_Photo by Todd Powers_

Warren Haynes has revealed some exciting news in a new interview with Glide Magazine. The perennially busy guitarist confirmed that his band Gov’t Mule will be touring with John Scofield next year, and he shared a few details about his recent studio collaboration with Railroad Earth.

When asked about the upcoming SCO-MULE release from Gov’t Mule and Scofield, Haynes said:

So the 20th anniversary seemed like the right time to put out a bunch of stuff and SCO-MULE was at the top of that list. It was an amazing two nights – originally it was going to be a one CD release all pulled from the Atlanta show – but since we’ve had so much time to live with it, it’s somehow turned into a two CD release and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. We’re also planning a tour with John [Scofield] next year in support of the record. That was part of the concept too. That’s a very special release for us, so we didn’t want to put it out and not be able to promote it. The concept was always to find time when Gov’t Mule and John [Scofield] were available to do a tour, and that’s what we’re going to do next year.

Haynes continued:

It will probably vary from night to night. It won’t be the same kind of format that the original two shows were because a lot’s changed since then. We’ve worked with John a lot since then. We’ve worked together in Phil Lesh & Friends quite a few times so I think the sky’s the limit in choosing material and why not have it change on a nightly basis in typical Mule fashion.

When the topic of Railroad Earth came up, Haynes added:

We’ve gone in and started recording a bunch of stuff with a bunch of those guys in different incarnations. Also Marc Quiñones and Oteil Burbridge came in on a couple of tracks. It’s from what I guess would be my next solo record, which I’ve been talking about for a long time, and it’s going to be more acoustic and singer-songwriter oriented. Although, there is going to be a lot of playing and improv, just in a different fashion and more of a folky, Appalachian direction. I have a lot of tunes that fall into that category, so right now we’re just experimenting and seeing what we come up with.

However, Haynes was short on details about a potential reunion of the core four members of the Grateful Dead in honor of the band’s 50th anniversary. On the subject, the guitarist said, “I hope that something will happen. At this point there’s nothing that I can comment on.”