Warren Haynes, the GRAMMY Award-winning vocalist, songwriter, guitar legend, producer, and Gov’t Mule frontman, is releasing a new album, Dreams & Songs: A Symphonic Journey. Co-produced by Don Was and Haynes, Dreams & Songs was recorded in 2019 at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Haynes’ hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, when Haynes debuted his one-of-a-kind Dreams & Songs symphonic show alongside the 64-piece Asheville Symphony Orchestra and his lineup of seasoned rock ‘n’ roll improvisers, including Oteil Burbridge on bass, John Medeski on organ and keys, Jeff Sipe on drums, and Greg Osby on saxophone, as well as Edwin McCain and Jasmine Muhammad on background vocals. The album will be released on September 18, 2026, and we had a chance to give it a listen.
This album pulls from nearly every corner of Warren Haynes’ musical world—Gov’t Mule, the Allman Brothers Band, the Dead, his solo work—and gives it a new life through bold orchestral arrangements. Haynes has never been one to stay in one lane, and this feels like another natural left turn for an artist who’s always willing to see what happens when you change the setting. Orchestral rock isn’t exactly new territory; Metallica was my first real exposure to it, followed by Pete Townshend and Billy Idol at the Greek Theatre.
But the song selection here is what really grabs you. It’s a little bit of everything, yet somehow it all makes sense together. “Whipping Post” in particular takes on a whole new weight with the orchestra behind it—I have to think Gregg would have appreciated that.
Haynes has always had an instinct for building a set that suits the room, the moment, and the audience, and this collection proves he can do the same with an orchestra. Then there’s the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street.” We have all heard hundreds of versions of this legendary funk jam, but this orchestral arrangement gives it a different character without losing what makes the song work.
Dreams and Songs (Part 1)
Dreams
Banks on the Deep End
Spot of Time
Broken Promised Land
Thorazine Shuffle
It Makes No Difference
Terrapin Station > Slipknot! > Terrapin Station
Rave Black Night > Silent Scream > Rave Black Night
Just Another Rider
Black Peter
Instrumental Illness
One
Shinedown Street
Whipping Post
Dreams and Songs (Reprise)
