Sep 10, 2026 · 22 min · 13 segments
Warren Haynes joins Blues Rock Review for a wide-ranging conversation about his new symphonic album and the challenge of bringing improvisation into a 64-piece orchestra. Haynes also discusses touring…
Warren HaynesGuest
Pete FrancisHost
So this is such an ambitious project to take on and you have such a vast catalog of music from over your career to pick from.
You know, that was one of the biggest challenges of this project, I think, because as I've mentioned in some other interviews, I've never been a fan of marrying rock music or pop music with an orchestra just for the sake of doing it.
I've always felt like it works on a song-by-song basis, and more often than not, it doesn't really work for me, just for my personal taste.
I think the majority of my songs, I have no desire to hear them done with a symphony.
But fortunately, when we're Looking at this like a retrospective of the last 30-something years for me, there was a lot of material to choose from.
Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, songs from my solo records, songs from Mule records.
And that was a challenge, but I think it was an important part of the overall picture.
When you look at the finished product and the finished arrangements, is there one song in particular that really kind of surprised you with how the arrangement turned out?
You know, we used a lot of different arrangers and we tried to choose each one based on their strengths.
John Medesky's arrangements on Thorazine shuffle and, uh, instrumental illness are, are both pretty avant-garde.
Uh, I think the, the arrangement for Raven black night is one of my favorites.
Um, we, uh, You know, the original version of Raven Black Knight had no bass and drums.
So this is such an ambitious project to take on and you have such a vast catalog of music from over your career to pick from.
You know, that was one of the biggest challenges of this project, I think, because as I've mentioned in some other interviews, I've never been a fan of marrying rock music or pop music with an orchestra just for the sake of doing it.
I've always felt like it works on a song-by-song basis, and more often than not, it doesn't really work for me, just for my personal taste.
I think the majority of my songs, I have no desire to hear them done with a symphony.
But fortunately, when we're Looking at this like a retrospective of the last 30-something years for me, there was a lot of material to choose from.
Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, songs from my solo records, songs from Mule records.
And that was a challenge, but I think it was an important part of the overall picture.
When you look at the finished product and the finished arrangements, is there one song in particular that really kind of surprised you with how the arrangement turned out?
You know, we used a lot of different arrangers and we tried to choose each one based on their strengths.
John Medesky's arrangements on Thorazine shuffle and, uh, instrumental illness are, are both pretty avant-garde.
Uh, I think the, the arrangement for Raven black night is one of my favorites.
Um, we, uh, You know, the original version of Raven Black Knight had no bass and drums.
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