1.

Special Guest Alan Haynes headlines a special live-streamed edition of Stories From The Road. In his 50 years of channelling the blues, Haynes has played countless stages scattered across Texas, America and overseas, but on April 10th he will be playing a brand new venue—your home!

Join us for this unprecedented event, sure to be accompanied by some unprecedented guitar work as Alan delivers his unique musical stylings straight from his Strat to your living room. From ringing finger picked runs, to slide guitar grooves that you’ll be humming for days, Alan brings “the road” right to your front door for a first of its kind show that you won’t want to miss.

Check out this version of “I Wonder Why” captured in Aalborg, Denmark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trBuSn5sh4M&list=RDQM5GF3VsMbvjc&start_radio=1

2.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell speaks of a “10,000-Hour Rule.” He believes that it takes that much time, or roughly 10 years of dedicated practice, to reach world-class expertise in any field. What Gladwell fails to address is the further degrees of virtuosity that might be achieved with 20 years, or even 30 years of refinement and exploration.

Join us, when Stories From The Road and special guest Alan Haynes defends his “55,000-Hour Rule” thesis through a mind-melting display of guitar prowess, honed and expanded by a master who has been sharing his gift since the age of 8. This decades-long journey will be making a stop in your home via live webcast on Friday, April the 10th in a must-see show for all blues fans. Don’t miss it!

Take a look at Alan conducting “research” at The Big Easy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N57MYqSGyRY

3.

Stories From The Road exists to create great live musical experiences, and cares deeply for the well-being of the community that makes this music and these stories so special. Resolved to keep the music playing, we are thrilled to present blues legend, and blues-therapist Alan Haynes.

Don’t miss your chance to catch Mr. Haynes and his therapeutic session to be held live via webcast and enjoyed in the safe comfort of your own dwelling. His healing hands will be all over the fretboard as the clean, crisp finger-picked licks are sure to satisfy even the most veteran blues aficionados.

Bunkering down at home is tough, but listening to Alan ply his trade will be a reprieve, and might even be good for your soul. The show must go on! Check out this therapy session with Alan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI0nhnM75Eg&list=RDMMtrBuSn5sh4M&index=7

4.

The blues tradition depends on continued creativity. Part of this comes from original songs and new sounds, but an equally important driver is the imagination to reinvent the classics. With Double Trouble as his backing band, Alan Haynes’s 1994 album, Wishing Well, revives classic Elmore James, Bobby Bland, T-Bone Walker, and many others, in a modern style that sounds fresh, raw, and uniquely his own.

Tune in with Stories From The Road and special guest Alan Haynes as he does his part in keeping the blues alive by reanimating decades-old classics and sharing his personally penned contributions to the blues canon. Up close and personal via live webcast, it’s sure to be an energized and impassioned lesson in blues—its past and its future.

Some blues history (T-Bone Walker), brought to life courtesy of Mr. Haynes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=decIMYvuiIQ

5.

Ever since the electrification of the guitar, players and engineers alike have rabidly searched for new effects, pedals and technologies to re-color, distort and distinguish their sounds from others. The results have been astonishing. Just listen to Alan Haynes rip through this rendition of “Sunny”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWA8Lcr_Nko

Surprise! Unlike many guitarists, Alan can wring all of that tone and sparkle out of his preferred setup—his 1960 Fender Stratocaster plugged directly into his amplifier. No gadgets, no gizmos, no “man behind the curtain,” just the man on your screen, via webcast, Friday, April 10th. Stories From The Road invites you to join Mr. Haynes for a night of inspired and organic blues from a “guitar players’" guitar player!

6.

What do Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Raitt, and Otis Rush have in common? If you said they were all once in a generation guitarists and performers you’d only get half credit. If you also said that they have all shared the stage with another epic musician, namely Alan Haynes, then you probably already know that he’ll be performing live via webcast as this month’s Stories From The Road special guest.

If you couldn’t muster any answer, that’s alright, it’s all the more reason to get with the blues! And there’s no better place to start than on Friday, April 10th when Alan Haynes will be singing songs and sharing stories sure to be engaging to even the most weathered of blues connoisseurs and inviting to those new to the tradition. See you on “The Road.”

Here’s Alan with another master, Jim Suhler, exploring “Too Poor To Die”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8XCy7Ge070

7.

Music is an auditory art form and a communal experience, so perhaps it would seem that the excessive availability of visually-focused, youtube-like clips have nothing to offer to the true music “believer.” Look deeper and you may find the rare player that moves in such a way that there is no doubt as to the genesis of his style—himself. Sure, the sounds that he bends to his liking have their roots in musicians that have come before, but there is no doubt that he has taught himself the discipline.

Alan Haynes is one of those artists, and Stories From The Road is happy to have him as April’s special guest. The interplay between his two hands is unique among bluesmen, and the sounds and emotions he is able to coax from his guitar and voice will be front and center when he steps into your living room for a live webcast. We hope to see you there.

If music can be visual, then what better way to show it than Alan’s rendition of Jimi’s “Little Wing”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN27Hqdj9Kg

8.

There are as many ways to perform as there are musicians. Some artists aim to dazzle and dance and others tend to be more subdued—they are often the ones who truly lose themselves in the music. Alan Haynes belongs to the latter category. His dress is casual, maybe accompanied by a cowboy hat, or more recently an understated flat cap, but he knows he’s on the mic, not the runway.

With a warm stage presence and a gentle determination in his playing, his focus is his music, and in a way, his music is his temple. Stories From The Road invites you to accompany us on our trip to this temple of music on Friday, April 10th, courtesy of this month’s special guest and living blues legend, Alan Haynes.

Here’s Alan with “Parchman Farm,” and your daily dose of guitar nirvana: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sleTboLA6hg

9.

Compact disc, vinyl, cassette tape, mp3, 8-track, minidisc (remember those?!?)—the device list, and the debates go on forever. But we can all agree that the best way to listen to music is, and always will be, live and with friends. So, although we’ve had to get a little creative in these strange times, Stories From The Road will still be offering April’s show, just via webcast.

Join us as special guest Alan Haynes broadcasts his blues directly to you, and the entire Stories family, Friday, April the 10th. In the not-too-distant future we’ll be back to hugs and high-fives, but for now, we can all raise a glass and enjoy the music—live and with friends.

Listen to Alan and some friends work through “Mother Earth:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khtg5e6ziqY

10.

Music lovers in Austin are pretty spoiled, and there’s nothing wrong with that. In the live music capital of the world, we’re so used to this abundance of sound that we sometimes take our own native gems for granted. Originally hailing from Houston, Alan Haynes is one of these understated, local legends—a living embodiment of the blues tradition.

Every bit as essential to the Austin legacy as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gary Clark Jr., no blues fan’s live-list can be considered complete until they’ve had the privilege of hearing Mr. Haynes and his unique vision of the blues. Don’t miss your chance to catch Alan live via webcast for this April’s edition of Stories From The Road.

A clip of two of Austin’s all-time greats, Messrs Haynes and Vaughan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPFVmVXMx40

11.

Music has always contributed to our sense of community and shared history, two important unifying aspects of an often fragmented modern society. Some of the songs we know by heart have become cultural touchstones, and the euphoria of losing oneself in a favorite groove, or a beloved guitar solo never tires. Behind this inexplicable elixir are the musicians—the creative forces that supply us with so much joy.

In the days and weeks ahead, music fans have a chance to repay our debt to these artists by continuing to support them as we all try to stay connected while being physically separated. Stories From The Road and special guest Alan Haynes will be bridging this physical space through the transcendent power of his music as April’s show streams to you live via webcast. Stay in touch, and we hope to see you there.

Listen to Alan performing “Help Me” overseas in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3jc4XdLbwM

12.

While a live webcast might not be the preferred method of attending a concert, even the most ardent purists would have to admit that it does have its advantages. There’s no need to make the painstaking decision whether to push to the front for the best view, or hang back by the audio booth for the best sound—Stories From The Road and Alan Haynes will be delivering both, right to your home!

Check out how up-close-and-personal it can feel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeToUdcD4o0 Watch and listen to how Alan transforms a standard blues structure with his nuanced playing, using his pickup selector and the positioning of his picking hand to inflect and color his original blues licks. For most of us, April 10th is going to be the closest we ever get to playing with Mr. Haynes!