Warren Haynes has recalled the first time he saw Derek Trucks play electric guitar, and admitted he was blown away by his talents after initially being skeptical over the youngster's chops.
Across the years, the pair have developed a strong musical bond, having locked fretboards via spells in The Allman Brothers Band, as well as collaborating on various occasions under The Derek Trucks Band moniker and beyond.
Furthermore, they recently reunited to revive a lost Gregg Allman song on Haynes' new solo album, Million Voices Whisper. During the promo trail for the record, Haynes was asked about his first impressions of Trucks.
“He's obviously gotten better, and better, and better, but he was great even at 11, surprisingly,” he tells Mike Hsu of 100 FM "The Pike” [transcribed by Ultimate Gutiar].
Trucks was barely in his 20s by the time he was sharing The Allman Brothers stage with Haynes, who in turn had rejoined for a second stint in 2000. But, by Haynes’ account, even as an 11-year-old, Trucks seemed destined for greatness.
“I remember the first time we played together,” Haynes goes on. “The Allman Brothers had a night off, and we were recording in Miami for the Seven Turns record [1990], and Butch [Trucks] said, 'What are we going to do on our night off? We should all go hear my nephew play. He's amazing.'
“Somebody said, 'How old is he?' Butch said, 'He's 11.' And we're all like [dismissively saying], 'Yeah, okay.'”
Their skepticism was quickly questioned by bass player Allen Woody, who backed up Butch’s hyperbole.
“And so we all went out there, and we wound up playing on stage together in his second set, Gregg [Allman], Butch [Trucks], myself, Allen Woody, and Derek. He was smaller than his guitar, but playing like a grown man. And I just remember all of us being like, 'Wow, this kid's really got something special,' you know?”
Trucks and Haynes' return to the studio marks the first time they've recorded together since their Allman Brothers days, which came to an end in 2014.
Trucks is set to feature on a trio of tracks, including a Greg Allman tribute titled Real, Real Love. A new slide guitar-heavy version of the Trucks-Haynes composition Back Where I Started is included with the deluxe CD edition.
Haynes, who teamed up with Slash and Billy Gibbons for an all-star tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gary Rossington at the CMT Awards last year, recently told Rick Beato that he prefers a guitar that puts up a fight when you try to play it.
Warren Hayne's Million Voices Whisper is due for release on November 1.
