The Day Eric Clapton Finally Played Live With the Allman Brothers

Eric Clapton had by no means been on stage with the Allman Brothers previous to 2009.

“People may find that hard to believe, but it had never happened,” Warren Haynes tells UCR, concerning the assembly, which lastly befell on March 19, 2009 at the Beacon Theatre in New York. It’s only one unimaginable second of many for the longtime guitarist whose personal band, Gov’t Mule, is about to have a good time its thirtieth anniversary in 2024.

Whether working with the Allmans or the Mule — and even on his personal for another person’s mission, Haynes has witnessed loads of historic summits. A lot of them have occurred at his annual charity profit, Christmas Jam in Asheville, N.C., which is marking its thirty fifth yr. The newest installment is occurring this weekend with a flurry of particular friends together with Slash and Myles Kennedy, Billy Gibbons and Clutch.

It’s sometimes a prolonged expertise, a live performance extravaganza that runs in the neighborhood of seven or eight hours at minimal. Spontaneity is an enormous a part of the sport, so whereas there are issues which can be deliberate, there are additionally different moments that simply occur.

Today (Dec. 8) Haynes can also be releasing The Benefit Concert Volume 20, an expansive assortment of performances from the thirtieth anniversary Christmas Jam in 2018. All proceeds from the launch, which is on the market in a lot of completely different codecs, are being donated to Habitat for Humanity.

The Benefit Concert Volume 20 collects highlights from the particular two-day occasion, which discovered Haynes welcoming pals like Mike Gordon of Phish, guitarist Joe Bonamassa, Grace Potter, Jamey Johnson and Eric Church. Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl additionally made a notable look, performing his instrumental epic “Play” for the first time ever, increasing the composition right into a 36-minute opus. To date, it stays the solely time that Grohl has performed it reside.

Haynes lately joined UCR through Zoom to debate a lot of subjects, together with the jam with Clapton — and what’s forward for Gov’t Mule’s thirtieth anniversary.

One of your friends at the Christmas Jam this yr is Slash. What’s your favourite expertise you’ve got had with him over the years?
Well, we’ve recognized one another for a very long time, however we’re often simply hanging in passing. This yr was the first time we’ve truly performed collectively. Myself, Slash and Billy Gibbons and Paul Rodgers did this Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute for the CMT Video Awards in Austin. That was the first time that Slash and I had performed collectively. It could also be the first time he and Billy had performed collectively. I’m undecided. Gibbons and I’ve performed collectively many, many instances by way of the years. But it was such a blast, doing this Skynyrd tribute with the three of us as the three guitar gamers, every having his personal form of sound and persona, it was actually enjoyable. Slash and I had been speaking for years about him coming to Christmas Jam. I introduced it up and he mentioned, “You know, I think it might actually work out this year. That would be awesome.” I’m form of psyched to see the place it’s all going to go.

Getting to be part of that Skynyrd tribute, you’ve got bought varied elements of the DNA of that band in your sound, so it is good to get a second to honor an necessary affect like that.
It was stunning — and likewise, having Paul Rodgers there, who’s certainly one of my all-time favourite singers. There’s a full circle closure a part of that entire factor, as a result of Paul goes manner again with the Skynyrd guys. All of the guys in Lynyrd Skynyrd had been enormous followers of Free. They at all times talked about how they noticed Free when [the band] got here to America for the first time. You can hear it of their music. Skynyrd, clearly had been enormous followers of that music they usually turned nice pals by way of the years. It was proper after Gary Rossington had handed, so it was a really emotional time and an ideal reminiscence for me.

READ MORE: See Slash and Billy Gibbons Lead All-Star Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute

Beyond you being a fellow musician and participant, what do you like about what Billy Gibbons brings to the guitar?
I’ve at all times been an enormous fan. You know, Billy is at all times holding extra playing cards than he’s enjoying. He’s at all times able to greater than he provides you. He’s understanded, not fairly to the extent as say, David Gilmour. But it’s in an analogous manner, the place each notice is ideal and what he performs, you don’t envision anything in that area aside from what he performed. He’s simply the grasp of enjoying the proper shit. His tone is at all times impeccable. I’ve been a fan from the very starting, however I believe the first time I heard “Blue Jean Blues,” I used to be like, “Wow.” His blues enjoying is simply high shelf, as is every thing he does. But we’ve been pals for an extended, very long time. We performed collectively many instances, however I catch myself generally going, “Well, I copped this from Gibbons, I copped that from Gibbons.” [Laughs] He’s an enormous affect.

This new album showcases a bunch of nice highlights from the thirtieth anniversary of the Christmas Jam. One of the issues that occurred was that Dave Grohl carried out his composition “Play” for the first time. Did you recognize he was planning to try this?
Yeah, that was one thing we’d been speaking about for just a few months upfront. I’d been reaching out for just a few years in a row about him presumably coming to Christmas Jam. When it appeared like he may do it, it made good sense for him to convey “Play” to the Christmas Jam, as a result of he’d by no means completed it reside. He’d solely completed the recording the place he performed all of the devices himself. It was an ideal alternative for him to do one thing [like that]. You know, “Play” was a charity mission and Christmas Jam is a charity mission, so I believe in his thoughts, it was the good purpose [to do it there], the good storm. And since we’re speaking about the good storm, we bought snowed in.

Watch Dave Grohl Perform ‘Play’

We have an afterparty after the foremost occasion and it was turning into this brutal snowstorm. We bought the phrase that no one was going to have the ability to fly out, that the snowstorm had hit and we had been all stranded. The very first thing Dave mentioned was, “Okay, we need to find a club and do a gig!” [Laughs] We went again to the Orange Peel and did a Snow Jam, the place it was simply impromptu. Everybody got here and we simply jammed. There was no time for rehearsal and there have been numerous cowl songs being performed. But we performed to a small crowd of individuals. It was nice and it was his thought.

That’s such a cool addendum to that specific weekend.
Yeah and it being the thirtieth anniversary, all of it simply form of makes the entire general story that a lot cooler. It’s not the first time that we ever bought snowed in, however it’s the first time that we turned it into that form of celebration. [Laughs] Artimus Pyle, the unique drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd, confirmed up. We performed “Simple Man” with Dave enjoying guitar and Artimus enjoying drums. They’d by no means met and it was only a actually particular second that occurred. Those issues, you may’t plan, you recognize.

You’ve shared the stage with so many legends. It nonetheless flooring me that Eric Clapton did not play with the Allmans till 2009 at the Beacon. Just a few years later, he was reunited with Duane Allman’s traditional 1957 Les Paul Goldtop whenever you all carried out collectively once more at the Crossroads Guitar Festival. What had been these experiences like for you? 
Well, we’ll begin with the Beacon. Eric sat in with us two nights at the Beacon. I believe one evening we performed six or seven songs and one evening, we performed seven or eight songs. It was simply implausible. He performed nice, he sang nice. It was historical past. It was the Allman Brothers and Eric Clapton enjoying collectively on stage for the first time. People might discover that onerous to imagine, nevertheless it had by no means occurred. It occurred as a result of [the 2009 Beacon residency] was all devoted to Duane Allman. We rehearsed on stage at the Beacon the first day and we bought completed with all of the stuff that we had mentioned upfront that we had been going to play. Eric mentioned, “Is there anything else we should think about?” We’re all trying round and he mentioned, “What about ‘Little Wing’?” We all checked out one another and mentioned, “Well, we’ve never played it, but we know it. Yeah, sure, we can do it.” So we did an impromptu rehearsal and performed it that evening and it was implausible.

Watch the Allman Brothers Band and Eric Clapton Perform ‘In Memory of Elizabeth Reed’

That was certainly one of my greatest reminiscences from that entire expertise. But listening to him solo on “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” was wonderful. He’d form of reached some extent the place I believe he thought he was completed together with his solo and was going to form of finish it. But the rhythm part had different plans. [Laughs] They simply saved going, so he was form of compelled to modify into gear six and it was wonderful. It was a particular factor for all of us to witness. Now, [as far as] the story about Duane’s guitar [and] Crossroads, the person who had Duane’s guitar introduced it to the gig. Derek and I had each performed it earlier than, however we had been messing round with it. He mentioned, “You know, Eric probably hasn’t seen this guitar in ages. Why don’t we go show it to him?” We walked again to Eric’s dressing room and as quickly as we walked in the door, Eric appeared up and mentioned, “Is that a replica of Duane’s old guitar?” Derek mentioned, “No, this is Duane’s guitar.” He was like, “Oh my God, I haven’t seen that guitar since we did ‘Layla’.” It was simply unimaginable to witness that. He noticed it from throughout the room. And it’s a very visually distinctive guitar, however he may see from 20 or 30 toes away that that was what it was.

READ MORE: How Eric Clapton Opened His Heart and Made a Masterpiece

What’s forward for Gov’t Mule in 2024?
Well, in the previous six months or so, we’ve employed Kevin Scott as our new bass participant and he’s doing an incredible job. Kevin had subbed for Jorgen Carlsson when he had COVID final yr. He did an incredible job then and we mentioned to ourselves, “Wow, this guy is fantastic, if we ever needed a bass player, he would be the guy to call.” Not figuring out that we might ever want a bass participant, however then because it turned out, Jorgen left the band. Our first thought was, “Let’s call Kevin.” He’s actually simply an incredible participant in his personal proper, however he additionally loves Allen Woody’s enjoying and Jorgen’s enjoying and Andy Hess’ enjoying. He’s come into this as a fan of Gov’t Mule, however he’s bringing his personal factor and it’s actually labored out extremely effectively. I’m trying ahead to subsequent yr, which might be the thirtieth anniversary of the band. We’re going to discover the vaults and see what sort of recorded music we have now that we will make accessible and attempt to do some particular exhibits. I’m very enthusiastic about it.