Warren Haynes plays in two great American rock bands. The first is the venerable Allman Brothers Band, which has rejuvenated itself thanks in part to Haynes’ fiery guitar playing and his songwriting contributions.

The other is Government Mule, a new power trio that also features Allman bassist Allen Woody. Government Mule performs tonight at the 700-seat America Live!, offering an up-close look at superb musicians playing a raw rock-blues combination and jamming like few bands can.

“I guess some people look at it as a spinoff or a side project,” Haynes says in a telephone interview. “We really look at it as a bona fide band and something we want to keep together as long as we can.” With the Allman Brothers playing only 60 shows this year, it’s given Haynes, Woody and drummer Matt Abts time to develop Government Mule.

Fine debut recording

The band’s self-titled debut recording is the kind of record bands don’t make anymore. Guitar solos, long but focused jams and a spontaneous, live feeling fill the 12 tracks, which were recorded and mixed in a miraculously quick three weeks.

The songs were performed, arranged and honed on the road before being committed to tape.

“Our concept,” says Haynes, 35, “was to try and make records in a totally different fashion than people have gotten accustomed to recently. All the records we all grew up loving, whether it was Otis Redding or Cream or Hendrix, just had a much rawer approach. We wanted to get back to that.

“The three of us grew up in a time period where improvisation was the lifeblood of music. Every great band back then made a live record, and the live records showed you what they were capable of and how they explored. You’d get a much better handle on how they thought, musically.

Like longer solos

“You’d find these four- and five- minute guitar solos, and it’s much easier to figure out what’s going on in their mind when you can analyze a five-minute solo instead of a 20-second one.”

In concert, Gov’t Mule (that’s how they write it on the disc cover) uses a similar approach. No two shows are the same – fans are invited to bring tape recorders, just like they do at Allman Brothers shows – and the songs provide a framework for exploratory jams.

But Gov’t Mule’s jams have direction. Haynes says the key to successful jamming is to pay careful attention to the other players.

“One thing Government Mule has that the Allman Brothers also has in common is that everybody on the stage is listening very deeply to what everybody else is playing,” he says. 

“You can call yourself a jam band, but if you’re not paying more attention to the players on stage than you are to the people in the audience, you’re selling yourself short.”

Started young

Haynes was 9 years old in 1969 when a cousin from New Orleans turned on him and his older brothers to the first Allman Brothers Band record. “We didn’t know what to think; it was different than anything we’d ever heard.”

At 14 and “barely old enough to tune my guitar,” Haynes was in bands playing covers of Allman’s songs like In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. “We would jam on it for an hour,” he says. “God knows it was horrible, but we were trying.”

Then in 1986, with the Allmans broken up, Haynes hooked up with guitarist Dickie Betts as a player and songwriter. When the Allman Brothers re-formed three years later, they asked Haynes to join.

“I guess if I’d have thought about it more than I did, it would have been daunting,” Haynes says.