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.”

Pre-save "Otherside" with Thunder Jackson & Miiracles: https://poolside.lnk.to/otherside

Management
mgmt@anotherplanetent.com
Booking (World ex Europe)
lhughes@teamwass.com & amctaggart@tbaagency.com
Booking (Europe)
carlos.abreu@unitedtalent.com
tom.grainger@unitedtalent.com

Explorer. Adventurer. Manipulator of Sound. Master of Ceremonies. Producer of Yasiin Gaye, Fela Soul, Bizarre Tribe, A Common Wonder & more.

BIO:

Forging an evolution of the "mashup" album format, producer Amerigo Gazaway's "conceptual collaboration" projects imagine studio sessions between like artist of different genres and eras. With a process the LA Times' Randall Roberts described as "drawing a different design within a similar framework," the producer/DJ deconstructs and re-orchestrates samples from his respective subjects, bridging overlapping themes of the two musician's classic catalogues. Equally influenced by his Brazilian roots and southern U.S. upbringing, the 28 year old Nashville native's work was featured in Apple's "What Will Your Verse Be" series of iPad commercials, called "brilliant" by music’s premier aficionado, Questlove, and earned praise from national/global outlets such as The Guardian, Huffington Post, The LA Times, Vulture, NPR, BBC, MTV, BET, REVOLTtv, EBONY,VIBE, XXL, THE SOURCE, OKAYPLAYER, Wax Poetic, Gizmazo and HipHopXL to name a few. 
 
The son of renowned Jazz trumpeter, Gary “El Buho” Gazaway, Amerigo’s thematic documentary-like concept albums uses found interview sound-bites, live performances, and original multi-track stems to help narrate and craft his combined artists' stories. Finding his first success with 2011's Fela Kuti/De La Soul pairing "Fela Soul," the project went on to land on several year-end "best of" lists including NPR, Soul Train, and OKAYPLAYER. Following the release in 2012 with "Bizarre Tribe: A Quest to the Pharcyde", a concept that layered vocals of The Pharcyde over re-imagined productions sourced from the original Soul, Jazz, and Funk records ATCQ utilized to create their productions, Gazaway would later collaborate with The Pharcyde on their single "Still Got Love" and perform with the legendary group at SXSW.
 
Continuing the theme of his previous work in 2014, the producer united Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def) and soul legend Marvin Gaye for a dream collaboration aptly titled "Yasiin Gaye" (side one and side two.) Building the album’s foundation from deconstructed samples of Gaye’s Motown classics, Amerigo re-purposes the instrumentation into new productions with the familiar fervor of the original work. Carefully weaving Bey’s tangled raps and Gaye’s soulful vocals over his new arrangements, Gazaway delivers a quality much closer to an authentic collaboration than a lukewarm “mashup” album. Drawing nearly 20,000 downloads in its first two days of release, the “Master Modern Soul Match Maker” (Juan Vidal- Vibe Magazine) earned a perfect “5 Star” review from BET, collaborated with New York Magazine cartoonist, Drew Dernavich, for the project's side two cover art, and landed on Billboard's Best Selling Singles Chart with the album's third single, "You Are Undeniable."
 
Honing his DJ skills through tours of Europe, Brazil, and the U.S., Gazaway’s dancefloor driving live set features classic breakbeats, original blends, remixes, edits, and mashups of multiple genres including Funk, Soul, Disco, Hip-Hop, Afrobeat, and everything in-between. With presentations and lectures logged at USC, MTSU and upcoming dates at Google HQ (NYC) and SXSW 2015, the DJ/Producer continues to highlight the possibilities of sample based art and shows no signs of slowing down.

Contact/DJ booking/remixing: vibes4yoursoul@gmail.com

Mendel weaves together different rhythms, intensities and emotions with precision and passion. His captivating sets reflect a broad spectrum of music plucked from anywhere in the last fifty years, from sweet boogie steppers and high-energy disco to deeper house, moody electro, and gritty acid tracks. Though his dance floors always move through moments of euphoria, Mendel favours the sensual moments over fist-pumping fixations. His party—and life—philosophy is to transcend quick entertainment and strive for something meaningful. This ethos resonates with audiences worldwide who seek genuine and heartfelt experiences. Whether playing on a wild boat, a big festival stage or in the darkness of an intimate club, Mendel’s sensitive perception and proficiency, honed over two decades of experience, are ever evident. 

In his hometown of Amsterdam, Mendel hosts the Ciranda parties, a community-driven event series. Ciranda’s programming platforms upcoming talent, unsung heroes, and the occasional legend, while its loyal and diverse dancers bring a truly special, warm energy that is hard to come by.

Welcome to Radio Primavera Sound, the official radio station of Primavera Sound. Here you can listen all the bands that have been played on the festival. Interviews, lives, reports and much more! Tune in and enjoy RPS!

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