It’s the most wonderful time of the year in Asheville, NC. Though the Christmas season is still a few months away, the Western North Carolina music hub already has cause to celebrate as Warren Haynes has announced the 2022 return of Christmas Jam to his hometown on December 10th.
This season’s Christmas Jam will mark the first edition since 2018 when Haynes celebrated the concert’s 30th anniversary with a two-night show at the U.S. Cellular Center, now known as the ExploreAsheville.com Arena, where the concert will once again take place. Haynes put Christmas Jam on hold in 2019, with 2020 and 2021 editions later thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The last celebration featured a Gov’t Mule performance of Dark Side of the Moon, a “Dave Grohl & Friends Play ‘Play‘” superjam, Eric Church, Mike Gordon, Jim James, Jamey Johnson, and more.
What Haynes started in 1988 as a fundraising get-together for local Asheville musicians has since ballooned into a nationally-recognized underplay for all-star talent at the 7,700-seat downtown arena, Christmas Jam’s home since 2001. Beginning in 1998, Haynes and his wife Stefani Scamardo have donated all of the proceeds from the concert to Habitat For Humanity.
Haynes traditionally opens the show with a solo set and has Gov’t Mule—or in past instances, The Allman Brothers Band during his time with the group—headline the all-day musical marathon. Past concerts have also featured the debut of Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, and Bill Kreutzmann‘s SerialPod as well as performances from Bob Weir, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Widespread Panic, Billy & The Kids, Jackson Browne, Dave Matthews, and many more.
Tickets and lineup information for Christmas Jam 2022 will be announced at a later date.