{"id":24274,"date":"2022-12-20T05:30:34","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T10:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24274"},"modified":"2022-12-21T08:07:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T13:07:48","slug":"its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas-jam-part-2-of-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/20\/its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas-jam-part-2-of-3\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s beginning to look a lot like Christmas (Jam), Part 2 of 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

Guitarist Mike Barnes played that first Christmas Jam. Friends with Haynes since the two were second graders at Claxton Elementary, he formed the band Blue Sky with his fellow guitarist when they were 14 years old. By the mid \u201870s Haynes and Barnes co-led another group, Total Eclipse. \u201cWe did some battles of the bands, pool parties and whatever gig we could scrounge up,\u201d Barnes recalls. \u201cWe all cut our teeth together.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the late \u201880s, Haynes\u2019 career had begun to take off; he had already spent four years as a guitarist for outlaw country star David Allen Coe, moving on to work with the Nighthawks and then with former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts. And it was on a break between dates with Betts that Haynes returned home to Asheville. While in town, he decided to organize a get-together.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then, most of us were traveling,\u201d he says. \u201cSo it was hard to get everybody together at once, but that seemed to be an opportunity.\u201d By his recollection, the charitable nature of the Jam came about by default. \u201cWe weren’t making very much money, and there were too many musicians to pay,\u201d he explains, recalling the thinking: \u201cOkay, everybody take $11 \u2026 nah, let’s just give it to charity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnes remembers it slightly differently. \u201cThe very first Christmas Jam was to benefit Ronnie Burgin,\u201d he says. The local blues\/rock musician was a longtime friend of both Barnes and Haynes. Proceeds from the fundraiser would go toward \u201ctry[ing] to get [Burgin] in rehab to stop drinking, because he was in pretty bad shape,\u201d Barnes says. The fundraising part of that goal, at least, was a success. (Burgin died in 1993.)<\/p>\n

But a precedent had been established. \u201cWe thought, \u2018Let\u2019s do it again next year,\u2019\u201d Haynes recalls. \u201cAnd that next year was even bigger. Then it gradually turned into something even beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Beyond local<\/b>
\nThe Jam continued as an annual event at 45 Cherry for a few years. \u201cOne year we did two Jams for two different charities,\u201d Haynes recalls. One took place at 45 Cherry; another was held at Sonny\u2019s Bistro in East Asheville. That year marked the start of higher-profile musicians from outside Asheville joining the festivities. Marshall Tucker Band co-founder Toy Caldwell and Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys performed. And beginning in 1994, nonprofit Asheville Habitat became the beneficiary of the fundraising event.<\/p>\n

By the late \u201890s, Haynes was a star. He had spent a decade as guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band, and concurrently launched his own group, Gov\u2019t Mule. His higher profile and status in the music community meant that he could call upon famous friends to take part in his annual charitable endeavor. Jimmy Herring, Edwin McCain, Col. Bruce Hampton and Derek Trucks were just a few of the marquee names who graced the Christmas Jam stage in those years.<\/p>\n

Along the way, the Christmas Jam moved downtown to popular venue Be Here Now. Not much larger than 45 Cherry, that location soon proved inadequate for the burgeoning event. Going forward, the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium would host the Jam, and by 2001 when that couldn\u2019t hold it all, the event moved next door to the Asheville Civic Center (known today as the Harrah\u2019s Cherokee Center), where it is currently held.<\/p>\n

While in its early days the Christmas Jam focused on Southern rock, it broadened to feature a more eclectic lineup, one that can appeal to a wide array of music lovers. And that\u2019s very much by design. \u201cOn some level,\u201d Haynes admits, \u201cI choose music that I like. The Christmas Jam is representative of my taste in music.\u201d But in practice, that can mean nearly anything from \u201crock to blues to bluegrass to jazz to country to soul,\u201d Haynes says. \u201cIt can really go anywhere, as long as it’s integrity-oriented music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, some of the most celebrated acts to take part have included Widespread Panic, Sheryl Crow, Hot Tuna, Steve Miller Band, Los Lobos, Peter Frampton, Counting Crows and a long list of other big names. And surprises often factor into the Jam: in 2018 Dave Grohl and Friends added an impromptu set at the Orange Peel. Meanwhile, the Asheville character of those earliest events is preserved by additional \u201cJam by Day\u201d events at smaller venues featuring local musicians.<\/p>\n

Click here to continue<\/a>\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… Guitarist Mike Barnes played that first Christmas Jam. Friends with Haynes since the two were second graders at Claxton Elementary, he formed the band Blue Sky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,44,62],"tags":[237,2851,2347],"class_list":["post-24274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-live-shows","category-rawk","tag-asheville","tag-christmas-jam","tag-warren-haynes","cat-41-id","cat-44-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24274"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24594,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24274\/revisions\/24594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}