Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we're really
digging into someone who's, well, more than just
successful in music. He's kind of an industry
paradox, a real musical shapeshifter. Don Edward
Faginson, or as most people know him, Don was.
Oh, shapeshifter is a good word for it. Maybe
even putting it mildly. I mean, you look at his
career, his CV, and it feels like it belongs
to, what, three different people? Right. Yeah.
Our sources show this guy, he's won six Grammys
as a producer, basically defining the sound for...
Huge chunks of rock, blues, country, you name
it, through the 90s and 2000s. But then he's
also an active touring musician right now, playing
double bass with Jam Band Legends. And then on
top of all that, he's the president of Blue Note
Records, the historic American jazz label. Yeah.
So, yeah, the paradox isn't just a footnote.
It's the main story. Okay. So that's what we're
diving into today, this massive career. We've
got a lot of material here looking at just how
versatile he's been. The impact is just huge.
It really is. Think about this. Records he produced
sold close to 100 million albums worldwide. And
those six Grammys, they include the big one,
producer of the year back in 94. Our mission
really is to try and trace this. almost unbelievable
path right how does someone go from being say
university of michigan dropout with a quirky
new wave hit yeah walk the dinosaur exactly how
does that guy end up running a jazz empire and
being the go -to producer for the rolling stones
for like 30 years. It doesn't seem possible.
It really doesn't. And look, if you need proof
right off the bat of just how complex this guy
is, think about this connection our sources highlight.
Mid -90s, right? Don Wuss is working like crazy.
Okay. He's producing the Rolling Stones' Voodoo
Lounge, huge album, massive rock project, high
pressure, super commercial. Right. At the exact
same time, he's directing and producing this
really personal, sensitive documentary about
Brian Wilson, you know, the Beach Boys genius.
Oh, I just wasn't made for these times. Yeah.
That's the one. It won awards. Think about the
headspace required for that. Jumping between
the Stones rock machine and the, you know, delicate
psychology of Brian Wilson, that's a kind of
mental juggling very few people could pull off.
Okay, so that sets the stage pretty dramatically.
Let's go back to the beginning, the roots. Yeah.
Got to start in Detroit. That's where Don Edward
Faginson was born, 1952. He's pure Motor City.
And that city's music scene. It's just, it's
unique in America. He graduated from Oak Park
High School there, soaking up that whole Detroit
sound, you know, the grit. But the academic side,
maybe not his main focus. He went to the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which is a great school.
Top university, yeah. But the sources say he
dropped out after just one year. Right. And you
get the sense it wasn't about lack of smarts.
It feels more like he already knew his path and
it wasn't going to be found in a lecture hall.
Music was pulling him too hard. So what was pulling
him? What was he hearing in Detroit? Well, it
was everything. You had that deep, raw Detroit
blues sound tied to the city's whole industrial
vibe. But crucially, at the same time, he was
really into jazz. Complex, serious jazz. Me too.
Sources specifically mentioned the big ones.
John Coltrane. Miles Davis. Okay, so that's not
background music. That's intense stuff. Coltrane,
Miles. You have to engage with that, understand
structure, improv. Exactly. It wasn't just casual
listening. It was like musical education by immersion.
And he was already playing, too. As a teenager,
he was the lead singer, played guitar in a local
Detroit rock band. The Patterns, they were called.
So even before he's really an adult, he's got
rock performance chops, that blues foundation,
and the kind of intellectual depth you get from
studying jazz. That's quite a mix. It is. And
Detroit fostered this certain... I don't know,
countercultural vibe, too. Sources mention influences
like John Sinclair, the poet, activist, big in
the rock scene there. Right, the MC5 connection.
Yeah. So he developed this personality, maybe,
that wasn't afraid to question things, try weird
stuff, make humor and politics into art. Which,
you know, really defines his own band later.
And that brings us right to him becoming Don
Was. He takes that name when he forms Was, not
Was, with a school buddy, David Weiss, who becomes
David Was. Right. A partnership right out of
high school built on this shared love for, I
guess, satire and mashing things together. So
what was Was, not Was? Musically? They were.
Unique. Deliberately blending stuff that didn't
seem to fit. Dance music, R &B grooves, new wave
synths. But then these really smart, often funny,
sometimes political lyrics. Absurdist almost.
Yeah, absurdist is a good word. They actually
got pretty big, especially in the UK first, then
the US through the 80s. Put out four albums,
always hard to pin down. They felt more like
a concept almost with a beat you could dance
to. But for most people, if you say was not was,
they think of one song, right? Oh yeah, Walk
the Dinosaur. No question. From 88, the What
Up Dog album, that was the big international
hit. Kind of cemented them in that late new wave,
early alternative dance sound. It did. And the
funny thing is, that one hit kind of overshadows
how musically restless they actually were across
their whole career. They were always grabbing
different styles and twisting them. Like what
else? Well, check this out. In 97, they did this
side project called... Orquestra was? Orquestra
was. Okay, what was that? Totally different.
Nothing like the 80s stuff. It was an album covering
Hank Williams songs. Hank Williams, the country
legend. The one and only. But they did the songs
as, like, jazz and R &B interpretations. The
album's called Forever's a Long, Long Time. Wow.
From Walk the Dinosaur to Jazzy Hank Williams.
That's a jump. It's a massive jump. And it tells
you so much about Don Was. His real interest
wasn't sticking to one genre. It was about...
Getting inside great songs no matter where they
came from. Country Sorrow via Jazz Funk. Why
not? You can already see the producer mind working
there, can't you? Totally. That project is almost
a blueprint for everything he did later in the
studio. And hey, for anyone interested, Was,
not Was, isn't just history. They actually got
back together. Oh, yeah. Yeah, did a new hour
called Boo. Yeah. And toured back in 2008. So
that creative thing with David was it's still
there even after all these years and all their
separate success. OK, so that sets up the transition
perfectly. That ability to move between, you
know, new wave artist and someone who can dissect
and rebuild a Hank Williams song. That's the
toolkit he takes into the studio as a producer.
And this is where he really builds his global
reputation, right? Absolutely. This is where
the awards start piling up, confirming he can
master totally different musical languages. We
mentioned six Grammys total. And it's not just
the number. It's what they were for. That 94
Producer of the Year Grammy, that's huge. That's
his peers saying he was the... Beth, the most
impactful guy behind the board that year. Let's
rewind a bit before 94. His first really massive
production success, the one that put him on the
map as that kind of producer, was earlier, wasn't
it, with Bonnie Raitt? Yes, 1989. And you really
can't overstate how important that Nick of Time
album was. Bonnie Raitt, late 80s. She was hugely
respected, a critic's favorite, but commercially,
things had cooled off. Right, she needed a spark.
Exactly. She's this incredible talent. Deeply
rooted in the blues, but needed, well, a sound
that felt current but didn't sell her out. Don
was produced Nick of Time, and boom. Massive
hit. Massive. Commercially huge, critically acclaimed,
won the Grammy for Album of the Year. It didn't
just revive her career, it kind of redefined
what a veteran artist could do in that era. Don
Watts became the guy you called for revitalization.
And then his other Grammys show this almost...
bizarre range. You mentioned one for Best Musical
Album for Children in 2009. Yeah, collaborating
with Ziggy Marley on Family Time. Okay, now contrast
that with 2016. Right. He wins another Grammy,
this time for producing The Rolling Stones' Blue
and Lonesome, which was them going back to straight
-up raw Chicago blues. So family reggae, one
year, hardcore traditional blues, the next. That's
it. And it's not just working in different genres.
It's understanding the specific sound, the aesthetic
needed for each, the clarity you need for kids
music versus the, you know, analog grit and room
sound you want for classic blues. He can nail
both. That kind of versatility must be why he
became so essential to some of the biggest names.
Let's talk about the Rolling Stones, because
that relationship is, well. it's a whole saga
isn't it it's huge it started in 94 with voodoo
lounge and basically he's been involved with
every major studio album they've done since stripped
bridges to battle on A Bigger Bang, and then
Blue and Lonesome, the blues one we mentioned.
He's basically been their main production partner
for their entire modern era. Pretty much the
longest, most consistent one they've had, yeah.
And it's still going. It's still going. He was
credited as an additional producer on a track,
Live by the Sword, on their latest album, Hackney
Diamonds, in 2023, which was really well received.
So they clearly still trust his ear, his judgment
after all this time. Absolutely. Implicitly.
But his work with them goes way beyond just recording
new songs. He became their archivist almost.
Okay, what does that involve? Archival expertise.
Yeah, it's a really specialized skill. Our sources
really emphasize this. He was key in overseeing
those big reissues of classic albums like Exile
on Main Street in 2010 and Some Girls in 2011.
So that's more than just remastering the old
tapes. Oh, way more. Think of it like... Musical
archaeology. You're dealing with tapes from like
the late 60s, early 70s. They're delicate. His
job wasn't just cleaning up the sound on the
original album tracks. It was digging through
like hundreds of hours of old session tapes.
Lost outtakes. Songs they started maybe half
finished, then abandoned in the vault. Wow. And
then the really tricky part. Taking these vintage
recordings, sometimes 40 years old, and actually
finishing them, that often meant producing and
recording brand new parts or getting Mick Jagger
in to sing new vocals over these old backing
tracks from decades ago. That sounds incredibly
difficult. You'd have to perfectly match the
sound and style of the band from 40 years prior.
Exactly. It takes incredible technical skill,
obviously, but also this uncanny knack for understanding
the band's historical DNA. He basically became
the guardian of their recorded history. A historical
technician. Amazing. Okay, so the Stones are
the long -running gig. But we should circle back
to Bonnie Raitt, too. Nick of Time was the breakthrough,
but he didn't stop there. No, he stayed with
her. Produced her next big albums, too, Luck
of the Draw and Longing in Their Hearts. These
records really helped define that polished, bluesy,
roots rock sound that was so big in the 90s.
They were foundational. And outside of those
core relationships, the list of artists he worked
with is just... Wild. So many different styles.
It's dizzying, honestly. Look at Pop and Rock.
He did the B -52's Cosmic thing in 89. Remember
Love Shack? Who could forget Love Shack? Pure
party music. Totally. Maximalist, fun, theatrical
pop. Now contrast that. He also worked with Iggy
Pop. The godfather of punk. Yep. Produced Brick
by Brick and Avenue B for Iggy. And later on,
he worked with Stone Temple Pilots, the big arena
rock band, back in 2010. So he could handle raw,
intense energy just as easily as he could handle...
You know, radio friendly pop gloss. And then
just when you think you have him pegged, he pivots
again into folk and country. Hard pivot. Yeah.
You worked with Bob Dylan on Under the Red Sky.
OK, Under the Red Sky. That one gets mixed reviews
sometimes, doesn't it? It does. Critics often
call it one of Dylan's, let's say, less essential
albums, polarizing maybe. But the fact that Don
was in there. producing that, trying to find
the right sound for Dylan's vision at that time.
Yeah. It shows he wasn't afraid of taking on
really challenging high stakes projects. And
he went deeper into that world, too, right? The
country icon. Oh, yeah. Deep dive. He produced
Willie Nelson, a couple of albums across the
borderline, Countrymen. Right. He did Chris Christopherson,
This Old Road, Closer to the Bone. He worked
with Waylon Jennings, even The Highwaymen, The
Supergroup. Wow. Willie, Waylon, Chris, Johnny
Cash. That's outlaw country royalty. Exactly.
And his approach there seemed totally different
from, say, the Stones or the B -52s. With these
guys, it was often about minimalism, capturing
the voice, the story, the weary honesty sometimes.
Like that Christofferson album, This Old Road.
That one's really sparse. Incredibly sparse.
Often just Christofferson's voice and a guitar.
All about the lyrics. So think about that shift.
From the huge sound of Love Shack to the bare
-bones intimacy of Christofferson, it shows this
amazing psychological flexibility. He wasn't
imposing his sound. He was finding the right
sound for each artist. He also dipped into more
polished pop and soul. Yep. Produced some tracks
for Elton John on that box set to be continued.
Worked with Michael McDonald, Carly Simon, Joe
Cocker. Guys with those big, soulful voices.
And he stayed current, too. Worked with John
Mayer. Three albums for John Mayer. Born and
Raised, Paradise Valley, and the more recent
Sob Rock. Kept him right in that modern rock
adult contemporary lane. Okay, we have to talk
about one really weird one, though. The Garth
Brooks project. Ah, yes. Garth Brooks in The
Life of Chris Gaines. 1999, what a trip that
was. For those who don't remember, Garth Brooks,
the country megastar, created this fictional
alter ego Chris Gaines, who was supposed to be
this Australian rock star. Right, and Don Woodster
produced the entire Chris Gaines album. Which
wasn't just making music. It was like creating
a whole fake musical history, a different persona.
It required this massive conceptual effort, almost
like being an executive producer on a film. It
definitely proved he could handle, well, pretty
much anything conceptually. So with all these
different artists, different sounds, what was
he actually doing in the studio? Was he just
the ideas guy, the director? Or more hands -on.
Definitely hands -on. That's key to his credibility,
I think. He wasn't just sitting back telling
people what to do. The sources consistently show
him credited playing instruments on these records.
He's a real musician, a utility player. Like
playing what? All sorts. He played bass on that
Dylan album, Under the Red Sky. He played the
big, upright double bass on a Bonnie Reid track
on Longing in Their Hearts. And on that stark
Chris Christopherson album, This Old Road, he's
credited on piano, acoustic bass, and upright
bass. So he's often part of the rhythm section
himself. Exactly. He's not just talking about
the groove. He's in the groove. So when he suggests
something to a session player, he's speaking
as someone who can literally pick up the instrument
and show them what he means. That earns a lot
of respect, especially from veteran artists who
value musical authenticity. Okay, so the studio
work is obviously immense, but his career didn't
stop at the recording console. He branched out
into film, TV, radio, a whole multimedia dimension.
Yeah, it's another layer to the whole shapeshifter
thing. And he got serious recognition for it,
too. Not just music awards, he won a BAFTA. A
British Academy Award. For what? Best Original
Score, back in 1994, for the film Backbeat. Backbeat.
That was the movie about the Beatles' early days
in Hamburg, right? Focusing on Stuart Sutcliffe,
the original bassist. That's the one. So scoring,
that wasn't just about writing background music.
It was about recreating the actual sound, the
raw energy of rock and roll, just before it exploded.
A big historical challenge. And then there was
that Brian Wilson documentary we mentioned earlier.
I just wasn't made for these times. He directed
that one. Directed and produced it, yeah, in
95. And it wasn't just some side project. It
got real acclaim. Won the Golden Gate Award at
the San Francisco Film Festival. Why was that
doc so important? Well, it came out during a
really difficult time for Brian Wilson personally.
It offered this incredibly vulnerable, insightful
look at his genius and his struggles. It showed
Don Wise. could handle these really sensitive
artistic stories with the same kind of care he
brought to a massive Stones album. He could tell
stories on film, too. And besides his own film
projects, he was also kind of Hollywood's go
-to music guy for a while. Seems like it. He
worked as a music director or consultant on a
surprising number of big movies, especially in
the 90s. The list is pretty impressive. Let's
hear it. Okay, you've got Thelma and Louise.
Classic soundtrack. Totally. Toy Story. Wow,
animation, too. Yep. Phenomenon, Tin Cup, Days
of Thunder, Michael, a real mix of genres. So
what does a music director or consultant do on
films like those? It varies. For something like
Thelma and Louise, it's about shaping the whole
sonic vibe, right? Choosing the right songs,
the needle drops that set the mood, fit the era,
and really hit emotionally without getting in
the way of the story. Like curating the mixtape
for the movie? Kind of, yeah. For an animated
movie like Toy Story, it might be more about
advising on how the original songs fit in, making
sure the overall musical feel is consistent.
It meant shifting from being a technical producer
to more of a cultural curator for a mass audience.
And he even got an Emmy. For TV work? He did
in 2014 for Outstanding Music Direction. It was
for that big CBS TV special, The Beatles, The
Night That Changed America. Ah, the 50th anniversary
show. Right. So that shows he can handle the
immense pressure of live TV, celebrating these
huge cultural moments. It's a different kind
of skill set again. He clearly likes the broadcast
world. He even hosted a radio show for a while.
Yeah, on Sirius XM. He had a show called The
Motor City Hayride on the Outlaw Country Channel.
Ran from about 2009 to 2012. Outlaw country.
So more roots music. Exactly. Just reinforces
how deep his knowledge and love for that stuff
goes. And his ability to talk about it, share
those histories with listeners. But what's really
interesting, I think, is that he didn't just
stick with National Satellite Radio. He went
back home, didn't he? He did. In 2021, he started
a new show called Don Was Motor City Playlist.
And significantly, it's on WDET -FM. Which is?
Detroit's local NPR station. Public radio. OK,
that feels important. Why go local after being
on Sirius XM? It says a lot, doesn't it? He could
aim for another big national platform. But choosing
WDET feels like a conscious decision to to reconnect,
to give back. He's using his global name to shine
a light on the music and the artists coming out
of the city that made him. It's feeding the roots.
And that Detroit commitment goes beyond just
the radio show, right? There's an annual event
he's involved in. Yeah. Since 2008, he's been.
hosting and leading the house band for the Detroit
All -Star Review. It's a big local showcase.
Lots of different Detroit artists get featured.
So he's taking the clout he earned producing,
you know, the biggest rock band in the world.
And Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt. Right. And he's
directly channeling that back into supporting
the music scene where he started. That's pretty
cool. OK, so now we get to maybe the most. striking
part of this whole paradoxical career. After
mastering being an artist, producer, archivist,
filmmaker, radio host, Don Waz takes on this
huge executive role, one that puts him right
at the top of arguably the most revered record
label in American music history. Blue Note Records.
January 2012, he's appointed president. He takes
over from Bruce Lundvall, who was a legend in
his own right. A total legend. And Blue Note.
I mean, this is the label of Miles Davis, Thelonious
Monk, John Coltrane. The very guys Don Waz was
listening to back in Detroit as a kid. It's kind
of mind -blowing. It sent a real message to the
industry. Think about it. The guy who did walk
the dinosaur and produce the stones is now running
Blue Note. It wasn't like they brought in some
pop exec to try and fix jazz or make it more
commercial. They brought in someone who clearly
had this incredibly deep, nuanced understanding
and respect for jazz history and its integrity.
His production work across all those genres must
have given him immense credibility. And was he
just like the figurehead president? Or did he
actually get involved in the music side of the
label? No, he definitely stayed involved creatively.
You can see his producer credit popping up on
albums by Blue Note artists during his tenure.
It shows he was connecting his old skills to
his new role. Like who did he produce for Blueno?
Well, he produced Jason Ryan's album All Rise,
a joyful elegy for Fats Waller. And he worked
on an album called Enjoy the View, which featured
the great vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson with
David Sanborn. Yeah. So, yeah, he kept his hands
in guiding the label sound, not just as an executive,
but as a fellow musician and producer. OK, but
here's the kicker. While he's president of this
iconic jazz label sitting in boardrooms making
executive decisions. He doesn't stop being a
performing musician. In fact, he arguably ramps
it up. He hits the road. Right. The contradiction
is just fantastic. In 2018, he forms this trio,
Wolf Bros. With Bob Weir from The Grateful Dead.
Yep. Bob Weir on guitar and vocals, Jay Lane
on drums, and Don was on... Upright double bass.
Upright bass, not electric. Upright bass, which
is, you know, physically demanding, rooted in
jazz and folk traditions. It's a statement in
itself. They started touring pretty heavily in
2018, 2019. So the president of Blue Note Records
is out playing gigs, laying down grooves on an
upright bass in a band that's all about improvisation,
very much in that Grateful Dead spirit. Exactly.
It just blows your mind when you think about
it. Does the day job running the venerable jazz
institution, then goes out at night and plays
these long exploratory jams. Is that, I mean,
does one job inform the other? Does playing in
Wolf Bros help him run Blue Note or is it just
two totally separate lives? I think it absolutely
informs it. How could it not? If you're leading
a label built on improvisation, like Blue Note,
staying connected to live performance, to that
spontaneous musical conversation. it keeps your
perspective real, doesn't it? Yeah, it keeps
you grounded in the actual making of music. Right.
And the Grateful Dead tradition, like jazz, is
all about that in -the -moment creation. So he's
bringing that energy, that understanding, back
into the executive role. And he's still doing
it. Sources mention him playing at the Dead Ahead
Festival in Mexico in 2024 with other members
of that whole musical family. He's really living
this duality. OK, one more specific musical thing
we need to touch on. His work with Bob Dylan
again, but in a very unique context. These Ionic
originals. What was that about? Yeah, this was
in 2021. Super interesting. It involves T -Bone
Burnett as a producer. Another heavyweight producer.
Absolutely. And they decided to rerecord some
classic Dylan songs. Masters of War, Simple Twist
of Fate, but not just regular recordings. They
created these things called Ionic Originals.
OK, what is an Ionic Original? It's basically
a brand new proprietary analog recording format
T -Bone Burnett developed. Think of it like a
super high fidelity, one of a kind lacquer disc.
It's not digital. It's pure analog. And they
only made one copy of each recording. Exactly.
Each recording was a unique single object sold
as such, like a piece of fine art. It was partly.
about pushing the boundaries of analog sound
fidelity and partly about creating these absolutely
unique sonic artifacts, kind of reviving an old
idea in a new way. And Don was played bass on
these unique high stakes recordings. He did,
which again tells you something. When Dylan and
T -Bone Burnett are doing this highly specialized,
philosophically driven project focused on pure
analog sound, who do they call for the bass?
Don was. He's seen as that ultimate reliable
anchor in the analog world. It really seems like
his whole career, his whole approach is built
on these deep connections, this ability to operate
in different worlds. Maybe it runs in the family.
Sources mentioned some interesting family background.
Yeah, a couple of interesting points. His father
was a WWII vet, earned a Bronze Star Medal. A
background of serious commitment there. And maybe
more surprisingly, his sister is Nancy Potok.
Who was? The former chief statistician of the
United States. Wow. Okay. From music production
to chief statistician, that's diverse. It really
is. Yeah. Suggests maybe a family trait of being
able to achieve excellence in really different,
really demanding specialized fields. So we've
traced this incredible path. Dawn was. From a
Detroit kid dropping out of college through the
quirky success of Was, not Was, becoming this
key producer who revived careers like Bonnie
Raitts, who became the trusted ear for the Rolling
Stones. Winning BAFTA's Emmys for film and TV
work. And then landing as the president of Blue
Note Records, one of the most iconic labels ever.
It's just an amazing arc. It really is. And the
numbers, the six Grammys, nearly 100 million
albums sold. They're impressive, but almost beside
the point. What's really staggering is how he
managed to balance it all. How he excelled as
a creative artist himself, both with Was, not
Was, and now with Wolf Draws, while also being
this major industry executive and producer. That
adaptability, that deep appreciation for all
kinds of music. Rock, blues, jazz, country, pop
seems to be the core of it. He sees the connections
maybe where others see divisions. He's the ultimate
curator, isn't he? He can shift from understanding
the, I don't know, intellectual satire of his
own early work to the gut level emotion of the
blues, to the deep harmonic complexity of jazz.
He gets it all. He really is that definitive
musical shapeshifter we started with. As someone
who proves music history isn't really about walled
off genres. So thinking about all this. What
does it mean going forward? You've got the president
of Mluno Records, the home of sophisticated jazz,
who spends his nights playing upright bass in
an improvisational rock band. Yeah, what does
that lead to? Well, that's the provocative thought
maybe we can leave you with. If the guy in charge...
sees the entire sweep of American music, rock,
folk, blues, jazz as this interconnected whole,
this giant playground, what kind of unexpected
things might start happening at Blue Note? Like
new kinds of artists being signed, boundary -pushing
collaborations. Maybe. What kind of cross -pollination
could happen when the executive making the decisions
has that kind of street -level, on -stage experience?
It makes you wonder what the future of that legendary
label might look like, guided by someone who
truly embodies such diverse musical worlds. It's
definitely worth keeping an eye on. And maybe
go back and listen to some of those wildly different
albums he produced. You'll hear that polymath
mind at work.