Photo: David Simchock

On September 18, Warren Haynes will release Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey. He co-produced the album with Don Was, which presents music from Haynes’ performance with the 64-piece Asheville Symphony Orchestra at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, in Haynes’ hometown of Asheville, NC on March 16, 2019. Haynes’ core band that evening featured Oteil Burbridge, John Medeski, Jeff Sipe and Greg Osby, along with vocalists Edwin McCain and Jasmine Muhammad. The setlist spanned Haynes’ musical career, from the Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule through his time in The Dead and Phil & Friends.

The latest song Haynes has shared from the forthcoming collection is “Thorazine Shuffle,” which appears on Gov’t Mule’s 1998 album Dose. Haynes notes, “John Medeski did the arrangement for ‘Thorazine Shuffle,’ and his unique take on music in general was what led me to ask him to arrange that particular piece. He was able to strike a balance for ‘Thorazine Shuffle’ that takes it a little further avant-garde than most of the songs but still has that beautiful symphonic quality as far as the arrangement is concerned that really transports it into another place. His counter-melodies and all the different textures that he put in that song elevated it in a way that I wasn’t expecting. It’s probably the most unique arrangement on the record.” 

Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey is now available to pre-order and pre-save.