The summer of 2016 marks the return of the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration, featuring Warren Haynes, after a year’s hiatus. At each of the nine performances, curated by the Garcia family, Haynes and a small group of handpicked players will collaborate with local orchestras to interpret the songs of Jerry Garcia, along with some of the signature cover tunes associated with the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band.

Haynes will, once again, take the stage with Wolf, Jerry Garcia’s iconic, Doug Irwin-designed custom guitar, as he has since the debut of the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration at Pittsburgh, Pa.’s Heinz Hall on June 18, 2013.

“When I had first heard that I was going to be able to play Wolf on the tour, I thought, ‘Well, that’s great news. I’ll be able to figure out a few songs to play it on, it’ll be great,’” he recalls. “Then, when I actually picked up the instrument and plugged it in, it played so well and had such a unique, beautiful sound that I decided to play it on the entire tour—every night, every song. It’s very inspiring, and I felt like it put me a little closer to that music and pushed me to play with a little more of Garcia’s influence than I would on a normal basis. The sound of the instrument just automatically conjures up these melodies and phrases that would be coming from him. Instruments have that effect— when you hear the sound of a certain instrument, it influences the way you play. In an improvisational setting, most musicians respond to the sound of their instrument. You kind of play to the sound; that’s a very important aspect.”

The personnel is another integral element. Joining Haynes at the fore each evening will be drummer Jeff Sipe, bassist Lincoln Schleifer and vocalist Jasmine Muhammad, all of whom have participated in the Celebration since 2013. A new addition to the roster is singer Jaclyn LaBranch, who provides a direct lineage to the event’s namesake through her years with the Jerry Garcia Band.

Then, of course, there are the local symphonies. The way these shows come together is that Haynes and company arrive in each city for a soundcheck and then run through the entire performance with the orchestra. There are no prior rehearsals for the local musicians, who receive their sheet music on the day of each show (which is standard practice for such settings).

Although Haynes’ classical collaborators will be focused on reading the pages in front of them, the guitarist has made a point to ensure that improvisation is well represented.

“We built these windows of opportunity into the show where the symphony would bow out and myself and Jeff Sipe and Lincoln Schleifer would improvise to our hearts’ content, and on cue, the symphony would come back in,” he says. “In some cases, we would continue improvising and some cases, we would go back to a rehearsed moment. My biggest challenge has been improvising on top of the symphony playing the predesignated parts because I’m just trying to respond to what they’re playing and, even if I heard it a hundred times, I wouldn’t know it well enough to have memorized it. So, on a nightly basis, I’m jamming just like I would on stage with a three-or-four-or five-piece band. Both ‘Terrapin’ and ‘Morning Dew’ just rise to a really intense level with the symphony.”

Each of these performances has opened with a version of “Dark Star.” Haynes explains, “I wanted people to get a sense, right off the bat, that this wasn’t going to be a normal symphonic production. It wasn’t going to be just orchestral readings of the Jerry Garcia songbook. It was going to be a unique take on not only the music, but on the symphonic approach to the music as well. I figured ‘Dark Star’ was the perfect song to start out.

“We don’t play the whole song, we only play part of it that was adapted from a version of ‘Dark Star’ that was complete improvisation. We orchestrated the improvisation in a way where the symphony is reading and playing music that was originally improvised. In general, symphonies are very regimented, so the whole concept was: ‘How can we marry the two worlds together and still maintain as much improvisation in order to honor the music?’”

Rich Daniels, who steps in as guest conductor when a local maestro is unavailable, was not acquainted with the full Garcia catalog before his initial participation. “I was not a Deadhead,” he acknowledges. “I came into this in January of 2014 when a promoter in Chicago, Jam Productions, who I have a long relationship with, needed someone to conduct. I wasn’t familiar with Jerry Garcia’s music, but I embraced the opportunity and it turned into not only this wonderful set of dates around the country with this great ensemble, but it also enlightened me to the amazing songwriter. At 55 years old, I realized: ‘This cat is the real deal.’”

Daniels will not only conduct a number of the Celebrations but, thanks to a serendipitous dressing room location, will perform as well. “Rich turned out to be quite a musician and a big jazz fan and player,” Haynes remembers. “The way we discovered that was at Oakdale in Connecticut. Jeff Sipe and I heard someone playing saxophone in the dressing room next to mine, so we went and found out that it was Rich, the conductor. He’s a really cool player. We had carved out a place for an improvisational solo in the tune ‘Russian Lullaby’ and, early on, we were having a violinist play it. But, once we discovered that Rich was an adept soloist, we said, ‘You should play it.’ So he would be in the middle of conducting the symphony and, when it came time for the solo, he would turn around, grab his horn, face the audience and play into the microphone. It was jolting—the crowd was like, ‘What? What’s happening?!’” Haynes laughs.

The Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration featuring Warren Haynes will take to the road for two stretches of shows. The first leg opens on June 23 at Nashville, Tenn.’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center with the Nashville Symphony and closes out on July 1 at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Mass., with the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart (who is likely to don a tie-dye shirt, as he has done on his three prior occasions). The second leg kicks off on Jerry Garcia’s 74th birthday, August 1, at Red Rocks and concludes on August 8 at the first-ever New York City Celebration, at SummerStage in Central Park.

“The sad thing for me,” Daniels opines, “is that Jerry Garcia isn’t around to hear his music realized by 60 musicians, with the brilliant Warren Haynes out in front, because the music adapted itself so well to the live orchestration. The colors that were within— that the orchestra brought out from the shape of his music— so much of it was so easily and readily adaptable for an orchestra. And what’s always real telling is that the musicians and the orchestras are not jaded—they’re enjoying the opportunity to do this. Every orchestra we played with, that has been the case. They have had a great time interpreting this music with a large ensemble. And Warren is spectacular. He brings this stuff to life. He breathes a whole new fresh sense of identity and life to these songs. It’s just great on every level. Really, really wonderful.”