Actually, it was singing that came to Warren Haynes first. As a seven-year-old in Asheville, North Carolina, Haynes was drawn to the soulful vocals of James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Motown acts like the Temptations and Four Tops. While his father loved Merle Haggard and Bill Monroe, and his older brothers dug Miles and Coltrane, Warren soon discovered rock music, and when the oldest Haynes brother got an acoustic guitar, it was eleven-year-old Warren who played it more than its rightful owner.

Warren’s father got him an electric guitar for his 12th birthday, and his passion for Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton led him to their blues and rock influences, which mixed with the soul, country, and folk he’d heard growing up to help him forge his own sound.

That sound developed in a series of local and regional bands throughout his teenage years, and when David Allan Coe's bass player, Mickey Hayes, caught a 20-year-old Warren Haynes live at The Brass Tap in Asheville, he called the boss and recommended Haynes for a spot in the band. Haynes accepted, kick-starting a journey that eventually led him to roles in the reunited Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh & Friends, and The Dead, where he's handled many of the guitar parts once played by Jerry Garcia.

Haynes has also made a name for himself, both as a co-founder of jam/rock icons Gov't Mule and as a solo acoustic performer. He's appeared on dozens of records with bands as far-reaching as Peter Frampton, Corrosion of Conformity, and the Les Claypool Frog Brigade, all while maintaining a non-stop touring schedule that would crack most musicians.

In naming Haynes one of the Top 20 New Guitar Gods in February 2007, David Fricke of Rolling Stone said, "Haynes is one of the guitar’s best reasons to see live music, and he is probably on-stage somewhere as you read this."