News

Warren Haynes Releases Additional Track From New Album With Railroad Earth June 16, 2015 10:22

Photo via Front & Center

On July 24th, Warren Hayes will release his latest solo album, Ashes and Dust, featuring Railroad Earth as the backing band.  While the album as a whole is a new release, it will feature much material that Haynes has been working on for many years.  Originally planning to record this album with Levon Helm, Leon Russel, and T Bone Wolk, Haynes was forced to set the project aside upon the untimely death of Helm and Wolk.  It was at that time that Haynes went into the studio with Phil Lesh & Friends to record Man In Motion, his second solo studio album which was released May of 2011.  Shortly after this release, Haynes met the members of Railroad Earth when the group opened for the Allmans in Colorado.  After several on stage collaborations, the decision was made to bring Railroad Earth on as the backing band for Ashes and Dust.  

Ashes and Dust also features guest appearances by Grace Potter (who duets on a version of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman"), Shawn Colvin and Willie Nelson's harmonica player Mickey Raphael, while former Allmans mates Oteil Burbridge and Marc Quinones join Haynes and Railroad Earth on "Spots Of Time," a song Haynes wrote with Phil Lesh that the Allmans played on stage but never recorded.

 

In a recent interview with Billboard, Haynes elaborated on the new album:  

"I've been writing these kinds of songs my whole life, and as far back as probably six years or something I started thinking about making this kind of record," Haynes tells Billboard about the rootsy and acoustic-flavored set, which he recorded with Railroad Earth. "I just felt like it was time for me to start recording all these songs that were different from the Mule and different from the Allman Brothers and even different from my last album (2011's Man in Motion). The oldest one is almost 30 years old ('Is It Me Or You'), some of them are brand new, and there's a lot in-between." 

"My original plan was to either release a double CD or to release two CDs simultaneously," Haynes says. "Then I started thinking, 'No, let's just put out one and then continue the process.' So when I get a break I'm gonna go back in the studio and finish up whatever small details haven't been finished with the stuff we already recorded, and there's five or 10 other songs I'd like to record as well. I just want to keep this process going and another record along this line will come fairly soon, I hope."

Upon the release of Haynes latest group of tour dates last week, he released "Spots Of Time," the lead single from Ashes and Dust.  Just yesterday, an additional track, "Company Man," was released.  "Company Man" hits on a personal note for Haynes, as it is a song about his father.  He gave elaborated on the new tune with Billboard:  "My dad grew up working in a grocery store for 23 years and then the company was gonna close down in the southeast," Haynes recalls. "They said they could relocate him to the West Coast or Northeast or Midwest or something, but he wasn't into it. That's not where his roots were. He didn't want to move his whole family. So he said no and started over and got a job in a factory where kids had more seniority than him. To me it's just a true Southern tale of someone who lived their life by his own standards. He has a lot of conviction, and I've always admired him for it."

Listen to "Spots of Time" and "Company Man" from the upcoming Warren Haynes album Ashes and Dust featuring Railroad Earth

 

Click Here for a Full List of Warren Haynes Tour Dates - Including Those with Railroad Earth