The Whisper Sessions Warren Haynes

• 1 Back Where I Started (Whisper Sessions) 04:22
• 2 Till The Sun Comes Shining Through (Whisper Sessions) 05:08
• 3 From Here On Out (Whisper Sessions) 04:26
• 4 ‘Til I Can Make It On My Own (Whisper Sessions) 03:28
• 5 You Ain’t Above Me (Whisper Sessions) 03:38
• 6 This Life As We Know It (Whisper Sessions) 04:04
• 7 Real, Real Love (Whisper Sessions) 05:32
• 8 These Changes (Whisper Sessions) 06:29
• 9 Melissa (Whisper Sessions) 05:36
• Total Runtime 42:43

Info for The Whisper Sessions

Grammy Award-winning vocalist, songwriter, guitar legend, producer, and Gov’t Mule front man Warren Haynes has announced The Whisper Sessions, a collection of stripped-down versions of songs off his recent solo album Million Voices Whisper.

Coinciding with the announcement, Haynes has released his single in support of The Whisper Sessions with “These Changes” featuring Derek Trucks, who also co-wrote the song. “These Changes” is about someone who is trying to work through hardships and acknowledges that the relationship is important enough to do whatever it takes to make it better. As Haynes shares, “‘These Changes’ is a song I wrote with Derek Trucks that we recorded in the studio together. I love this song, which is about looking back and forward at the same time and navigating your way through an ever-changing life. The instrumental section at the end, where we are trading guitar riffs and playing off of each other, was not in the original arrangement as we wrote it – it just came about organically once we started recording the song. It was a great opportunity for the two of us to rekindle our chemistry that we’ve had for a long time.”

The 9-track album – which includes a stunning version of the Allman Brothers Band classic “Melissa” with Haynes’ longtime Allman Brothers Band bandmate Derek Trucks, who is featured on three songs, will be released on Friday, September 12 via Fantasy Records / Concord. The intimate renditions peel back the layers to spotlight Haynes’ soulful voice, masterful guitar work, and the heartfelt storytelling at the album’s core.

The Whisper Sessions is a rare, unfiltered glimpse into the essence of each track – where every lyric and note resonated with newfound clarity and depth. The album features seven standout tracks from Haynes’ acclaimed fourth solo album Million Voices Whisper, including the singles “This Life As We Know It,” which reached Top 15 on the Americana singles chart and Top 40 at Triple A radio; “Real, Real Love,” also featuring Trucks, whose lyrics were initially started by Gregg Allman; and two poignant covers, each reimagined to highlight Haynes’ emotive vocals and six-string mastery.

“We didn’t plan to release stripped-down versions of the songs from Million Voices Whisper, it just kind of happened organically,” says Haynes. “We were combing through these performances and realized that they offer a unique perspective into the songs themselves, so we thought it would be cool to make them available.”

Million Voices Whisper, released in November 2024, debuted #1 on Billboard’s Blues Albums Chart and marked Warren’s first solo album in nearly a decade. The 11-song, self-produced collection of soulful blues-rock has been hailed his best album yet.

Warren Haynes

Warren Haynes
You wouldn't know it from listening to Warren Haynes' work with Gov't Mule or the Allman Brothers Band, but there was a time when he didn't play guitar. He says, "I didn't get my first guitar until I was 12. My oldest brother had an acoustic guitar and I would bang around on it and try to play." But guitar wasn't even his first love -- it was singing. Around the time he was eight or nine, Haynes' two older brothers began turning him on to soul music. He would sit in his room, singing Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. He became fascinated with sounds of Motown and Memphis. "All I cared about was the singer. The really strong singers really knocked me out. Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops still is one of my favorite voices of all time. And I always liked B.B. King even before I liked the blues. His voice was the main thing."

Guitar didn't escape Haynes' attention for long, however: he would soon turn on to rock and roll. "I really liked Eric Clapton. He was the first guitar hero I had. I liked really heavy Cream stuff. I liked all the Derek And The Dominoes stuff." Haynes' brothers used his admiration of Clapton to expand his musical horizons to take in the blues masters. They would tell him to check out Howlin' Wolf because Clapton played on it. Interviews with Haynes' favorite guitarists led him to other blues players, and the scope of his guitar playing grew accordingly.

Soon Haynes found himself performing at private gigs and pool parties. When he was about 14, he started hanging around a local pizza parlor that had been converted into a nightclub. About six months later, word got out that Haynes played guitar. The regulars wondered what this kid could do, so they offered to let him on stage.

It wasn't long before Haynes was playing in a band called Ricochet that developed a good regional following. One day, Haynes got a call from David Allan Coe, and it was a major break for the 20-year-old Haynes. He played with Coe from 1980 to 1984 (traveling all over the States and Europe) and played on nine of Coe's albums. Haynes also met Dickey Betts and Gregg Allman through Coe, and when Coe's band opened for The Allman Brothers at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Betts sat in. Four years later, Haynes moved to Nashville to do session work, but the Allman connection was still there. Betts was doing some demos in Nashville and called someone to put together a group of background singers. As fate would have it, Haynes was one of them. Later, he called Haynes and invited him down to work on some songs. Those songs turned into Betts' solo album, Pattern Disruptive.

At the same time, Allman decided to record "Just Before the Bullets Fly," which Haynes co-wrote, as the title track to his 1988 album. It's no wonder that when The Allman Brothers reformed for their Reunion Tour in 1989, Haynes got a call to join. That tour turned into two studio albums and two Grammy nominations for Best Instrumental Rock Performance (in 1990 for "True Gravity" and 1991 for "Kind of Bird," both of which were co-written by Haynes and Betts) and then a live album in 1992 An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band. Haynes' songwriting, singing and playing helped make Seven Turns, Shades of Two Worlds and An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band, the Brothers' most critically acclaimed albums in years. Many critics give Haynes credit for putting the fire back in The Allman Brothers Band.

Haynes also took time out to release his first solo album, Tales of Ordinary Madness. The album featured the piano work of Chuck Leavell. Leavell also played on the album, joining another former Allman Brother, Johnny Neel, and Funkadelic's Bernie Worrell on keyboards. Marc Quinones, percussionist in the current Brothers lineup, also helped out.

After dropping out of The Allman Brothers Band in 1997 to pursue his side project (Gov't Mule) on a full-time basis, Haynes, along with bassist Allen Woody and drummer Matt Abts, released their third album in 1998, Dose, as a follow-up to their highly successful 1996 debut album and the 1996 recording Live at Roseland Ballroom. (Michael B. Smith, AMG)

This album contains no booklet.