Million Voices Whisper is Warren Haynes’ fourth solo album in a prolific career that has seen him tour and record with the Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh and Gov’t Mule, a band that began as an ABB sound project but recently celebrated its 30th birthday. On his solo releases, Haynes tends to focus more on songwriting than heavy jams, and that’s largely true again on Million Voices Whisper. But the album’s guitar headline is that Haynes’ longtime Allman Brothers’ partner Derek Trucks appears with him on three tracks. The songs, co-produced by the two guitarists, represent the first studio recordings Haynes and Trucks have made together since the Allman Brothers Band’s 2003 album Hittin’ The Note.
“I always wanted to do one more Allman Brothers studio record but that just wasn't meant to be, though we were close to having enough material to do it,” says Haynes. “We had a handful of original songs that could have been included and there were a couple of covers that we were doing that would have been great to record. For instance, a cool version of [Bob Dylan’s] ‘Blind Willie McTell’ would have been nice.”
That nagging sense of incompletion pushed Haynes to want to record with Trucks for the first time in over 20 years. The two have had numerous live collaborations in the decade since the Allman Brothers played their last show, but it’s hard to believe how long it had been since they recorded together.
“Derek and I have both been busy doing our own things, but the idea of getting together back into the studio at some point has always been in the back of our minds, so it was great to bring that to fruition,” says Haynes.
This collaboration began when Allman Brothers Band manager Bert Holman sent Haynes lyrics for “Real Real Love,” a song Gregg had written but never recorded. Holman had received them from Paco Zimmer, who had worked as Allman’s tour manager in the early 80’s, and knew that Holman would get them to the right person. Because Haynes and Allman had co-written many songs together, Holman trusted the guitarist to handle with proper love and care. Haynes finished writing the song and immediately knew he wanted Trucks on the track. “It just made sense,” says Haynes.
![Warren Haynes – Real, Real Love (feat. Derek Trucks) [Official Visualizer] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8Ck-SY4O3C4/maxresdefault.jpg)
Trucks immediately agreed and the decision to work together on “Real Real Love” led the two guitarists to gather for a writing session at Trucks’ Georgia farm, where they wrote a new collection of songs, two of which appear on Million Voices Whispers. The nine-minute “Hall of Future Saints” includes an extended outro of Trucks and Haynes playing off and inspiring one another. “We left that in because it captures what we figured people want to hear from us,” says Haynes. “It felt so good to be playing together.”
They recorded their guitar parts playing live together with the band, with their amps in separate iso rooms. They left the doors open, says Haynes, because neither guitarist enjoys relying solely on headphones.
“We're able to communicate in a way that is really easy, natural and organic,” says Haynes. “A lot of that is unspoken communication."
— Warren Haynes
“We're able to communicate in a way that is really easy, natural and organic,” says Haynes. “A lot of that is unspoken communication that happens while we're playing because we trust each other's instincts. Even a lot of the arrangements were done on the floor in the moment — things like who’s going to solo where, what changes the solos are going to be across and if we're going to trade back and forth. It was all quick and natural.”
Haynes and Trucks can also be heard in full flight for three hours of full tilt playing on Final Concert 10-28-14, the newly remastered and released three-CD release of the Allman Brothers Band’s final performance. And there could be more studio tracks soon. Haynes says that the pair wrote a few more songs they really like and intend to return to before long.
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