Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble: Tiny Desk Concert

Felix Contreras | May 15, 2026
Is it possible to be ubiquitous and behind-the-scenes at the same time? 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. Since 2012, he has been president of the legendary Blue Note Records.

Was is also a son of Detroit. In recent years, he put together a band under his own name for the first time: Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble. "We are on a mission to promulgate the indigenous sounds of our hometown of Detroit, Michigan," he explains.

This is a tight and powerful group, with an emphasis on the groove, but all eyes and ears are on lead vocalist Steffanie Christi'an. In this Tiny Desk performance, she breathes a very different kind of fire into the Grateful Dead classic "The Music Never Stopped" and smolders on re-working of Hank Williams' "I Ain't Got Nothing But Time." The entire set is a perfect example of how, as the Dead used to say, "the music plays the band."

SET LIST
"The Music Never Stopped"
"You Asked, I Came"
"Midnight Marauders"
"I Ain't Got Nothin' But Time"
"Insane"

MUSICIANS
Don Was: bass
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
Terena Boone: background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Felix Contreras
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Director/Mix: Josh Newell
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Vanessa Castillo
Series Editor: Lars Gotrich
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

#donwas #nprmusic #tinydesk