LOCKN’ Festival is only a few hours away, and we are bursting with anticipation. In years past, the festival has announced special collaborations, like John Fogerty with Widespread Panic and The Doobie Brothers with String Cheese Incident, or last year’s incredible Mad Dog & The Englishmen set hosted by Tedeschi Trucks Band. This year, besides the special Phil Lesh & Friends lineups on Saturday and Sunday, no special collaborations have been been announced, leaving fans with tons of questions as the festival approaches. LOCKN’ is the home of collaborations, so one can only hope that we’ll get to see some of the amazing musicians from Phish, Ween, My Morning Jacket, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Umphrey’s McGee, Lettuce and more let loose at LOCKN’ and sit in with some of their favorite artists. We’ve been dreaming up what could possibly happen for months, so take a look below, check out some of the possibilities we came up with, and get excited for the first night of LOCKN’ featuring Vulfpeck, Umphrey’s McGee, Ween, and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.

10. The Shady Horns with Chris Robinson Brotherhood

The Shady Horns seem to be everywhere these days! A healthy touring schedule with Lettuce along with seemingly weekly side-gigs with other bands in need of an expert horn section keeps this duo on the road almost constantly. Everyone from Umphrey’s McGee to Phil Lesh & Friends and Gramatik have used The Shady Horns to augment their sound, and we would love nothing more than to see Ryan Zoidis and Eric “Benny” Bloom sit in with Chris Robinson Brotherhood to add some smooth trumpet and saxophone action to the band’s soulful sound. We got a taste of this combination back in April at Fool’s Paradise, when The Shady Horns joined Chris Robinson for his “Soul Revue” set. Check out full audio from that set below, and get a taste of Chris Robinson with The Shady Horns.

9. Charles Bradley with Turkuaz

Turkuaz have been slowly growing out of the New York music scene for years, honing their craft as they transformed themselves into the power funk masters that they are today. They have an ability to move between genres, moving from funk to soul to r&b and classic rock in one fell swoop. The exciting up-and-coming band is sure to impress when they hit the LOCKN’ stage early Friday afternoon, and, with the “Screaming Eagle of Soul” aka Charles Bradley on site for a set with his Extraordinaires later in the day, it would be awesome to see Charles Bradley get up there with the much younger Turkuaz and rip up a few soulful tunes. Bradley and Turkuaz both have infections energy, and a collaboration between the two acts would be ridiculously fun.

8. Jake Cinninger with Vulfpeck

Vulfpeck are capping off their huge breakthrough summer with two shows at this year’s LOCKN’ festival. Booked for both Friday and Saturday, the funky band from Michigan are sure to bring their brand of music and humor that their fans have come to expect from them. Vulfpeck plays right before Umphrey’s McGee on Friday, and a guest spot from fellow Michiganian, UM guitarist, and three time LOCKN’ veteran Jake Cinninger would hopefully make the Vulf feel right at home in Arrington, VA. Cinninger’s guitar prowess is unmatched, and adding his incredible technical skills to songs like “Welcome to Vulf Records” or “Smile Meditation” would make for an excellent start to the weekend.

7. Gary Clark Jr. with Tedeschi Trucks Band

What happens when guitar gods collide? We found out a few years ago when Gary Clark Jr. and Tedeschi Trucks Band played a show together in Los Angeles at the Greek Theatre. Derek Trucks sat in with Clark’s band, Clark sat in with Tedeschi Trucks Band, and both guitarist took ripping solos that echoed into the night sky all night long. With both Clark and Tedeschi Trucks Band on site at LOCKN’ this weekend, we’re expecting a repeat performance that is sure to leave the guitar-loving LOCKN’ faithful with huge smiles on their faces.

Watch this video below of Gary Clark Jr. sitting in with Tedeschi Trucks Band during “I Pity the Fool” from the Greek Theatre on 11/1/2014, courtesy of YouTube user blisstanger.

6. Gene Ween with Umphrey’s McGee

Last year, before Gene Ween (aka Aaron Freeman) reunited with Ween, he played a set at Summer Camp Music Festival with a band called God Boner (aka Umphrey’s McGee). The set featured Freeman and UM playing Ween classics like “Spinal Meningitis” and “The Grobe”, as well as a spot on cover of “The Stranger” by Billy Joel (at the time, Ween was touring a “Gene Ween Does Billy Joel” project). With Umphrey’s hitting the LOCKN’ stage just before Ween on Thursday night, we would love to see Gener make another appearance with the progressive masters of Umphrey’s McGee.

Watch video of the full Gene Ween & God Boner set from Summer Camp 2015 below, courtesy of YouTube user izeoftheworldphotos

5. Mike Gordon with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead

In a sense, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead wouldn’t exist without Phish bassist Mike Gordon. Gordo toured with the experimental/indie Benevento/Russo Duo when Phish was broken up, which eventually led him to recruit Joe Russo and Marco Benevento to play with him and Trey Anastasio in the summer of 2006. The shows were part of a co-headlining tour with Phil Lesh & Friends, that would see The Duo open, then play as the backup band to Gordon and Anastasio, followed by two sets of Phil & Friends each night.

Lesh was so impressed with Russo’s playing on the tour that he eventually invited Russo to play in his band, and later brought him along to join his new project with Bob Weir, the beloved but short-lived Furthur. Russo was so enamored with the Grateful Dead catalog during this time that he recruited fellow Bustle In Your Hedgerow bandmates Benevento, Dave Dreiwitz (also of Ween) and Scott Metzger, as well Tom Hamilton (his former band mate in American Babies) to start Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, and the rest, as they say, is history.

It would only make sense for Gordo to make an appearance with his old cohorts, some ten plus years after he dragged them into this this mess in the first place!

Watch the Benevento / Russo Duo with Mike Gordon in Athens, GA on 4/27/2005 performing a 53-minute version of Phish’s “Foam”, courtesy of YouTube user alexsh.

 4. Trey Anastasio with Ween

Talk about dreams coming true. This collaboration would be a must-see moment for any hardcore fan of either band, as the worlds of Phish and Ween are finally colliding this weekend at LOCKN’. After covering Ween’s “Roses Are Free” since 1997, it’s well known that Phish, specifically Anastasio, are big fans of Ween, and it seems that the members of each band are friendly with each other, having both risen out of the off-center alternative rock scene in the 90’s. Anastasio even went out of his way to publicly ask Ween to reunite while on stage with Phish at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, OH last summer, and it seems the message got through to the band, as Ween reunited shortly after Trey’s request.

It would be awesome to see Ween play tribute to Trey’s dedication by inviting him on stage to play “Roses Are Free” with his buddies Mickey and Aaron.

Watch Phish play “Timber (Jerry)” > “Roses Are Free”, and hear Trey Anastasio ask Ween to reunite on stage (skip to 12:50 to see Anastasio’s request). Video courtesy of YouTube user Bobby Scharff.

3. Jim James with Phil Lesh & Friends

Jim James is such a dynamic performer, he would be a good fit as a guest with anyone. However, a guest spot with Phil Lesh & Friends on a Grateful Dead classic would be perfection at LOCKN’. The singer’s unique and emotional vocal delivery would make several Dead songs sound excellent. Can you imagine James belting out a soulful “Althea”, or a rockin’ “Scarlet Begonias”? We sure can. Perhaps the best option would be “I Know You Rider”, a song that My Morning Jacket has performed in the past, including a memorable guest appearance by Lesh’s Grateful Dead bandmate Bob Weir at the 2014 edition of MMJ’s One Big Holiday festival.

If James saunters out to the front of the stage to take lead during saturday’s Phil Lesh & Friends set, expect fireworks. Jim James does not disappoint, and he gives his all each time he’s out on stage. Even though they are headliners, My Morning Jacket are almost underdogs at this year’s LOCKN’ Festival. A band that has always hovered the line between the jamband and indie genres, My Morning Jacket’s appearance at LOCKN’ should cement them firmly on the side of improvisational rock. We expect James and co. to embrace this fully, and an appearance by Jim James with Phil Lesh & Friends would fit that mold perfectly.

Watch My Morning Jacket perform “I Know You Rider” with special guest Bob Weir at their One Big Holiday festival in 2014, courtesy of YouTube user Benjy Eisen.

2. Derek Trucks with My Morning Jacket

When the daily lineups for LOCKN’ were released, I’m not going to lie, the Saturday pairing of My Morning Jacket and Tedeschi Trucks Band had me salivating. With all of the potential combinations of artists at LOCKN’ this year, the thought of Trucks, arguably the best guitar player on the planet, and My Morning Jacket, one of the best live modern rock bands, collaborating is almost too much to consider. Trucks’ unique slide guitar playing would sound even better surrounded by MMJ’s Southern Rock/American/Psychedelic vibe. An appearance by Derek Trucks with My Morning Jacket would be a true musical highlight, and well within the spirit of collaboration that LOCKN’ inspires.

1. Phil Lesh with Phish

This is the mecca. If LOCKN’ organizers are truly trying to re-create the magic of last summer’s Fare Thee Well concerts, then they better make sure that Phil shows up ready to play on Sunday night. Lesh, who will be performing his second set of the weekend with his Friends earlier Sunday evening, would be a home run special guest with Phish and would create a truly unforgettable moment in the band and festival’s history. Lesh has only performed with Phish once, during a show at the Shoreline Amphitheater on 9/17/99.

After last summer’s joyous shows in Chicago that found Grateful Dead fans embracing Trey Anastasio like never before, it would only seem fitting for Lesh to continue the “torch-passing” by sitting in with Phish at the Grateful Dead-leaning festival. This appearance would mark another unifying moment for Phish and Dead fans alike, and we hope it comes to fruition on Sunday night.

Watch Phish and Phil Lesh cover “Cold Rain and Snow” on 9/17/1999 at Shoreline Amphitheater, courtesy of YouTube user tdunski.

Who do you think will jam together this weekend at LOCKN’? Let us know who you’d like to see play together!