Warren Haynes, photo by Dino Perrucci
Over the past two weeks, Warren Haynes’ Winter of Warren solo tour has seen the singer-songwriter and guitarist return to the basics and explore the far reaches of his catalog. In a march down the West Coast and into Texas, Haynes has made headlines with his stripped-down presentations of old independent and Gov’t Mule originals, as well as an ever-expanding repertoire of covers that pay tribute to the inspirations of his deep-rooted Southern-rock sound. Last night’s performance in Dallas maintained the trend with another packed two-set staging, featuring a few unexpected track resurrections.
Haynes stepped into the spotlight at Dallas’ Kessler Theater on Monday with “Dreams & Songs,” a standout from Gov’t Mule’s 2017 project, Revolution Come…Revolution Go, that has seen renewed attention on this run. The artist continued with his solo staple “Blue Maiden’s Tale” and a cover of Van Morrison’s “Ballerina” before looking back on his time in Phil Lesh & Friends with “The Real Thing.” The Gov’t Mule rarity “Frozen Fear” and Tracy Chapman’s classic “For My Lover” paved the way to the Grateful Dead’s “Comes a Time,” unearthed for his 11th version to date and first since July 2021. To skid into the set-break, Haynes lit up a slow-burning “Blues Before Sunrise,” his second take on the Leroy Carr standard and first since June 2021…