Warren Haynes’ six-string has fueled Southern rock for decades, and he keeps getting better.

One of the top living blues rock guitarists of modern times did not begin his musical journey playing an instrument. Warren Haynes began singing along to vinyl at home.

“I wouldn’t call ours a musical household, but my two older brothers were both vinyl collectors,” Haynes recalls. “I started singing when I was 8. I’d sit in my bedroom singing, trying to emulate all of my favorite soul singers – Otis Redding, Sam and Dave and later Van Morrison and Steve Winwood. Those early impressions and influences are very deep and tend to stay with you.”

Now leader of the Warren Haynes Band, he became a fan of the Allman Brothers Band at age 9, and from there, the gambit was cast.

When the legendary Southern rock band reunited in 1989, Haynes was asked to join on guitar.

“In addition to having a great collection of blues, soul and rock, my older brother also had a guitar I started plunking around on,” Haynes says. “I got one of my own when I was 12.”

He studied traditional blues players and learned the bottleneck slide. He also listened to Duane Allman.

Haynes met Gregg Allman and Dickie Betts when he was only 20. Betts had called to offer Haynes a spot singing backup vocals on a record he was working on. Right after that, Betts asked him to join the band.

“I was a giant fan and I couldn’t believe that I even met them, let alone sang with them and got asked to join the band,” he says. “It blew me away.”

Haynes is a workhorse, his recording credits appearing with everyone from Edgar Winter and Buckwheat Zydeco to Dolly Parton. His sound, both in voice and on the instrument, are distinctive and familiar (Gibson created a Warren Haynes signature guitar in his honor). And now, with the passing of Gregg Allman and most recently Dickie Betts, Haynes finds himself in the position of a leader.

“It’s funny,” he says with a laugh. “I was always the youngest member of every band I was ever in. Not anymore.”

Haynes recently completed what many are calling his best album yet, Million Voices Whisper, an uptempo ode to the future pairing deep lyrics, funk, soul and rock rhythms, searing guitar work and boatloads of positive vibes.

WARREN HAYNES BAND 8pm Tuesday, May 6. Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $55-$310. 649-1070, goldenstatetheatre.com.