How We Got Here - By Warren Haynes

The Christmas Jam, which, as I’ve stated many times, is neither a “jam” nor a Christmas show — in 30 years I believe there’s been three Christmas songs performed — started in December of 1988 in my hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, as an opportunity for all the local musicians in our circle of friends to get together at the one time of the year that it seemed all of us were home at the same time — the Christmas holidays. Intended as a one-time event (“event” is actually a bit of an overstatement), the idea was to have fun, play some music, and celebrate all of us being together. Whatever money we made — if any — we would pick a local charity and donate it to the cause. To give some indication as to how long ago this was, one of the early causes was Vietnam Veterans. The United States had not yet entered the first Gulf War, and I had not yet joined the Allman Brothers Band, which I would do a few months later.

Based on the success of the first Christmas Jam, which was mostly gauged by how much fun we had, we decided to do it again the next year… and the next… and the next… and each time it continued to grow exponentially. Somewhere along the line we stumbled on the idea of donating the proceeds to Habitat For Humanity, and that relationship just sort of clicked. I liked the fact that you could see where the money went — you could see the houses being built. We have been honored to have worked together with Habitat since that day. (And proud to know that proceeds from Christmas Jam events have generated over $2.7 million for Habitat, and together we have built dozens of homes in the greater Asheville area.)


The first few Christmas Jams were held in a small club called 45 Cherry, where most of the participating local musicians, myself included, had played at some point prior under several different names such as The Dock and My Brother’s Mustache — the latter of which I had played at on my 18th birthday (much to the surprise of the owner who had hired me in his club for several years, not knowing I was underage… but that’s another story). Asheville at that time, although there was a healthy scene of great local musicians, was still musically deprived from the standpoint of having decent venues to perform in, and all the “national acts” would skip over us for that reason, opting instead to play Charlotte or Atlanta. All that would eventually — and gradually — change.

The first ray of hope, from a venue standpoint, was a club called Be Here Now, which would open a few years later. After several years of hosting "the Jam” — which it was starting to be lovingly referred to as — at 45 Cherry, we had begun to look for a bigger and better venue. Although still not a huge step up in either category, Be Here Now was booking “national acts” and fulfilling the demand of the diverse and ever-growing Asheville scene of music fans, so it would become our new home in 1992. Simultaneously “the Jam” was not only starting to attract the attention of fans from far beyond the Asheville area, but also arousing the attention of my fellow musician friends like Allen Woody, Derek Trucks, Bobby Keys, and Toy Caldwell, who would all make their way from other cities to help out in those early days before “the Jam” would become something much larger. As it continued to grow, again exponentially, it was becoming obvious that, after a few years, we were outgrowing Be Here Now as well.

The final straw came about when Derek’s guitar was stolen from the dressing room by one of the many unauthorized guests who had made his way past the lax security (or lack thereof) and out the door. Although the guitar was later returned — “no questions asked” — my wife, Stefani, turned to me at that point and said, “That’s it! We can’t do this anymore. It’s time to make this thing a national event.” That began her involvement with all future Christmas Jams.

Her company, Hard Head Management, took over the logistical duties that had previously all been done on a much smaller scale, mostly by myself and a handful of close friends. The first step was to move it in 1999 to the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, a 2400-seat theater built on the site of the long-since-torn-down Municipal Auditorium where I saw my first concert — the Edgar Winter Group, with opening act the Marshall Tucker Band — as a 12-year old who had just started to play guitar. This was a big step up from a small club, and would entail reaching out to musician friends and acquaintances who were not necessarily from the nearby area and who could help fill up the new venue.

The first year at Thomas Wolfe was a success, so, just like before, we decided to do it again. After three years, however, and thanks to the wonderful people who contributed to the cause, it was growing beyond our own expectations. In 2000 we turned away an estimated two thousand fans for “the Jam," so the next step, in 2001, was to move it to the Asheville Civic Center — later called the U.S. Cellular Center, and now named Harrah’s Cherokee Center — where I had seen many amazing shows in my formative years. This was a major step, but one we needed to make. The Christmas Jam has been held there ever since, despite repeated pressure to move it out of Asheville to a more major market. Over the years we’ve been fortunate to feature an astounding number of wonderful performances by an amazing array of diverse artists and bands, but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that many of the unique highlights of Christmas Jams through the years have been the collaborations that have happened spontaneously, often for the first time, and in many cases between artists and musicians meeting backstage — or even on stage — and forging lifelong relationships.

Although Christmas Jam, the main event, is traditionally a one-night event, there have been three occasions where we felt the need to make it two nights — the 20th, 25th, and 30th Anniversaries, each of which featured extraordinary line-ups. The performances being represented in this package are culled from the 30th Anniversary in 2018, which was in itself a milestone for “the Jam.” However, its importance is amplified by the fact that the next year we would take a well-deserved break with every intention of resuming business as usual in 2020, not knowing that 2020 would bring about the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected the entire world — which obviously includes the future of the music business (along with the future of the Christmas Jam). In any event, this show represents the end of an era.

I owe a deep debt of gratitude to everyone who participated in making this 30-year musical experience something I’ll always cherish, and an even deeper debt of gratitude to the following people, many of whom were there early on, and who continued to contribute year after year: Allen Woody, Audley Freed, Col. Bruce Hampton, Count M’Butu, Craig Sorrells, Dave Schools, Derek Trucks, Edwin McCain, Fred Eltringham, George Porter Jr., Gov’t Mule, Grace Potter, Gregg Allman, Ivan Neville, Jackie Greene, Jason Isbell, Jeff Sipe, Jen Gunderman, Jimmy Herring, John Bell, John Molo, John Popper, Kevn Kinney, Mike Barnes, Oteil Burbridge, Paul Riddle, Phil Lesh, Robert Kearns, Rocky Lindsley, Ron Holloway, Susan Tedeschi, and Terence Higgins. As I’ve also stated many times, none of this would have been possible without the generous contributions made by all the artists and their teams, staff, and our numerous partners who donated their time and talent to a wonderful cause.

Speaking as an Ashevillean, we can all be proud of the growth Asheville has made over the last three decades. It has become one of the top places people want to move to and remains a place that locals never want to leave. Christmas Jam is sort of a microcosm of that growth and spirit.

- WH