By Randy Patterson, Boomerocity.com
There are musicians whose work becomes so intertwined with our lives that hearing their music can instantly take us back to another place and time. Warren Haynes is one of those musicians for me. From the Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule to his solo work and countless collaborations, his playing has been part of the soundtrack of my life.
When Warren and I recently visited, we talked about his new symphonic release, Dreams & Songs, his upcoming tour with Ziggy Marley, and the special relationship he maintains with his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina.
Dreams & Songs was actually recorded shortly before COVID shut down the world, and Warren told me it was originally supposed to be released soon afterward. “We decided that once COVID happened, we didn’t want it to get lost in the shuffle because it’s kind of a once-in-a-career sort of release,” he said. “It’s like a retrospective of 30-something years of my career.” After Gov’t Mule albums, a solo record, and plenty of touring, the time finally seemed right. “I’ve been itching to put it out for quite some time,” said Warren. “I’m very proud of it.”
Pairing Warren Haynes – one of rock’s great improvisational musicians – with a 64-piece orchestra might sound like an exercise in musical opposites. Warren saw it differently. “We found a lot of ways to kind of include improvisation along with the symphony, which is very important to me,” he explained. Sometimes the orchestra would stop while Warren and the band improvised, with conductor Rich Daniels bringing everyone back together on Warren’s cue. Other times, Warren improvised while the orchestra continued playing its written arrangement. “It really helped having Rich there because he’s such an experienced conductor, but he also is an improviser, so he understands both worlds.”
His introduction to those two worlds coming together came through the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration. “That was my first experience playing with an orchestra,” said Warren. “When I had gotten a call from the Jerry Garcia estate saying that they had this idea about doing Jerry’s music with the symphony and they wanted it to be with a different guest artist, they asked if I would be interested in being the first one. I said, ‘Absolutely. I would be honored.’” Several arrangements from that experience – including “Terrapin Station,” “Black Peter,” and “Shakedown Street” – eventually became part of Dreams & Songs.
Warren stressed that adding an orchestra doesn’t automatically make rock music better. “I’ve never been a big fan of marrying symphonic music and rock music or jazz or blues or pop music just for the sake of doing it,” he said. “I’ve always felt like, more often than not, it doesn’t really work.” Instead, he chose songs he believed would truly benefit from orchestration. One was Gov’t Mule’s “Banks of the Deep End.” “The power that only an orchestra can produce is quite amazing,” said Warren. “It just kind of shines a whole new light on the song itself.” Making the project even more meaningful was recording it at Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. “It made it very emotional for me – much more so than it would have been in any other city,” he said.
Warren remembers an Asheville much different from today’s thriving arts community. “When I was growing up, you had to move away to be part of a music scene,” he recalled. “The word back then was, if you want to make it in the music business, you’re gonna have to go to Nashville or L.A. or New York.” Today? “People now move from New York to Asheville. It’s pretty awesome.”
As our conversation turned toward the upcoming Gov’t Mule tour with Ziggy Marley, Warren explained that the seemingly unusual pairing is exactly what makes it interesting. “His fans, for the most part, are not the same as Gov’t Mule fans and vice versa, but there is this overlap that exists.” Warren and Ziggy also go back years and have written two songs together, including “Dreaming the Same Dream,” which gave The Same Dream Tour its name.
And there’s a particularly good reason for those of us here in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina to pay attention: Gov’t Mule and Ziggy Marley will bring The Same Dream Tour to Hellbender in Asheville on September 25. For Warren, that means bringing this musical partnership home to his hometown of Asheville. “We just started talking about what we’re gonna do as far as sharing the stage together,” said Warren. “I’m sure something really fun is gonna come out of it. It always does. You never know what it’s gonna be, but something cool always happens.”
To watch or listen to this full interview, search for “Boomerocity” on YouTube or on wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also visit Boomerocity.com.