Warren Haynes will host his fourteenth annual Christmas Jam in Asheville, North Carolina, on December 21st. Bob Weir and Friends, Moe, Robert Randolph and the Family Band and John Hiatt and the Goners will take part in the seven-hour event, which raises money for Habitat for Humanity.

Haynes' event started at a small, now-defunct club in his hometown fourteen years ago and has gradually expanded into the Asheville Civic Center. "It started as local musicians getting together to jam at the one time of year all musicians seemed to be in town," Haynes says. "We'd take whatever money was made and put it towards some sort of charity. For homeless people, Vietnam vets, for AIDS victims. When it got too big for the clubs, we moved into the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium and it holds like 2,400 and we did it there for a couple of years, but the last year we turned away like 2,000 people. So we moved it up to the biggest venue in town, which holds 7,200.

"Each year just falls into place. It always has this improvisational spirit and some people get together and play and in some cases they've never jammed together before. There's something exciting about playing music with someone you just met in front of a big audience. There's just something that hearkens back to the old days when we started playing."

The Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh and Friends, Blues Traveler, the Bottle Rockets, Drivin' and Cryin' and Col. Bruce Hampton are among the acts that have taken part in past Christmas Jams, gradually driving up the show's attendance.

This year, Haynes will take part in an impromptu band with the Weir, Widespread Panic bassist David Schools, keyboardist Rob Barraco and drummer John Molo. "We'll probably play something we've never played before," Haynes says. "We'll pick some stuff that we all know, but we have yet to compare notes, so we're not there yet."

This year's Jam will be the second since Haynes' Gov't Mule lost a co-founding member, bassist Allen Woody, to a heart attack in 2000. The band has continued forward, releasing The Deep End, Vol. 1 last year and Vol. 2 this year, two collections of new Mule material featuring guest bassists including Lesh, Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica), Stefan Lessard (Dave Matthews Band) and others. And the bassist also left his imprint on the Jam. "Outside of myself, Allen Woody made more of those Christmas Jams than anybody," Haynes says. "He'd always get in his truck and drive from Nashville to Asheville. We pay everybody a nominal amount, and he'd always put it back in the kitty and say, 'I don't need it.' Woody was just one of those kind of people. 'I don't need a plane ticket, I'll drive.' That kind of thing."

In addition to the confirmed bands, the Christmas Jam will feature several guest performers including DJ Logic, Drivin' and Cryin' frontman Kevn Kinney, and slide guitar whiz Sonny Landreth.

Tickets for the event are $35 and available through Ticketmaster. Last year's concert raised more than $40,000.

ANDREW DANSBY
(December 9, 2002)