"The Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration" kicks off June 18 in Pittsburgh, where Haynes will be joined by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The tour will continue with two bursts of dates throughout the summer, with Haynes being accompanied by local orchestras in each of the eight cities.

Haynes, of course, has a history with the Grateful Dead. He played in bassist Phil Lesh's band, Phil Lesh & Friends, for years, and produced Lesh's 2002 album There And Back Again. He also did some time in The Dead, which featured Grateful Dead members Lesh, guitarist/singer Bob Weir, and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.

Haynes organizes some annual musical events � the Mountain Jam festival every summer and the Christmas jam in December � but he says this tour wasn't his idea.

"We got a call from the people representing the Garcia Estate, saying they wanted to do a series of symphony shows doing Jerry's music, and that they were going to have a few guest performers, and they wanted to know if I wanted to be the first guest artist," he told Radio.com. "I was very honored."