DOUG Talks To WARREN HAYNES about the new upcoming Tour DREAMS & SONGS SYMPHONIC EXSPERIENCE July 20 at Meadowbrook!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Yeah, Hi there, Detroit Wheels. Uh, yeah, this is Warren
Warren. It's great to talk toyou, my friend Doug Podell here at
WLLZ. What are you doing.I'm doing well and I hope you're doing
well. I see you got agreat tour coming into town here on well
just a little over a week fromnow, July twentieth, out at Meadowbrook,

(00:20):
and I'm excited to talk to youabout it. There's only one thing,
Warren, I do think that nowis the Time Tour featuring the Warren
Haynes Band and the Dreams and SongSymphonic Experience. I have a feeling that
might be a little too much forthe marquee out there at Meadowbrook. Yeah,

(00:43):
you're probably right. Yeah, butit certainly looks like a like a
fantastic setup. Why don't you telleverybody about it a little bit? Well,
but now is the Time tour.It covers a lot of different bases.
We're doing some shows with just theband, without the orchestra. We're

(01:04):
in the middle of a tour rightnow where we're doing a bunch of dates
with Slash, who just released ablues record. We only have three more
shows with Slash and then the nextpart of this tour starts when we are
in Detroit. It's one of theseven shows this year that are what we

(01:30):
call the Dreams and Song Experience.Dreams and Songs Experience. It's the Warren
Haines Band with a local orchestra andthe orchestra and the band play together normally
for two sets, and then forthe third set normally the band will play
without the orchestra. So it's along night of music and it covers a

(01:56):
lot of ground. It's kind ofa retrospective in the way that we're doing
music from bands that I've been associatedwith for the past thirty something years.
We're doing all the Brothers songs,Governor Mule songs, Grateful Dead songs,
songs from my solo records, anda couple of choice covers here and there

(02:19):
that I've been known for doing.And it's really an interesting marriage of rock
music and symphonic music that I thinkis very unique. We handpicked all these
songs that I felt worked really wellpairing the band of the orchestra together,

(02:40):
and I encourage anybody that loves thiskind of music to check it out.
Yeah. Absolutely, you know,you've always been known for doing, you
know, special things during your concerts, including covering Pink Floyd and whatever.
But yeah, this really sounds special. And Warren is one of the first

(03:00):
dates for the Symphonic show in Detroit. Yeah, we're Yeah, there's seventh
total. The seventh one is inSeptember at Red Rocks. So there's only
these six for the moment. Andthey're all markets that we feel a close

(03:21):
connection to and feel like the audiencehas supported our music through the years,
and they're crowds that connect with thetype of music that I love. Oh
that's amazing. Wow, Well,thank you very much for making Detroit one
of those markets. And I knowthroughout the years, Government Mule and well

(03:43):
all of your projects, but especiallyGovernment Mule has done so well here.
It's always jammed, always packed.You know, we're big rock and blues
fans here in Detroit, and yeah, it's always kind of melded together in
the Motor City. So to havethis this special night where you're doing Alman
Brothers songs and Grateful Dead songs andall of that, that is just going

(04:08):
to be mind boggling. Now,you said you were on this Slash tour,
this Serpent tour, and you knowthis looks Warren if I'm not mistaken
to be one of maybe Slash's besttours. How did you feel about hooking
up with Slash for this thing foryou know a number of dates? And
are you kind of going back andforth? Is that what you're doing?

(04:30):
We had seven shows with Slash onthis Surfa tour at the beginning of this
tour, and then once once thatconcludes, we're done with that for the
time being. I've been doing afew things the last few years. We've
known each other quite a while,but the last two or three years we've

(04:50):
done more and more things together.He came this last December to Asheville to
do My Christmas which is a charityshow that I've been doing in my hometown
of Asheville, North Carolina for decades, and Slash and Miles Kennedy were kind
enough to come for that. Lastyear. He and I and Billy Gibbons

(05:14):
also did the Leonard skinnerd Tribute onthe CMT Music Awards a while back,
and the three of us were thethree guitar players in that band, along
with Paul Rodgers, who is oneof my all time singers. Doing a
short tribute to Leonard Skinner and wejust been having fun hanging and playing together.

(05:36):
Slash is a great guy and agreat player. And you know,
on this tour there's a lot ofjamming going on, a lot of people
chairing the stage. It's in additionto his band and to my band,
it's also Eric Gales and Samantha Fishand everybody's jamming with everybody, you know.
Yeah, no, I've seen thelineup and we have a show yeah

(06:00):
in Windsor and Windsor Kent. Yeah, and uh man, I'll tell you
that the album is fantastic too,So congrats the Slash. But what a
back to back bill that is withyourself, so uh, that must have
been a great tour for you.Now tell me Warren, who's gonna be
all playing with you along with thissymphonic uh you know orchestra that you're bringing

(06:25):
along. Well, the band isuh myself parent Higgins own drums who was
in the last version of the Warrenhayes Man. Uh. John Medeski has
been playing keyboards with us, buthe's missing a couple of shows and our
friend Matt Slocum, who is fillingin for him and doing a fantastic job.

(06:46):
Kevin Scott who is the new bassplayer, and Governor Mule is the
bass player, and Greg Osby,who is a fantastic jazz saxophone player,
is joining us for this tour aswell. And I should mention that the
core band just finished doing a studiorecord, which is my next solo record,

(07:11):
which will come out later this year. So we're also on this tour
debuting some new music that nobody's everheard before. Wow, and gearing up
for later this year and next yearto be promoting my new solo record as
well as the Dreams and Songs LiveSymphonic record which is going to come out

(07:33):
next year as well. Well.Those were a couple of my next questions,
but I'm glad you answered him becauseyou are one of the truly great
new music artists here that is stillactually recording and putting out new music.
I know you had an album lastyear, so can you touch a little

(07:54):
bit on what we're going to expectfrom this new solo album it comes out.
It's all new material. There arefour songs that I recorded with Derek
Trucks, my old partner in crime, and the Allen Brothers. We wrote

(08:15):
some music together, and he camein the studio for a couple of days
and we worked in the studio forthe first time since the all them brothers
have disbanded. Wow. There's alsoa song that I wrote with Booker t.
There is a song I wrote withLucas Nelson, and Lucas Nelson and

(08:35):
Jamie Johnson, who I also cowrote a song with, are both appearing
on the record. You know,it's predominantly soul music influenced, but it's
kind of a unique blend of influences. I don't think it adheres to any
one genre of music, but it'skind of similar but different to me.

(09:00):
I record Man in Motion that Idid a while back, and I'm extremely
excited to be releasing new music,which will hopefully be, as I say,
in the fall, and we're debutingsome of that music now. We've
already played a handful of the newtunes on the road. We started out

(09:24):
in Europe. We just finished twoweeks in Europe and we debuted a few
there and we're debuting a few inthe States here. And it's excited to
be playing so many different songs overthe course of this tour. You know,
like you say, there's all theBrothers songs, there's Grateful Dead songs,
Mules songs, songs from our solorecords, and even some songs from

(09:48):
the upcoming music more and that isgreat. There are a number of us,
especially who follow you, that lovethe inspiration and the passion that you
have and put it out new music. So we really appreciate that, and
we're all going to be looking forwardto this new solo album. But I
was going to ask, now,with the symphony orchestra behind you and all

(10:13):
of these great songs, how incrediblewould it be to put out a live
album? But you've already covered thatbass in other words? Right? Yeah?
You know, there's an interesting storythere. I mentioned my hometown of
Ashville, North Carolina. I recordeda live record with a symphony right before
COVID NO. And it was JohnMedeski on keyboards, o'tell Berber's own bass,

(10:39):
Jeff siphone drums, and Greg Osbyon saxophone. And we recorded two
nights in Ashville with my friend andfellow Michigander Don was as the producer.
Oh yeah, and then COVID hitand we decided that we didn't want to
release the record during all the madness, because it's one of those records that

(11:03):
you only put out once in yourlife, and so we've sat on it
for all this time, and thatkind of prompted us doing this tour.
And now the record is going tocome out hopefully early next year, and
we're going to be continuing the processof touring with a symphony next year as
well, and I'm really excited aboutthe record and continuing this tour. Was

(11:28):
this something that you know you've hadin the back of your mind for a
while, this Dreams and Songs symphonytour and now finally you know, getting
out there, like you said afterCOVID, But is this something that you've
always kind of aspired to want todo, is play behind an orchestra.
Well, it started a few yearsago when I got a call from the

(11:50):
Jerry Garcia estate saying that they wantedto do Jerry Garcia's music with a symphony
and a guest artist or of guestartists, and wanted to know if I
was interested in being the first one, and I said absolutely, I would
be honored to do that. SoI did a tour doing Jerry Garcia's music

(12:11):
with an orchestra and a band combined, similar to what we're doing now.
At that time, I had neverworked with an orchestra before, and it
was a little intimidating in the beginning, but like anything else, the more
I did it, the more comfortableI got with it. And it's been
in the back of my mind alwaysto hear my songs and some of these

(12:33):
songs from the Allman Brothers catalog andthe Grateful Dead catalog interpreted that way.
A lot of these songs have neverbeen performed with an orchestra before and their
first time people will be hearing thesearrangements and stuff. But yeah, it's
kind of been on my I don'tlike the word bucket list, but it's
kind of been on my list,Yeah, for a long time, and

(12:56):
now is the time. Well,you are absolutely right. Hearing something by
the Grateful Dead or something by theAllman Brothers with strings behind it is going
to be magical. I just havea gut feeling and I am definitely yeah,
go ahead to being orchestra like it'sfull tilt. It's a massive orchestra,
so the power of it is undeniable. Wow, have you been rehearsing

(13:22):
already with the orchestra in preparation andhow hard has that been. We rehearse
for three hours every week with everyorchestra, and of course they're preparing an
advance. And we have a conductornamed Rich Daniels who's from Chicago, who's

(13:43):
fantastic, and he travels with usand works with every orchestra, and he's
really great at kind of combining thesetwo worlds together and cutting to the chase.
You know this is going to befantastic. Well, Warren, thirty
years with the Government Mule alone,and then you add all the other great

(14:03):
things that you've done throughout your career. It is just spectacular. And this
sounds like a real culmination of everythingcoming together. And then you add the
strings and it's like heaven, that'swhat I have a feeling it's going to
be. But it's the Now isthe Time tour featuring the Warren Haynes Band
and the Dreams and Songs Symphonic experience, and man, we're getting the first

(14:26):
date. It looks like to methere Warren July twentieth at Meadowbrook. That
place is going to be stunned.I can tell you. I think it's
going to be fantastic. Well,thank you so much. I'm really excited
and it'll be great to be back. Detroit. Rock City will be ready
for Warren Haynes, you can besure of that. And thank you so

(14:46):
much Warren for some time and goodluck on the rest of this tour going
forward. Thank you very We lookforward to the new solo album in September
and we can't wait for that.So once again, thanks for being right
here on Detroit. Tweels absolutely mypleasure, all right, Thanks Warren