Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble

Drawing on the wide-ranging influences of his five-decade career, Don Was has assembled his band, the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, and recorded their debut album Groove in the Face of Adversity. The album channels the soul of the Motor City through a blend of steamy jazz, juke-joint blues, and loose-limbed funk—a sound both timeless and deeply personal. In concert, Don and the band will feature music from Groove in the Face of Adversity alongside a live rendition of The Grateful Dead’s Blues for Allah, celebrating the album’s 50th anniversary and Don’s long musical association with Bobby Weir.

ABOUT: As a record producer, Don Was has won six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year in 1989 for Bonnie Raitt’s Nick of Time and Producer of the Year in 1994. Albums he has produced have sold close to 100 million copies for a wide array of artists such as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, John Mayer, Ringo Starr, Wayne Shorter, The B-52s, and Charles Lloyd. In 1995, he produced and directed the Brian Wilson documentary I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times, which won the San Francisco Film Festival’s Golden Gate Award. As a film composer, he received the 1994 British Academy Award (BAFTA) for Best Original Score for the film Backbeat. He also won the 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction for CBS’s The Beatles: The Night That Changed America.

In 2018, Don joined Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir to form the Wolf Brothers. In April 2023, he served as Music Director for Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl, and he is featured in the Willie Nelson & Family documentary on Paramount+. In September 2024, he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Americana Music Foundation at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. He also hosts Dinner With Don Was, a weekly radio show on John Mayer’s SiriusXM Channel 14.