Sammy Hagar is getting by with some help from his friends, both on stage and in his dreams. The Red Rocker joins us for an Audacy Check In to talk about his new song, "Encore, Thank You, Goodnight." which he says was inspired by a dream about Eddie Van Halen.

"When I woke up from this dream with Eddie, we were in the middle of writing a song and I was singing this melody, so it was so fresh," Sammy shares with Audacy's Remy Maxwell. "And I'm going, 'man!' I woke up, I sang that into my iPhone. My wife's sitting there pulling covers over her head. I got my guitar out, I got my notepad. [It's] one of them things where nobody wants to hear about dreams. You wake up and say, 'honey, I had this weird dream.' You dream and you start trying to tell her, she goes, 'I don't wanna hear about your dream right now. It's too f***ing crazy. It doesn't make any sense.' I'm going, 'yeah, I know.' So nobody wants to hear about your dreams. So I was reluctant."

Hagar finally found the nerve and said, "f*** it, I'm gonna play this for Joe."

Guitarist Joe Satriani and Hagar had just toured together, playing Van Halen classics across 34 cities. "He studied Eddie inside and out, he said, 'hey, I got this, man.'"

Performing with VH alum Michael Anthony, Satriani, and legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff, Hagar is newly signed to Big Machine Rock and ready to reveal the track to fans. "It's just such a heartfelt thing from me to him," admits Sammy. "I just wrote exactly what I dreamt and exactly what I felt and, that's so personal. It's one of the most personal songs I've ever written in my life.”

"I'm humbled by this band and being in Van Halen, I wasn't humbled at that time, you know, I was a platinum solo artist selling out arenas all over the world. So I wasn't as humbled joining Van Halen as I, looking back, as I could have been. But now I'm humbled by it because Eddie Van Halen's one of the greatest rock musicians that ever lived," says Sammy. "I'm more impressed with this guy every day in my life, and I will always be inspired by his musical abilities and his musical uniqueness."

"I tell you, the better I get and the more knowledge I get at my craft, I always go back to Eddie and go, 'wow.' He was already there. Every time I come to a new conclusion, a new height, I go, 'oh wow, Eddie knew this,' and it's amazing how great that guy. and unique that guy really was."

To hear much more from Sammy Hagar on his upcoming Stagecoach performance and Vegas residency, check out the full Audacy Check In above.