Readers, welcome to the 9th edition of Under The Fretboard, where we share hidden gem artists that live outside the assembly line of modern music machinery. Like many in this series, Dwayne Haggins has been playing mostly in a regional circuit. He is in the New England area, with a home base in Framingham, Massachusetts. He has ventured out to sea on a pair of Joe Bonamassa’s Keeping The Blues Alive at Sea cruises, where I first enjoyed his genre-blending talents and vocal versatility. Between land and sea, he’s shared stages with artists like Joe Bonamassa, Keb’ Mo’, Ronnie Earl, Samantha Fish, and Eric Gales, placing him firmly within the modern blues rock touring network, but stylistically, he sits slightly outside it, pulling just as much from country, soul, and Americana as he does from blues and rock.
Under The Fretboard: Dwayne Haggins — Where Country Meets Soul and the Blues Bleeds Through
For Haggins, the journey didn’t start in a church choir or growing up in a musical family. It started on a couch in 2014, watching Sturgill Simpson entrance a late-night stage on Conan. That performance lit the fuse. Within a few years, he was writing his own songs, performing regularly, and developing a sound rooted in country storytelling, soul phrasing, and blues grit.
That random flash of a start might explain part of what makes Haggins compelling. There’s no sense of overthinking in his playing or singing; it’s instinctive, emotional, and direct. His voice, often described as warm, smooth, and powerful, carries the influence of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, and Elvis Presley, while his songwriting leans toward the narrative tradition of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson.
Like many artists we’ve featured, Haggins’ discography has been built independently and supported by touring. His band’s lineup has been fluid, with the primary lineup featuring guitarist Ahren Shreeve, bassist/engineer Will Woyda, and drummer Jahnu. Together, they play a crucial role in shaping the modern edge of Haggins’ sound.
His debut album, Heavenly Rose (2018), captured the raw, early version of this sound: stripped-down, rootsy, and built around songs his early fan base already knew from live performances. The slow ballad “Vivian” managed some early traction on streaming platforms with its familiar “my sorry, travel, beautiful love song” theme. Other standout tracks include the stripped-back electric rocker “Don’t Have to Cry” and “Ball O’Man,” a rockabilly jam where you can hear Haggins surfacing his inner Elvis. However, it is “D.W.T.” (Devil’s Welcome Trail), a dark, brooding, nearly 9-minute rock anthem with hints of Sabbath, that will make its way onto my playlist.
For his follow-up, 2019’s China Ruby, Haggins went big. Inspired in part by Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen, the record leaned into a bigger ensemble sound, with multiple vocalists and a more ambitious, soul-driven arrangement style. Six of the 11 tracks on the album exceed five minutes in playtime, with a pair: “Glory Socks,” a full-band soul revival jam that pushes the 18-minute mark, and the nearly 14-minute “Hey Darlin’,” a melodic, semi-psychedelic sermon that slowly accelerates into a jamming rock crescendo. Other standouts include the opener “22 Candles,” a fast-paced, howling jam with a dash of Elvis; “We Ain’t Cryin’,” with its stripped-back acoustic, soulful blues; “Where It Wants,” an electric guitar- and sax-forward, toe-tapping rockabilly tune; and the shortest track on this album of epics, “Khalyla,” a heavy, riff-laden, haunting electric chant. Where Heavenly Rose introduced the songwriter, China Ruby introduced the bandleader.
No better way to follow a studio album filled with performance tracks than a live album. Dwayne Live documents a March 2020 performance at Sanctuary in Maynard, Massachusetts. This album captures the improvisational nature of his shows, with extended versions of songs that stretch into blues-rock and soul jam band territory. “Where It Wants” and “Glory Socks” are reimagined from China Ruby. The album also features a great rendition of Sleepy John Estes’ “Floating Bridge,” famously covered by Gregg Allman and Eric Clapton, along with top Spotify streamer “I Get Sad.”
During the pandemic in 2020, Haggins released a series of three singles: “Butcher Creek Blues” in August, “Plastic Wow” in September, and “Blood and Fur” in October. Each one features a different flavor of his genre-crossing talents: folk/country in “Butcher Creek Blues,” slow melodic soul in “Plastic Wow,” and somber electric blues rock with “Blood and Fur.”
For his next full-length release, 2022’s Call Me Boston, Haggins ventured into the world of labels, signing on with Verdict Music. This album leans more Americana/alt-country but still bleeds blues. Refreshed versions of “Vivian” and “Khalyla” appear from earlier releases, with the latter adding a full eight minutes of extended soul/blues jam to its predecessor’s playtime. There’s more polish and less improv on the remaining nine tracks. Standouts include the title track “Call Me Boston,” a straightforward rock and roll tune; “Line My Casket with Cannoli,” also released as a single, which is a fun, catchy tune Jimmy Buffett would be proud of; and top streamer “Black Hat Woman,” an infectious country rock tune that was made for airplay. With the wider reach of a label, the record elevated Haggins’ profile from regional favorite to an emerging Americana and blues-rock contender.
In spring 2025, Haggins ventured back into the studio as an independent artist, posting: “After being with record labels in the past and realizing that’s not for me, this time around has felt that much better to just make music that me and the friends involved are happy with. Love the people involved.” Straggler was released in September 2025, with a fun surprise for his mother, posting prior to the release: “Mom doesn’t even know that her high school yearbook pic is the cover of our next record.” Coincidentally (or not), the album has a very throwback folk/R&B/soul feel to it, with each track sounding like something from the late ’60s and early ’70s. Standout tracks include the single “Color in Your Eyes,” an R&B throwback reminiscent of Marvin Gaye; “Trixie,” also with a classic R&B sound but with a more bluesy flavor; “Penguin Parade,” which is rife with hippie rock nostalgia; and “Run & Cheer,” a fast-paced rocker with the feel of a ’60s punk protest song.
In an era where many artists are chasing trends, Dwayne Haggins is doing something different: he’s chasing a sound that feels timeless. His music spans the genres of blues, country, soul, R&B, and rock and roll, which makes him difficult to categorize but easy to remember. He can play a folk festival, a blues cruise, a rock club, or a songwriter round and still sound like he belongs there.
Dwayne Haggins still feels like a discovery, the kind of artist people talk about by saying, “I saw him before everyone else figured it out.” He’s part of that long tradition of road-built musicians whose careers grow city by city, room by room, song by song. And that may be exactly how his music is meant to travel.
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