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You think you know someone, and then you realize that there’s more than meets the eye. 

Grammy Award winning artist Warren Haynes has been recognized as a cornerstone of the American music landscape and revered as one of the finest guitar players in the world. Throughout his prolific career as part of three of the greatest live groups in rock history – Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule and the Dead – his virtuosic artistry has led to thousands of unforgettable performances and millions of album and track sales. Despite all of the ground that Haynes has covered on his musical journey, the impressive thing is that he still has many miles to explore. On his newest solo album Ashes and Dust, he puts forth one of his most gorgeous, musically rich and personal albums to date. It is endlessly exciting to see one of the most brilliant minds in modern music shine an entirely new light on the depths of his creativity. 

Ashes and Dust, only the third studio album Haynes has ever released under his own name, is a masterful work of art and a particularly important statement for Haynes. The songs are immediately and clearly different from his usual style – encompassing beautiful acoustic arrangements, a rootsy/Americana soundscape and honeyed vocals that cut straight through to the soul. Although many of these songs are brand new, some of the tunes that make up this album have been dear to Warren for years. In some cases he has been carrying them around for 20 or 30 years, waiting for the right time to record them. 

“I’ve been writing songs all my life from a more folky, singer-songwriter, even Celtic direction,” he says. “For a while, I’ve been compiling songs that didn’t necessarily fit in with Gov’t Mule or the Allman Brothers or even my last solo album. So this record was really a chance to bring a lot of that music to fruition. It’s really given me the opportunity to take a lot of songs I love, that didn’t have a home, and build a home for them.”

Given his life-long commitment to experimentation and eclecticism, though, it should come as no surprise that the album reveals yet another new side of his musical personality. Knowing that he wanted to pursue a more folk-based approach on this project, he brought in the New Jersey-based Americana band Railroad Earth as collaborators.

“I have a cool chemistry with those guys—they add their own personality to the songs, but they’re really great at interpreting, as well,” says Haynes. “We’ve known each other casually for several years, and then at Del-Fest a few years ago, we winged a few songs together and it went really well. A little later, when I was opening the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, they joined me for part of the set. We did that with a little more rehearsal, more preparation, and it was a great experience. At that point, I started thinking that maybe I should make my next record with these guys.”

Even with a clear sense of his goals for the album, Haynes and Railroad Earth still needed to explore various avenues and possibilities. They recorded more than 30 songs, often trying entirely different arrangements for each take or even recording late at night and not listening to playbacks until they reconvened the next day. 

Fans of jam-band powerhouse Gov’t Mule or the most recent soul-charged incarnation of the Warren Haynes Band—or listeners who know Haynes through his 25-year affiliation with the Allman Brothers Band or his work with various extensions of the Grateful Dead family—may be surprised to hear him working in a more song-based context. Several of the tracks on Ashes and Dust, like “Company Man” and “Coal Tattoo,” are links to the folk tradition of narrative writing.

“I love story songs,” Haynes says. “I was very influenced by the whole concept of writing songs that tell a story. When I first got bitten by the singer-songwriter bug, when I was 14, it was due to those people who transported you to another place and another time with their songs”

Which is not to say that Ashes and Dust leaves his instrumental adventures behind; several songs such as “Blue Maiden’s Tale” and “Stranded in Self-Pity” open out into more extended musical journeys. “In the studio, you’re always looking for the balance between structure and focus and improvisation, opening up the music to chance” says Haynes. “But too much of either can keep the music from being as rewarding or as effective as it can be. Luckily my audience loves things to be stretched out. They love to hear the performance aspect. It was nice to take a few dirt roads, musically speaking, and go to some places none of us were expecting.”

Haynes shares that this album also brought out some new dimensions for him as a guitarist. “My playing here is quite different from what I’ve done in recent projects. It’s showcasing a side of my musicality that’s unlike, in some cases, anything I’ve ever done,” he says, noting that he played a hollow-body D’Angelico instrument (“kind of a jazz guitar”) for many of the sessions. “I like to adapt to my surroundings—to the music itself and to the musicians, trying to choose a musical voice that fits into the overall picture a certain way. I played a lot more slide guitar than I’ve played in a long time and a lot of acoustic guitar, things that were more directed to weaving themselves into the fabric of this music.”

One of the songs, “Spots of Time” (the lyrics of which include the phrase that gives the album its title), may be familiar to ardent Haynes-watchers. The song was written by Haynes and Phil Lesh from the Grateful Dead, and the Allman Brothers have been playing it on stage in recent years. He had hoped that the song would be included if the Allmans made another studio album, but after the legendary band retired in 2014, he decided to record it himself—but not before inviting Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge and percussionist Marc Quinones to join him in the studio.

On “Gold Dust Woman,” Grace Potter adds her unique vocal timbre. Sparking a fast friendship and instant chemistry several years ago, Haynes and Potter have performed this song together many times on stage and this endeavor seemed like the perfect opportunity to document it in the studio. That chemistry, along with Railroad Earth’s unique instrumental interpretation, plays out here in fine form on the sole duet on the album.

The presence of these world-class musicians and artists, along with that of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin and famed harmonica player Mickey Raphael (who each make an appearance here on “Wanderlust”) is yet another reason why Ashes and Dust stands as such a personal, ambitious document of Warren Haynes’ history. With songs that reach back to his initial fascination with music and others that go right up to the present day, it’s a look behind his first-rate playing and into his enduring creative spirit.

“These songs were each very important to me when they were written, especially since some of them go so far back,” he says. “They’re all visual memories and experiences of certain time periods that I tried to capture in song. They really represent a collection of memories in my life.”

From the city that takes a bit of pride in it's status

For the past quarter-century, Colorado’s Leftover Salmon has established itself as one of the great purveyors of Americana music, digging deep into the well that supplies its influences; rock ‘n’ roll, folk, bluegrass, Cajun, soul, zydeco, jazz and blues. During their twenty-five plus years as a band they have headlined shows and festivals from coast to coast, released nine albums, and maintained a vibrant, relevant and influential voice in the music world.

Trance-folk artist mixing traditional and modern elements to induce a meditative journey through song...

“Freedom is another word,” so the song went back in an easier and less costly time, “for nothing left to lose.” Freedom—the kind that Tedeschi Trucks Band has created for themselves since their inception in 2010—has come at a much higher price and required a deeper sense of dedication. It’s the kind of freedom that has allowed them to keep a band that has grown to more than a dozen musicians and crew on the road for five years, garnering an ever-increasing international audience, while developing a musical identity that has yielded original, award-winning recordings. 

Let Me Get By is the third and latest studio album by the TTB, featuring ten new, original songs that together stand as a testament to the hard work, independent spirit, and now full-on commitment of the husband-and-wife team of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, plus the musicians and music professionals who are part of the band’s ongoing journey. The album’s artwork—a Mongolian golden eagle caught moments after flying from its master’s glove—and even the album title, reflect the sense of total dedication that serves as the driving wheel of TTB.

“’Let Me Get By’ actually refers to a lot of things,” says Trucks, “like the band becoming more self-reliant than ever before—writing our own songs and producing our own music in our own studio. It’s about moving on to a new recording label with a deal that gives us more freedom, and personally, I found myself with more time to focus on TTB after the Allman Brothers played their final shows this past year. 

“It definitely took time for us to get here. I think the connections we have in this band and among the crew and extended family is the real reason why. I look around the stage every night and am just in awe of the situation—the music’s amazing and road-tested and we all really like each other. That’s what I hear in the music on this new album—this feeling that we’re now putting 100% of what we have into this band, not going back to anything else, not having anywhere else to go.”

The TTB journey began on April 1, 2010 with their first gig at the Savannah Music Festival, and led to the recording and release of their Grammy-winning debut album Revelator in 2011, and Made Up Mind two years later. During their five-year rise, the group toured incessantly, raising their profile and being handpicked to play with the likes of Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and Santana; to appear on television shows hosted by Jay Leno, Conan, and on the premiere of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show; and hosting special all-star musical salutes themselves, including Bonnaroo’s Superjam in 2014 (with Chaka Khan, Anthony Hamilton, Taj Mahal, and others), and Lock’n Festival’s Tribute to Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen in 2015 (with Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, and many other original members.) 

What began as an eight-piece group has now expanded to an onstage lineup of twelve musicians—a lineup that has remained unusually consistent. In 2015, for the fifth straight year, they were on the road for more than 200 days, and sold more tickets than ever before. Swamp Raga, the recording studio that Trucks and Tedeschi built from scratch next to their house, has been expanded and updated to the point that no other facilities are required. Bobby Tis, the band’s longtime, on-the-road monitor engineer has become their full-time studio engineer; Trucks himself now serves as sole producer. All tracks on Let Me Get By, to be released on January 29, 2016, are credited to Trucks, with three songs co-produced by guitarist and longtime collaborator Doyle Bramhall II.

“Derek hears everything from a big picture stance,” says his wife and band co-leader, singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. “Not just track by track but the album as a whole. What needs to be added, when a song is done, and he really knows how to get the best out of each player. On this album I feel like I was personally produced with more direction than I ever have. He instinctively knew when I could sing a better take, and would have a suggestion or two, and that really brought the best out of me.”

Let Me Get By is the culmination of an exceptionally busy year for TTB. The music on the album in fact, as guitarist and bandleader Trucks remembers, was born during tour rehearsals in their hometown of Jacksonville, Florida in January with an impromptu idea played by the band’s keyboardist. “The song ‘Let Me Get By” started at sound check one day, Kofi [Burbridge] playing that riff and then we took it into the studio and [singer] Mike Mattison and Sue went upstairs and the lyrics just poured out. It's a bunch of different true stories meshed into one.”

Like the group’s other recordings, Let Me Get By benefits from a number of musical elements that have become TTB trademarks: their deep sense of American roots music: rock, blues, soul, and especially gospel; Their balance of easy-flowing song structures and soaring, improvisational sections; Tedeschi’s spiritually charged vocals, and Trucks’ wide range of guitar tones, slide and picked, from back-alley, distorted rawness to Indian sitar-like sinuousness. 

There are a number of characteristics that differentiate the music on this new album. One is a clearer, more mature musical identity that comes through a generous array of musical moods and feels. Tedeschi credits it to the inside familiarity among the group’s members: “the album didn’t come from any outside influence. This is the first time it’s all in-house, so I feel it's really a good look at the actual band in action, how we communicate together.” Trucks agrees, adding that “the band is in a better place than it's ever been that way. When everybody would be in the room anyone could just throw out ideas and everybody’d be willing to listen. You have to really trust each other and not be afraid of getting your feelings hurt. That’s more how it was at the beginning but now it’s a fun process, with everyone contributing.”

Another growth ring is a sense of expansion to TTB’s sonic signature. There’s an increased focus on Tedeschi’s powerful guitar playing (especially on “Don’t Know What It Means,” in which she solos powerfully before her husband’s guitar statement. As well, the album features the first lead vocals on a TTB album by Mike Mattison (on “Crying Over You” and “Right On Time”), whose mastery as a lyricist and songwriter has always been a central part of the TTB sound.

For Trucks, Let Me Get By is concrete evidence that the band is on the right track, and that more singular music will continue to flow from the expansive yet tightly connected musical family TTB has become. “There’s a lot of sacrifice that goes into a band like this and the fact that everybody’s on board musically, hearts and minds, makes it very humbling. There are nights on stage when I think I don’t know if it’s ever been more fun to be in a band and be on the road and be alive than it is right now with a group like this. For me, that’s the joy and the thankfulness that comes across in Let Me Get By. 

“Susan and I take that seriously and at the same time, Susan started a kind of joke about it. After shows, she started to say to everyone, ‘Thanks for letting me be in your band’ and we’d all laugh. Now we all say it.”

Cory Rooster Meyer is following