For Warren Haynes and Gov't Mule, passion is where it all begins. "We all have a deep passion for music that will never go away," says this musician's musician who fronts Gov't Mule, is a member of the Allman Brothers, one of the "friends" in Phil Lesh and Friends, is former lead guitarist of the Dead, and is a generally in-demand artist.

      One magazine recently gave Haynes and Gov't Mule heavy praise in suggesting that their dedication to craft is "edifying, life-affirming and deeply satisfying."

      That's quite a compliment, Haynes agrees. "We take music more seriously maybe than some people may in this day and age," he says. "A lot of critics and music writers tend to appreciate what we are doing because we are not cow-towing to the industry. We are doing what's in our heart and trying to keep the voice of integrity alive. We tend to get a lot of respect for that."

      Gov't Mule is an entity that refuses to be stereotyped, Haynes explains. "People characterize us as part of the jam scene or Southern rock or by whatever terms they use to describe us. But I don't think that describes us. We take all of our many and varied influences and combine them and try to create fresh, new music," he says.

      Having said that, he believes his band takes a very old-school approach to music. "We are not stuck in just being influenced by old genres of music, but we are convinced that a lot of the open-minded process and mind sets that went into making a lot of older music is much more gratifying."

      It's suggested that High and Mighty, their most recent CD, effectively bridges the gaps between rock and improvisational music, displaying blues, folk, reggae, soul and jazz influences. Haynes says that even in straight-ahead rock songs, Gov't Mule plays with a jazz sensibility. "Come to our show and you will get a big dose of what we mean by that," he promises. "If you just hear a record [of theirs], you will hear a lot more, especially in live performance."

      The musicians take a very jazz approach to all the different styles they play. "We play a lot of call and response and interplay based on listening very intently to each other. One person doesn't know what they will play until they hear the other and respond to that."

      Improvisation is definitely the lifeblood of all the music they make, he says. "There's a lot of great music that is very unrehearsed and very spontaneous."

      Both the band's live record and live CD/DVD contain a lot of very good music made with little or no rehearsal, Haynes says. "It is very satisfying to walk onstage with a group of musicians that you have that kind of confidence in. You know you can do that."

      He believes the chemistry of Gov't Mule really is greater than the sum of its parts. "As great as each individual musician is in this band, the way we play together makes it special."

      Haynes calls this the most exciting lineup of Gov't Mule. "We could tell right away we had real band chemistry," he says. In addition to him on vocals and guitar, there is Danny Louis - keyboards, Andy Hess - bass and Matt Abts - drums. It was a good feeling to form the group in 1994 and then see it turning into something more than the side project of the Allman Brothers that it originally was intended to be, Haynes says.

      He finds the High & Mighty album an excellent showcase of the band. "I'm very happy with the album from a performance, songwriting and production standpoint. It feels very strong. In a lot of ways, it is our best to date. As a guitar player, I listened to a lot of blues and rock and roll, and a lot of jazz and all those things that worked their way into my vocabulary."

      As a songwriter, he says he tends to study people who he considers the great songwriters of music, whether it is Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits or Elvis Costello. "They may seem like unlikely influences, but you owe it to yourself to study people who are the best in their fields," he says. "I'm trying to combine ingredients that come from all different directions and hopefully create something fresh."

      As for his approach to guitar, Haynes says he plays each note at a time, not knowing which one will be next until he plays the one before it. It's very much based on the blues and jazz styles of improvisation; adapting to the moment and listening to your surroundings and being not only influenced by it, but responding to whatever is happening at the time, he explains.

      "All my favorite instrumentalist were those that sing through their instruments. I grew up as a singer and I tend to have an affinity for people having that singing-like quality on their instruments," he says.

      If a young musician might learn anything from him so far, Haynes says, "Hopefully it's that there is life beyond the hit single. There is a career for musicians who want to be career musicians. You don't have to follow the commercially driven path that tends to lead to a very short career and early demise. All of my heroes were people who wanted to play for the rest of their lives."