Here's how the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam returned to Asheville as strong as ever following 3-year break
One key: the addition of a second nonprofit that will benefit from concert proceeds
Note: This story sponsored by Citizens Fuel Co., a family-owned Asheville company.
The Warren Haynes Christmas Jam returned to Asheville Dec. 10 stronger than ever despite a three-year hiatus that left loyal fans wondering what the future held for the beloved concert. Keys to this year’s successful comeback included the emergence of a new hub for concert-related activities, the addition of a second nonprofit beneficiary and an adherence to a tried-and-true musical format.
Haynes, an Asheville native and Grammy Award-winning rock guitarist, took the Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville stage early to welcome the sold-out crowd. “I’m so happy we’re back,” he enthused.
After the 2018 edition of the Christmas Jam, a memorable two-night affair to celebrate the event’s 30th anniversary, Haynes said he and his team needed a break. The plan was to rest a year and possibly re-invent the show. The pandemic added two years to that pause, which did little to dampen demand for its return.
Love for Haynes’ music and the Christmas Jam runs deep, and concert-goers snapped up tickets, despite the excruciating frustration many felt in trying to buy tickets online through Ticketmaster. Devoted fans cheered the the Jam’s return the night of the show, many of them bouncing and dancing on the civic center arena’s floor throughout the 7-hour-long show.
Here’s more about how it all went down.
Deepening community impact
Ever since the first gathering of Haynes and his friends at a small downtown club called 45 Cherry in 1988, there’s been a charitable aspect to the show. Proceeds went to a handful of different causes before Haynes landed on the Asheville chapter of the housing nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, founded just five years earlier.
The Christmas Jam has given Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity more than $2.7 million, money donated through the W&S Charitable Foundation established by Haynes and his wife, Stefani Scamardo. Over the years, hundreds of fans have have donated their time and energy to help build Habitat houses through the chapter’s “Before the Jam, Lend a Hand” volunteer opportunities.
Scamardo, who attended a wall-raising party on Friday for this year’s house designated as funded by the Christmas Jam, celebrated with the family of Melissa Mitchell, who will purchase the house in the Habitat development in Candler called New Heights. (Habitat homeowners must meet qualifications based on need, willingness to partner and ability to pay; they pay back an affordable mortgage, with payments that do not exceed 30 percent of the homebuyer’s gross monthly income.) Asheville’s expensive housing market and lack of affordable housing options, both well-documented, have forced the family to sacrifice the quality of their shelter to make ends meet, according to a press release from the nonprofit.
Part of the process of bringing the Christmas Jam back has been thinking about how the event can deepen its community roots, Scamardo told the crowd gathered under a gray sky. That’s why organizers decided to add the nonprofit BeLoved Asheville as a second charitable beneficiary of concert proceeds this year, she said.
“We’ve been trying hard to figure out how can we do what we do in Asheville and continue to make it have more of an impact,” Scamardo said. “I think, for example, bringing in BeLoved to be a part of it, this is another way we’re touching more people who need help.” Jam organizers are open to other ideas, she added.
One big focus of BeLoved efforts is addressing housing insecurity in Asheville through street-level outreach and the construction of a tiny home village. At the jam, BeLoved volunteers held a toy drive to collect gifts for kids in need.
New hub for Christmas Jam fans
For years, the Satellite Gallery on Broadway Street served as a gathering place for fans to meet and catch up before the Christmas Jam, all while taking in the gallery’s annual Christmas Jam art show, which included photos and posters from past concerts. Gallery owner Bill Thompson shut the gallery’s doors for the last time in 2019. He cited skyrocketing rent for his decision to close.
A new jam hub emerged this year - a River Arts District record shop owned and operated by Warren Haynes’ brother, Brian Haynes, his wife, Susan, and their son, Dylan. Records in the RAD opened earlier this year in a large Wedge Studios space and marked a return to the music business for Brian, who operated the Almost Blue record store on Patton Avenue for a decade before he closed the shop in 2004.
Records in the RAD hosted a Christmas Jam merchandise pop-up shop offering concert attendees a spot to find exclusive, limited edition T-shirts, posters and more. The shop also hosted talks by two well-known concert photographers, Jay Blakesberg and Michael Weintraub.
A familiar music mix
The Christmas Jam has always had a line-up that aims for a mix of genres, though it never veers far from the musical sensibilities of its founder, a Grateful Dead fan steeped in Southern rock and blues. It’s a crowd-pleasing mix, and this year’s line-up was no exception.
Dinosaur Jr., Brothers Osborne, Tyler Childers, Gov’t Mule and Phil Lesh & Friends (Lesh, Haynes, John Scofield, John Molo and Rob Barraco), Scott Metzger and Katie Jacoby were featured, as were Audley Freed, Jeff Sipe, MC Taylor (known with his band as Hiss Golden Messenger), Tyler Ramsey and Mike Barnes, both of Asheville, and George Porter Jr. Beth Hart had been an announced participant, but had to drop out due to a health issue.
The line-up is notably a white-dude-heavy bill, an issue that reporter Edwin Arnaudin of Asheville Stages raised with Haynes in a pre-show interview. Haynes said his team was aware of the lack of diversity and has been working to address it. “We just haven't been as successful at making it happen as we would like,” Haynes told Arnaudin.
Despite that weak spot, reviews lauded the show. Garrett Woodward, a Smoky Mountain News reporter and columnist in Waynesville who also writes for Rolling Stone, wrote a complimentary story that included the following: “After a three-year hiatus, the former Allmans guitarist and leader of Gov't Mule resumed his annual concert in Asheville, North Carolina, with one of the Jam's strongest lineups yet.” Relix reported that “Warren Haynes’ annual Christmas Jam ignites Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.”
And JamBase noted that the Phil Lesh & Friends line-up came close to recreating a legendary Friends configuration that became known as “The Q” for “The Quintet.” That group was as follows: guitarists Jimmy Herring and Warren Haynes, drummer John Molo and keyboardist Rob Barraco. For the Christmas Jam, all but Herring were there on stage, with another frequent collaborator, John Scofield, sitting in for him.
There are a couple of other entry points for Christmas Jam devotees that also returned this year. The Pre-Jam concert at The Orange Peel the night before the Christmas Jam offers fans chance to celebrate, with the show broadcast live by radio station WNCW (88.7 FM). And the Jam by Day, held at Jack of the Wood, Asheville Music Hall and the One Stop downtown venues, featured a full slate of more than two dozen local singer-songwriters and bands.
Enjoy the holidays. Thanks for reading,
-j