Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble recently set up shop behind the most famous working space in the music industry for an NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert.
“Is it possible to be ubiquitous and behind-the-scenes at the same time?” asks NPR Music’s Felix Contreras of the longtime Blue Note Records president in the official description of the session. “That pretty much sums up Don Was and his long career in the music business. After co-leading the funky pop-rock band Was (Not Was) in the 1980s, Was went on to win an armful of Grammy Awards as a producer. He’s worked with Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Elton John, Ringo Starr, and Bob Weir, to name just a few.”
His work with the late Grateful Dead co-founder was perhaps his most celebrated in recent years: As a founding member of Wolf Bros alongside Bobby and drummer Jay Lane, Don Was played a crucial role in Weir’s later-years Renaissance. Was performed with the ever-expanding Wolf Bros ensemble through its final show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in mid-2025, just months before Bobby’s passing in early 2026.
The bassist and bandleader had already paid homage to his late Wolf Bro on many occasions with the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, that didn’t detract from the weight of his opening song choice behind the Tiny Desk: “The Music Never Stopped”, one of Weir’s signature numbers with the Dead.
After working through an upbeat, energized take on the song alongside the talented outfit—Steffanie Christi’an (vocals), Wayne Gerard Milton (guitar), Luis Resto (keys), Dave McMurray (tenor sax), Vincent Chandler (trombone), John Douglas (trumpet), Jeff Canady (drums), Mahindi Masai (percussion), Herschel Boone (background vocals), and Terena Boone (background vocals)—Was punctuated the tribute with a simple, “That one’s for Bobby.”
With that, Was wasted no time introducing this project and the task at hand: “We are the Pan-Detroit ensemble,” he explained. “We are on a mission to promulgate the indigenous sounds of our hometown of Detroit, Michigan.” Throughout the rest of the the set, Don Was and gang did just that, working through four more tracks from their 2025 debut LP, Groove in the Face of Adversity—”You Asked, I Came,” “Midnight Marauders,” a reworked version of Hank Williams’ “I Ain’t Got Nothing But Time,” and “Insane”—with equal parts impeccable groove and relaxed malleability.
Below, watch the full Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble’s Tiny Desk Concert featuring a tribute to late Grateful Dead guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir below. Scroll down past the video to view the full setlist.
Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble will hit the road this summer for a long string of festival appearances and headline shows. For a full list of their upcoming tour dates, head here.
Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble – NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert – Full Set