Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Detroit Wheels.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
How are you, man, Doug all right, Well, we've.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Got Don Don Was on the line.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm good and it's gonna be great to talk to
you about this new project.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm doing really well. Thanks for doing this, man, I
really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Oh yeah, no problem, whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
We've got Don Was on the line today for the
Rock Doc podcast producer extraordinaire. I mean the Stones, John Mayer,
Van Morrison, Eggy.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Pop, Ringo Star.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
And that's just naming a handful that I can see
on my sheet right in front of me, President of
the legendary Blue Note Records, and all around performer with
just about everybody that's been anybody.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
And finally you're doing some music for yourself. I understand.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, it's about time bump back to Detroit. Nine people
who all grew up listening to the same radio stations,
playing in the same bars. We speak the same musical language.
It's called Don Was and the Pan Detroit Ensemble, and
we made an album and we're coming to play. We're
on tour right now and we're coming to play in
(01:16):
Detroit this Saturday night the Majestic Theater.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
October the eleventh Saturday Night Majestic Theater Don Was.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Now this is not was that was show. This is
completely new.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
We'll speak it is completely new. I mean two of
the guys were in a Dave McMurray playing sacks and
you know, played the ball he played he recorded with
the Rolling Stones. I was just listening to a song
he did with the Stones. Luis Resto, who was both
these guys, was and I was. But Luis of course
was a co producer and co writer and so many
(01:50):
Eminem's big hits. And so there's a little hangover and
we'll probably do a couple of obscure was now was songs,
but a lot of new stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I love that, a lot of new stuff that's great.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And the music I'm assuming you know, and this is
just a rock guy. But you know, when you hear
the word ensemble, you do think a little bit more
of a jazz ensemble than a rock ensemble.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So where where do you fall?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, do you know we call it Detroit music when
we appear. We just we were playing in Japan last week
and the first thing we say before we start is
Hillari or the Pan Detroit Ensemble. And we have come
to promulgate the indigenous sounds of our hometown, Detroit, Michigan,
and that's the mission we're on. And if you know, really,
if you go through the rock and roll that came
(02:42):
out of Detroit, like Mitch Ryder and the MC five
and the Stooges, if you listen to what the bass
and the drums are doing, it's got heavy R and B,
you know, soul music underpinnings. So to me, the Detroit
sound encompasses all of that, from John Lee Hooker to
to you know, Bob Seeger. We touch on all of
(03:06):
it a little bit, but there's definitely an improvisational element,
and there's definitely a jazzy side to it. I guess
you call it soul jazz us. It sounds like it's
from Detroit. It's the sum total of what we all
grew up listening to.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
That there is a bit of a rhythm and soul
to our music in Detroit that we just don't realize
until you get away from the Motor City because I
you know, I talked to Alice Cooper about a year
ago and he was talking about his album Detroit Stories,
and he said the first thing he noticed when he
you know, he was doing the album with a bunch
(03:45):
of guys here from Detroit, including Johnny b and McCarty
and those kind of guys. He could he could feel
the soul coming out of all these guys, and it
was a little different than the LA experience for him.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Absolutely is, And I think I think not only Detroit,
but the world has Mitch Ryder to think for that,
because Mitch Ryder is the first guy I ever knew
of who did like a garage guitar based rock and
roll band, but but sag like a soul singer and
(04:18):
had R and B, you know, an undulating R and
B group underneath the music. And I think everything that
happens that has come out of Detroit subsequently, whether that's
Funkadelic or the White Stripes, everyone owes a debt to
Mitch Ryder.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah, No, I think I think you're absolutely right. There
is a there is a bit of a dedication in
movie coming out too that and and a documentary about
Mitch Ryder.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So I just I just wish that the Rock and
Roll Hall of.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Fame could see the importance of Mitch Rider and the
Detroit Wheels and get them in there. But that's a
probably a story for another day.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's an egregious oversight, kind of ratt and rave about
the rock and roll.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
That's all right, you know, they are seeing their evil
ways over there and starting to you know, like, you know,
fill in the gaps.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
A little bit, so to speak.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
So yeah, maybe maybe five got in last year, which
was nice.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Unfortunately none of them were around to see it. But
it should have happened twenty five years earlier, but it happened.
Stuges are in Bob seeger alas Coopers Place, yep.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
But there's there's plenty more that that could certainly, uh
that could certainly tide a space there at the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I was on a tick last week listening to the Rationals,
oh yeah, who really only made one full length album,
and man talk about like Brett they could do great
soul like Temptation Bound to Get Me, but then they
did kind of a real psychedelic Detroit heavy guitar thing
(06:05):
called Guitar Army that really gave John Sinclair the title
for his book. But they could, they could rock out,
they could do soul music, and they were great ambassadors
for the sound of the city.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I think, yeah, oh absolutely that was, by the way,
Don the very first band I ever saw at Saint
Matthew's teen club night, and look where I am still
today fifty years later. And a lot of it had
to do with Scott Morgan and the Rationals, no doubt
about it. One of the biggest promotions radio promotions we
(06:37):
ever did was guitar army, and poor Scott Morgan had
to teach me guitar for about two months and then
I and then I forgot everything right after that.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I think it's three chords do I don't know?
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I still know those three chords. That's it. So tell
me about the right for this song. I saw that.
You know, some of it was recorded in the studio,
some of it was live.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
But had you been thinking about this for a while,
I mean, had you been writing and putting stuff aside?
I mean, I know you're always helping every other band
in the Motor City and across the planet. So when
did this revelation of you know, I'm going to do
something for myself finally hit Well, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It's so easy to set things aside when you've always
put yourself last, and and you know, to work with
the volving stones or mayor or Bob Jonan or something
like that. Man, of course you say yes and then
you turn around and thirty years have gone by. So
there was a sound I was always hearing in my
(07:47):
head that I was trying to realize that it was
kind of the sum total of growing up in Detroit
that sounded like Detroit, and we kind of hinted at
it with what now was, but we just needed more
time to develop it and to develop as musicians. So
now to revisit it in twenty twenty five, it just
(08:09):
fell together. But to be honest with you, it was
it had more to do with deadlines. That's why now.
Because I accepted a gig with the Detroit Symphony part
of a jazz series that they were doing. They asked
me to do one night. They asked me two years
in advance, and I let it go for about up
until we were six months out, and then I realized
(08:30):
I had no band and no songs. We had to
get something together. Now when I was just getting to
getting a leg up as a producer. In rapid succession
in nineteen eighty nine nineteen ninety I got to produce
Bob Dylan, Iggy Bob Seeger, Brian Wilson, The Stone's, Willie Nelson,
(08:52):
Chris Christophers and some of the greatest songwriters all time.
And it gave me really bad writer's block, because every
time I sit down at the piano to write a song,
I'd think, Oh, man, what is the point when Brian
Wilson is just down the street, Let's get him to
write it. And then one day I was in the
studio with Willy Nelson, and again I was lamenting the
(09:14):
fact that he's so great, and I thought, man, I
can never be like Willie Nelson. But then it hit me,
but Willie Nelson can never be like me. Willie Nelson
didn't drop acid and go see the MC five in
nineteen sixty eight. George Clinton didn't play a sockhop at
Willie Nelson's junior high school. Willie Nelson didn't stand outside
(09:36):
of the Drome lounge on Dexter, being too young to
get in but wanting to hear just a little bit
of John Coltrane from the inside. So just go back
to Detroit, find some like minded individuals, and be yourself.
Do the thing that makes you different from everybody else.
Sometimes in the music business we think that being different
(09:57):
is a marketing issue a problem, but really, the thing
that makes you different from everybody else's your superpower. So
we just put together the most Detroit sound and band
we could to play this one gig at Orchestra Hall
for the Jazz Series and then it felt too good.
It felt like we've been playing together for twenty thirty
years because we all spoke the same musical language. So
(10:20):
we just kept booking tours around it. There's our fifth
tour now, and we took it to Japan last week.
They didn't know a song, they don't they didn't even
understand what we were saying, I think on stage, but
they responded so enthusiastically to the music. It was affirmation
that the music that comes out of Detroit has global appeal,
(10:43):
as if we didn't know that alreadymore but it pumped
us up. So we got a big tour starting this
week that's going to start in Traverse City and in
Georgia in a couple of weeks. And yeah, we got
to stop at the Majestic on Saturday. Happens to be
the day after our album comes out.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So oh, perfect time, there you go.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I see You'll be in TC Traverse City on the eighth,
Lancing on the ninth, and then the eleventh at the Majestic,
and we invite everybody to get over there. Nothing like
kicking off the tour in Japan. And I was going
to mention do they really understand or know any of
the music, but you answered that. So how did it
(11:27):
feel to kind of be back on your own tour
and how did the other guys feel? I mean, it's
probably been a while for them as well, right.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, and everyone's we're having a ball. Man. You know,
there are twelve of us on a tour bus and
that's usually a recipe for some kind of disaster. Yeah,
you know, you got that many people in the band,
someone's not going to get along. We haven't had one
tense moment either on stage or off stage, which is cool, man,
(11:59):
and everyone and just we all dig each other and
we all dig playing together. And people are picking up
on that, I think, And and the opportunity to play
it for people in Detroit who really understand that, that's
a big deal. We recorded the album album by the
Ways called Groove in the Face of Adversity. They fitting
(12:21):
from the moment, I think.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
But we recorded it, but we recorded out of rust
Belt in blow great recording studio, and we just set
up the same way we do buy it, and we
played all the songs, and then we thought, well, when
we go out into it, let's let's take the shows
and we'll take the best versions. So three of them
came from the studio and three of them we just
(12:45):
beat the versions playing live two of them.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Two of the songs and the album actually come from
that orchestra hall show, because I think playing this music
in Detroit just pumped us up that much more, you know,
in ourtown, being in front of friends and family, and
also in the birthplace of the music, you know. The
cover for the album is a picture of Joe's record store,
(13:12):
which was on Hastings Street. Joe bom Battle had a
great record store there in the fifties and the studio
in the back that he recorded John Lee Hooker. He
made the first recordings of Aretha Franklin. So we figured
that's kind of our spiritual musical home is at Joe's Records,
(13:33):
you know, long torn down for a freeway ramp, but
the album covers a picture of Joe in front of
his record store with us superimposed into the photo.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Oh man, I love that. I love that concept.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
It's metaphorical for what we're doing musically.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Well.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You've always been a big part of not only did
he trite music scene, of preserving the history of Detroit,
and we all owe you a gratitude, a huge gratitude
of debt for that. With the Concert of Color that
comes through every year, you've always used a Detroit theme
(14:16):
for that, whether the artists could perform or not. You know,
it was Bob Seger music or you know, just Detroit music, period, iggy.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Pop, you know, go down the list.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You've always you've always paid homage to not only the
Detroit sound, but the Detroit musician as well. You've had
them all on stage several times. I mean, my friend
Gary Quackenbush from SRC, when you used to call him
to come in, it was like the I mean, it
(14:49):
didn't matter if there were money, if he was first
laster in the middle, this was a big moment for them.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
He was a sweet guy, Gary, and such a distinctive player.
Manton minute, I mean he starts playing it sounds like SRC,
you know, and it's just no one quite got that
tone that he gets. I was I was deeply touched
by his playing and there was always an honor to
play with him. So many great musicians coming out of Detroit. Man,
it's got the richest musical legacy I think of any
(15:22):
city in the world, even, you know, like in the
jazz world. I run a company called Bluno Records, which
is the greatest jazz label ever. The number of musicians
who recorded for the label who come from Detroit is overwhelming. Man,
there's not even a close second in terms of the cities.
(15:43):
You know, from Donald Byrd and use of latif to
Ron Carter and Elvin Jones and Dad Jones and Joe Henderson,
Curtis Fully, you can go on to Jerry Allen, to
Dave McMurray who records to Bruno, you know, and the
present day. So it's just a great musical town. I
(16:04):
can't think of a better place to have grown up
as a musician, and I'm proud of the music that
comes out of there. It's an honor to be, you know,
a branch on the trees.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
So when you take when you take a project like
this out into other parts of the country, though, I mean,
I suppose there could be a little bit of a
risk to it, but do they love it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Do they hate It's what's been the feeling.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
They get it and they love it. It was Motown
to Detroit Centric for the world is Bob Seger to
Detroit Centric. Now they embrace it. Everybody can feel it.
It's a musical language that people understand because it hits hard.
It's got a raw edge to it, an it's honest.
It's not slick, but it groves like crazy to me,
(16:53):
you know, really like john Ley Hooker is a great
representation of Detroit music because it's your raw honest, swings
like crazy and has lacks pretension, which to me is
it not just characterizes the music, but it characterizes the
people of Detroit. Straightforward, honest people, good people. Man who
(17:20):
I'm not impressed if he can, you know, be some Mercedes.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Well yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Just think of the bands that have been affected over
the years by just the Detroit sound. Bands like Jay
Giles and Arrowsmith and even Kiss you know what I mean,
Once they've stepped foot on the hollow ground of Detroit,
they all seem to realize the history and the magnitude
of you know, just so many artists that have you know,
(17:50):
crossed through here and made so much great music, including yourself.
I remember playing your records on the original w LLZ.
THEO was not was albums.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Sure that you've You've been a great supporter for decades
and decades and decades, Dougan. I'm grateful to you man,
Thank you, and thank you for all you do for
keeping the music alive in Detroit. Man, you've had such
an illustrious career of keeping great music going and being
on the radio with it, and it sued people hear it.
(18:26):
Great contribution there.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, I've tried to do my part, no question, but
it is it is in my blood.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And you know how that can be.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
So you're looking to to her into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Is this something you might want to, you know, keep.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Going for a little while and you know, continue to
do your own thing, or do you have projects now
that you're going to have to adhere to somewhere down
the line here in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
No, I'm giving this a priority. I love that there
enough till I dropped. I'm seventy three. It's kind of fun,
a fun adventure, this stage of life that starts up
brand new from scratch. And no, I'm not playing with
this band. I'll do this till I can't play anymore. Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Okay, well there you go.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I mean, coming from you, don that's a commitment because
you know, you've done so many projects, so many different things,
for so many different people.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
And uh and.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Now I think I think people are going to enjoy
the fact that you're back out there on your own,
You're doing your own music, and I think it's going
to be jam packed at the Majestic once again.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
That's coming up this Saturday.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
But for those that you know want to see the
show earlier, cruise up to TC.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Or Lancing and on the eighth or ninth.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
And we'll kick out the jams, now, did you I
would imagine you've got a couple of pretty good cover
songs up your sleeve for the show, right we do.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah. In fact of the things at the end of
the week, we got hired to play like a kind
of Grateful Dead convention. It's not a convention, but it's
like a little festival in Georgia for deadheads, right, And
you know I played. I toured with Bob Weir for
the Grateful Dead since twenty eighteen. We have a band
(20:20):
called Bob Wear and the Wolf Brothers played Detroit a
couple of times, and so they asked us to learn
the entire blues for Allah album and play that for
this festival. So I thought, all right, that's a good challenge.
I knew, you know, play a lot of them with
Bobby anyway, and so we worked up our own way
(20:42):
of doing it. It's a Detroit version of blues for Allah,
and I think we'll throw some of that into on
Saturday Night. We won't make the whole show that like
the Georgia, but I think we'll have some of the
blues for all the stuff and the fort for the Deadheads.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I think it's going to be a special night, that's
for sure. Once again this Saturday at the Majestic. Get
your tickets in advance. Don't get left out of this
one groove in the face of adversity.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
The record will be out the.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Day before October the tenth, and no other projects in between,
nothing but you know the was project for once and
congratulations don looking forward to it. I appreciate the time
you've taken to talk to us a little bit about
this upcoming new project, but you certainly have earned it,
(21:33):
my friend, and I think it's going to be an exciting,
exciting concert and an exciting you know, new step for it,
putting out your own music.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Well, thank you so much, man, and I appreciate you
taking the time to talk about it today.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
All right, Well, Don was and the Pan Detroit Ensemble
coming to town Saturday, So get on out there and Don,
thank you so much, my man.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Have a great comment ticket. All right, all
Hello, Detroit Wheels.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
How are you, man, Doug all right, Well, we've.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Got Don Don Was on the line.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm good and it's gonna be great to talk to
you about this new project.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm doing really well. Thanks for doing this, man, I
really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Oh yeah, no problem, whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
We've got Don Was on the line today for the
Rock Doc podcast producer extraordinaire. I mean the Stones, John Mayer,
Van Morrison, Eggy.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Pop, Ringo Star.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
And that's just naming a handful that I can see
on my sheet right in front of me, President of
the legendary Blue Note Records, and all around performer with
just about everybody that's been anybody.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
And finally you're doing some music for yourself. I understand.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, it's about time bump back to Detroit. Nine people
who all grew up listening to the same radio stations,
playing in the same bars. We speak the same musical language.
It's called Don Was and the Pan Detroit Ensemble, and
we made an album and we're coming to play. We're
on tour right now and we're coming to play in
(01:16):
Detroit this Saturday night the Majestic Theater.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
October the eleventh Saturday Night Majestic Theater Don Was.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Now this is not was that was show. This is
completely new.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
We'll speak it is completely new. I mean two of
the guys were in a Dave McMurray playing sacks and
you know, played the ball he played he recorded with
the Rolling Stones. I was just listening to a song
he did with the Stones. Luis Resto, who was both
these guys, was and I was. But Luis of course
was a co producer and co writer and so many
(01:50):
Eminem's big hits. And so there's a little hangover and
we'll probably do a couple of obscure was now was songs,
but a lot of new stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I love that, a lot of new stuff that's great.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And the music I'm assuming you know, and this is
just a rock guy. But you know, when you hear
the word ensemble, you do think a little bit more
of a jazz ensemble than a rock ensemble.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So where where do you fall?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, do you know we call it Detroit music when
we appear. We just we were playing in Japan last week
and the first thing we say before we start is
Hillari or the Pan Detroit Ensemble. And we have come
to promulgate the indigenous sounds of our hometown, Detroit, Michigan,
and that's the mission we're on. And if you know, really,
if you go through the rock and roll that came
(02:42):
out of Detroit, like Mitch Ryder and the MC five
and the Stooges, if you listen to what the bass
and the drums are doing, it's got heavy R and B,
you know, soul music underpinnings. So to me, the Detroit
sound encompasses all of that, from John Lee Hooker to
to you know, Bob Seeger. We touch on all of
(03:06):
it a little bit, but there's definitely an improvisational element,
and there's definitely a jazzy side to it. I guess
you call it soul jazz us. It sounds like it's
from Detroit. It's the sum total of what we all
grew up listening to.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
That there is a bit of a rhythm and soul
to our music in Detroit that we just don't realize
until you get away from the Motor City because I
you know, I talked to Alice Cooper about a year
ago and he was talking about his album Detroit Stories,
and he said the first thing he noticed when he
you know, he was doing the album with a bunch
(03:45):
of guys here from Detroit, including Johnny b and McCarty
and those kind of guys. He could he could feel
the soul coming out of all these guys, and it
was a little different than the LA experience for him.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Absolutely is, And I think I think not only Detroit,
but the world has Mitch Ryder to think for that,
because Mitch Ryder is the first guy I ever knew
of who did like a garage guitar based rock and
roll band, but but sag like a soul singer and
(04:18):
had R and B, you know, an undulating R and
B group underneath the music. And I think everything that
happens that has come out of Detroit subsequently, whether that's
Funkadelic or the White Stripes, everyone owes a debt to
Mitch Ryder.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah, No, I think I think you're absolutely right. There
is a there is a bit of a dedication in
movie coming out too that and and a documentary about
Mitch Ryder.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So I just I just wish that the Rock and
Roll Hall of.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Fame could see the importance of Mitch Rider and the
Detroit Wheels and get them in there. But that's a
probably a story for another day.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's an egregious oversight, kind of ratt and rave about
the rock and roll.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
That's all right, you know, they are seeing their evil
ways over there and starting to you know, like, you know,
fill in the gaps.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
A little bit, so to speak.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
So yeah, maybe maybe five got in last year, which
was nice.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Unfortunately none of them were around to see it. But
it should have happened twenty five years earlier, but it happened.
Stuges are in Bob seeger alas Coopers Place, yep.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
But there's there's plenty more that that could certainly, uh
that could certainly tide a space there at the Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I was on a tick last week listening to the Rationals,
oh yeah, who really only made one full length album,
and man talk about like Brett they could do great
soul like Temptation Bound to Get Me, but then they
did kind of a real psychedelic Detroit heavy guitar thing
(06:05):
called Guitar Army that really gave John Sinclair the title
for his book. But they could, they could rock out,
they could do soul music, and they were great ambassadors
for the sound of the city.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I think, yeah, oh absolutely that was, by the way,
Don the very first band I ever saw at Saint
Matthew's teen club night, and look where I am still
today fifty years later. And a lot of it had
to do with Scott Morgan and the Rationals, no doubt
about it. One of the biggest promotions radio promotions we
(06:37):
ever did was guitar army, and poor Scott Morgan had
to teach me guitar for about two months and then
I and then I forgot everything right after that.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I think it's three chords do I don't know?
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I still know those three chords. That's it. So tell
me about the right for this song. I saw that.
You know, some of it was recorded in the studio,
some of it was live.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
But had you been thinking about this for a while,
I mean, had you been writing and putting stuff aside?
I mean, I know you're always helping every other band
in the Motor City and across the planet. So when
did this revelation of you know, I'm going to do
something for myself finally hit Well, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It's so easy to set things aside when you've always
put yourself last, and and you know, to work with
the volving stones or mayor or Bob Jonan or something
like that. Man, of course you say yes and then
you turn around and thirty years have gone by. So
there was a sound I was always hearing in my
(07:47):
head that I was trying to realize that it was
kind of the sum total of growing up in Detroit
that sounded like Detroit, and we kind of hinted at
it with what now was, but we just needed more
time to develop it and to develop as musicians. So
now to revisit it in twenty twenty five, it just
(08:09):
fell together. But to be honest with you, it was
it had more to do with deadlines. That's why now.
Because I accepted a gig with the Detroit Symphony part
of a jazz series that they were doing. They asked
me to do one night. They asked me two years
in advance, and I let it go for about up
until we were six months out, and then I realized
(08:30):
I had no band and no songs. We had to
get something together. Now when I was just getting to
getting a leg up as a producer. In rapid succession
in nineteen eighty nine nineteen ninety I got to produce
Bob Dylan, Iggy Bob Seeger, Brian Wilson, The Stone's, Willie Nelson,
(08:52):
Chris Christophers and some of the greatest songwriters all time.
And it gave me really bad writer's block, because every
time I sit down at the piano to write a song,
I'd think, Oh, man, what is the point when Brian
Wilson is just down the street, Let's get him to
write it. And then one day I was in the
studio with Willy Nelson, and again I was lamenting the
(09:14):
fact that he's so great, and I thought, man, I
can never be like Willie Nelson. But then it hit me,
but Willie Nelson can never be like me. Willie Nelson
didn't drop acid and go see the MC five in
nineteen sixty eight. George Clinton didn't play a sockhop at
Willie Nelson's junior high school. Willie Nelson didn't stand outside
(09:36):
of the Drome lounge on Dexter, being too young to
get in but wanting to hear just a little bit
of John Coltrane from the inside. So just go back
to Detroit, find some like minded individuals, and be yourself.
Do the thing that makes you different from everybody else.
Sometimes in the music business we think that being different
(09:57):
is a marketing issue a problem, but really, the thing
that makes you different from everybody else's your superpower. So
we just put together the most Detroit sound and band
we could to play this one gig at Orchestra Hall
for the Jazz Series and then it felt too good.
It felt like we've been playing together for twenty thirty
years because we all spoke the same musical language. So
(10:20):
we just kept booking tours around it. There's our fifth
tour now, and we took it to Japan last week.
They didn't know a song, they don't they didn't even
understand what we were saying, I think on stage, but
they responded so enthusiastically to the music. It was affirmation
that the music that comes out of Detroit has global appeal,
(10:43):
as if we didn't know that alreadymore but it pumped
us up. So we got a big tour starting this
week that's going to start in Traverse City and in
Georgia in a couple of weeks. And yeah, we got
to stop at the Majestic on Saturday. Happens to be
the day after our album comes out.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So oh, perfect time, there you go.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I see You'll be in TC Traverse City on the eighth,
Lancing on the ninth, and then the eleventh at the Majestic,
and we invite everybody to get over there. Nothing like
kicking off the tour in Japan. And I was going
to mention do they really understand or know any of
the music, but you answered that. So how did it
(11:27):
feel to kind of be back on your own tour
and how did the other guys feel? I mean, it's
probably been a while for them as well, right.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, and everyone's we're having a ball. Man. You know,
there are twelve of us on a tour bus and
that's usually a recipe for some kind of disaster. Yeah,
you know, you got that many people in the band,
someone's not going to get along. We haven't had one
tense moment either on stage or off stage, which is cool, man,
(11:59):
and everyone and just we all dig each other and
we all dig playing together. And people are picking up
on that, I think, And and the opportunity to play
it for people in Detroit who really understand that, that's
a big deal. We recorded the album album by the
Ways called Groove in the Face of Adversity. They fitting
(12:21):
from the moment, I think.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
But we recorded it, but we recorded out of rust
Belt in blow great recording studio, and we just set
up the same way we do buy it, and we
played all the songs, and then we thought, well, when
we go out into it, let's let's take the shows
and we'll take the best versions. So three of them
came from the studio and three of them we just
(12:45):
beat the versions playing live two of them.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Two of the songs and the album actually come from
that orchestra hall show, because I think playing this music
in Detroit just pumped us up that much more, you know,
in ourtown, being in front of friends and family, and
also in the birthplace of the music, you know. The
cover for the album is a picture of Joe's record store,
(13:12):
which was on Hastings Street. Joe bom Battle had a
great record store there in the fifties and the studio
in the back that he recorded John Lee Hooker. He
made the first recordings of Aretha Franklin. So we figured
that's kind of our spiritual musical home is at Joe's Records,
(13:33):
you know, long torn down for a freeway ramp, but
the album covers a picture of Joe in front of
his record store with us superimposed into the photo.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Oh man, I love that. I love that concept.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
It's metaphorical for what we're doing musically.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Well.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
You've always been a big part of not only did
he trite music scene, of preserving the history of Detroit,
and we all owe you a gratitude, a huge gratitude
of debt for that. With the Concert of Color that
comes through every year, you've always used a Detroit theme
(14:16):
for that, whether the artists could perform or not. You know,
it was Bob Seger music or you know, just Detroit music, period, iggy.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Pop, you know, go down the list.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You've always you've always paid homage to not only the
Detroit sound, but the Detroit musician as well. You've had
them all on stage several times. I mean, my friend
Gary Quackenbush from SRC, when you used to call him
to come in, it was like the I mean, it
(14:49):
didn't matter if there were money, if he was first
laster in the middle, this was a big moment for them.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
He was a sweet guy, Gary, and such a distinctive player.
Manton minute, I mean he starts playing it sounds like SRC,
you know, and it's just no one quite got that
tone that he gets. I was I was deeply touched
by his playing and there was always an honor to
play with him. So many great musicians coming out of Detroit. Man,
it's got the richest musical legacy I think of any
(15:22):
city in the world, even, you know, like in the
jazz world. I run a company called Bluno Records, which
is the greatest jazz label ever. The number of musicians
who recorded for the label who come from Detroit is overwhelming. Man,
there's not even a close second in terms of the cities.
(15:43):
You know, from Donald Byrd and use of latif to
Ron Carter and Elvin Jones and Dad Jones and Joe Henderson,
Curtis Fully, you can go on to Jerry Allen, to
Dave McMurray who records to Bruno, you know, and the
present day. So it's just a great musical town. I
(16:04):
can't think of a better place to have grown up
as a musician, and I'm proud of the music that
comes out of there. It's an honor to be, you know,
a branch on the trees.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
So when you take when you take a project like
this out into other parts of the country, though, I mean,
I suppose there could be a little bit of a
risk to it, but do they love it.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Do they hate It's what's been the feeling.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
They get it and they love it. It was Motown
to Detroit Centric for the world is Bob Seger to
Detroit Centric. Now they embrace it. Everybody can feel it.
It's a musical language that people understand because it hits hard.
It's got a raw edge to it, an it's honest.
It's not slick, but it groves like crazy to me,
(16:53):
you know, really like john Ley Hooker is a great
representation of Detroit music because it's your raw honest, swings
like crazy and has lacks pretension, which to me is
it not just characterizes the music, but it characterizes the
people of Detroit. Straightforward, honest people, good people. Man who
(17:20):
I'm not impressed if he can, you know, be some Mercedes.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Well yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Just think of the bands that have been affected over
the years by just the Detroit sound. Bands like Jay
Giles and Arrowsmith and even Kiss you know what I mean,
Once they've stepped foot on the hollow ground of Detroit,
they all seem to realize the history and the magnitude
of you know, just so many artists that have you know,
(17:50):
crossed through here and made so much great music, including yourself.
I remember playing your records on the original w LLZ.
THEO was not was albums.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Sure that you've You've been a great supporter for decades
and decades and decades, Dougan. I'm grateful to you man,
Thank you, and thank you for all you do for
keeping the music alive in Detroit. Man, you've had such
an illustrious career of keeping great music going and being
on the radio with it, and it sued people hear it.
(18:26):
Great contribution there.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, I've tried to do my part, no question, but
it is it is in my blood.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And you know how that can be.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
So you're looking to to her into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Is this something you might want to, you know, keep.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Going for a little while and you know, continue to
do your own thing, or do you have projects now
that you're going to have to adhere to somewhere down
the line here in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
No, I'm giving this a priority. I love that there
enough till I dropped. I'm seventy three. It's kind of fun,
a fun adventure, this stage of life that starts up
brand new from scratch. And no, I'm not playing with
this band. I'll do this till I can't play anymore. Wow.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Okay, well there you go.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I mean, coming from you, don that's a commitment because
you know, you've done so many projects, so many different things,
for so many different people.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
And uh and.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Now I think I think people are going to enjoy
the fact that you're back out there on your own,
You're doing your own music, and I think it's going
to be jam packed at the Majestic once again.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
That's coming up this Saturday.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
But for those that you know want to see the
show earlier, cruise up to TC.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Or Lancing and on the eighth or ninth.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
And we'll kick out the jams, now, did you I
would imagine you've got a couple of pretty good cover
songs up your sleeve for the show, right we do.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah. In fact of the things at the end of
the week, we got hired to play like a kind
of Grateful Dead convention. It's not a convention, but it's
like a little festival in Georgia for deadheads, right, And
you know I played. I toured with Bob Weir for
the Grateful Dead since twenty eighteen. We have a band
(20:20):
called Bob Wear and the Wolf Brothers played Detroit a
couple of times, and so they asked us to learn
the entire blues for Allah album and play that for
this festival. So I thought, all right, that's a good challenge.
I knew, you know, play a lot of them with
Bobby anyway, and so we worked up our own way
(20:42):
of doing it. It's a Detroit version of blues for Allah,
and I think we'll throw some of that into on
Saturday Night. We won't make the whole show that like
the Georgia, but I think we'll have some of the
blues for all the stuff and the fort for the Deadheads.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I think it's going to be a special night, that's
for sure. Once again this Saturday at the Majestic. Get
your tickets in advance. Don't get left out of this
one groove in the face of adversity.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
The record will be out the.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Day before October the tenth, and no other projects in between,
nothing but you know the was project for once and
congratulations don looking forward to it. I appreciate the time
you've taken to talk to us a little bit about
this upcoming new project, but you certainly have earned it,
(21:33):
my friend, and I think it's going to be an exciting,
exciting concert and an exciting you know, new step for it,
putting out your own music.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Well, thank you so much, man, and I appreciate you
taking the time to talk about it today.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
All right, Well, Don was and the Pan Detroit Ensemble
coming to town Saturday, So get on out there and Don,
thank you so much, my man.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Have a great comment ticket. All right, all
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