talk to him and, far from just giving me a signature and moving on, he was just the sweetest, most gracious guy ever. The night ended with Warren gifting us tickets to watch the Allman Brothers at the PNC Center in New Jersey the following evening. 24 hours later, I was literally sitting on the stage watching the band’s masterful set from 10 feet away while staring out at the 15,000 folks in the crowd. What an incredible introduction to the music business! It was one of those first, pivotal moments that lit the proverbial match for me. Later in my career, Warren guested on an album I was cutting. Just watching this legend do his thing was mind-blowing. I think he nailed the tune within two takes!”
Still, maybe more than anything else, Warren is a family man.…He met Stefani in 1989, when she was invited backstage with a girlfriend after an Allman Brothers show in Baltimore. As Kirk West, who was the Tour Manager for the Allman Brothers from ‘89 to ‘09, recalls, “I remember when Stef showed up. She was a Deadhead, cute and energetic, and lots of fun. The Allmans used to love to have a lot of their guests on stage with them, sometimes swelling to a hundred or more, and then those folks and others were always pressing to get backstage…and I was supposed to be kind of both the maître d’ and the cop at the door at the same time. Warren was and is always charming and gracious. He understands he’s been given a gift with his music and he’s really humble and grateful about it…and he looked like D’Artagnian back in the day! But Warren wasn’t a loose guy, he wasn’t out to get girls, like Allen Woody, or to participate in any of the Allman’s heavy party scene - although most of that had anyway subsided by the time the Allmans reformed as a group in ‘89. In fact, while Warren was always trying to be accommodating, we had this ‘secret code’ for when Warren had just enough of a backstage fan but didn’t want to in any way offend them, where he would out-of-nowhere scratch his left elbow …and I knew it was time to pull Warren away!”
“She’s been running every aspect of my life in the music business ever since ‘97” West continues, “Warren was raised-up right by his father, Ed Haynes, who was a thoughtful, inquisitive, confident, and most genuinely good example to Warren. Warren and Stef hit it off immediately. They liked the same music and food, and they both liked to go to clubs to see this kind of music or that kind of music, and they’re both really regular kind of people. …My wife, Kirsten, and I bought ‘The Big House’ in Macon, where the Allman Brothers had gotten their start back in the ‘70s, when we moved down from Chicago in ‘93, and Warren and the Gov’t Mule moved-in in ‘94. My wife and I have been dear old friends with Warren and Stef for a long time. Stef is a stabilizing force for Warren, and they’re both always very giving and thoughtful. Warren played my last Birthday Party! We’ve been up to their beautiful place in Bedford lots of times and love it up there, and although we’d love for Warren and Stef to live closer to us, you have to understand that Warren has a weakness for our peach cobbler and the fried chicken at the H&H that might be dangerous if he was to come to Macon for much more than a visit!”
“You understand that I was much younger than Warren…when we met,” Stef jokes. “I grew up in Northern Virginia and went to the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland. I’ve always been into sports and music. Growing up, I played four sports - soccer, basketball, softball, and track & field - and played the drums, collected records, and went to a lot of concerts. I ended up pursuing soccer and played Division I for George Washington University. When I graduated, I moved straight to New York City. I couldn’t get here fast enough! I had majored in Psychology and Sociology and had always thought I would ‘save the world’, but then couldn’t find the right career path to make that happen. My dad encouraged me to ‘do what you’re into’...and that was always music! I took a course in Music Engineering at The New School to learn how to make a record, and got an Internship within two weeks of that at Island Records, where I worked in the A&R department for many years. While at Island, I formed my management company,
Hard Head, and my record label, Evil Teen Records. I was just breaking into the music business when I met Warren.” Warren interrupts, “She was already really good. The truth is that, by ‘97, all the members of Gov’t Mule were telling me we had to have Stef as our manager…and she’s been running every aspect of my life in the music business ever since! Stef oversees all our touring, recording, production, marketing and day-to-day business. Stef is also a DJ, and was the face of Sirius XM’s Jam On for sixteen years, co-founded Mountain Jam, one of the country’s premier music festivals in Hunter, NY, and will soon be debuting a new talk show and podcast. Through Hard Head Management, Stef has managed a bunch of other artists, including Tyler Ramsey, DJ Logic, Living Colour, Chris Robinson, and Soulive, and is known for her ear for talent and ability to develop young and unknown artists, like The Revivalists, and Marcus King…and all at the same time she manages to be the best mother in the world to our son, Hudson.”
Clearly their mutual pride and joy, Hudson excels at Rippowam Cisqua, and has already distinguished himself on the drums. Warren comments, “He’s been drumming on everything around the house ever since he was really little and could keep a beat right from the start. He’s already had two bands, the Gigachads and the Riptides. But if you ask me if I’d like to see him make playing music his profession, well, I probably wouldn’t recommend it. The last job I had was at 15, and the pressure of making a living as a musician, and all of the ups and downs in the music business, make me think it might be best to try it as a hobby for five or ten years and see if you’re really passionate enough about it.”
“And though I understand I may look and sound a little like a duck out of water around here,” Warren admits, “this area is a great place to raise a family.” Stef adds, “It feels like home to both of us - even with Warren being from North Carolina and me from Virginia. It’s actually pretty similar aesthetically to my family’s farm in Upperville, Virginia. We’re proud New Yorkers! We’re Knicks and Rangers fans. And, heck, we named our only child Hudson! …Although, we also feel like when it comes down to it, no matter where you live, it's about community! We support a bunch of the vibrant and important charities in this community, including Bedford2030, Endeavor, and the John Jay Homestead. I am also on the national Boards of HeadCount, an extremely important voting organization, and Music Will, formerly Little Kids Rock, which brings music education to schools.”
Two years ago, Warren gave a private show in their backyard to benefit Rippowam Cisqua, and the hundred tickets available sold out to Ripp families in minutes. Renewing the Haynes’ commitment to Ripp, on September 7, 2024, Warren will again be performing in their backyard to benefit the school…this time with an audience of 150!
“And neither Warren nor Stef will bring it up,” Kirk West reminds, “but what they’ve done with the Asheville Christmas Jam is nothing short of a Christmas miracle! Warren and Stef have been the driving force in turning the Christmas Jam into a fabulous 501(c)(3) annual event that yields significant contributions for Habitat for Humanity and to support the Asheville community.” Stef remarks, “It’s the spirit of the Christmas Jam we’re so proud of! Asheville is very important to Warren…and now it’s the longest running charity concert in the country! This year will be our 33rd event and over those years, we’ve raised nearly $3 million for Asheville Area Habitat For Humanity, constructing over 50 homes across thousands of acres. We’ve also recently partnered with another local charity, BeLoved Asheville, who are boots on the ground helping with immediate needs for homelessness, hunger and the elderly. Christmas Jam is one of our greatest achievements.”
About music generally, Warren philosophizes, “It’s important to think you’re good, but be a bit scared you’re not. Never get cocky, Nervousness is a part of the overall thing. It makes your voice more vulnerable. It’s important to stay in good physical condition. And I think it’s important for musicians to listen to instruments other than the one they play, and to study the phrasing of great vocalists. I’m most influenced by the sax. And I like to listen when other artists cover and rephrase my songs…even if a couple of them have screwed up…in my opinion!”