BIOGRAPHY
Over the last twenty-five years, Dusty Wakeman has amassed more than 100 production and engineering credits, working with artists as diverse as Dwight Yoakam, Bachelor Number One, Jim Lauderdale, Lucinda Williams and Buck Owens. An accomplished bass player who's recorded with and toured with Michelle Shocked, Jim Lauderdale and Rosie Flores, Wakeman's deep commitment to make music has given him a sensitivity that allows him to transcend genre.

After 16 years of owning and operating Mad Dog Studios in Venice, California, in 1996, Wakeman relocated the studio to a 6000 square foot complex in Burbank. Because Wakeman has the advantage of being a working musician, producer and engineer, he brings a unique sensitivity to owning and operating a recording facility. ãThe more records you make, the more you know,ä Wakeman explains. ãThe secret is never to take the process for granted and to always pay attention to what is best for the client's project and to create an environment for the artist to achieve their vision".

To the Texas-born Producer/Mixer/Engineer/Musician, it's getting to the heart of the music that's important, which is part of what brought such a diverse group of artists to him. From these experiences, Wakeman's been able to further develop his career including the recording of two Grammy award winners including the 1987 Best Country Vocal Collaboration, Roy Orbison/K.D. Lang duet of ãCrying,ä and Dwight Yoakam's 1993 Best Country Male Vocal Performance of ãAin't That Lonely Yet".

In a tribute to Gram Parsons in July 2004, Dusty Wakeman was the musical director and bassist in the house band for all the shows. Below is a quote from an article in The Variety, which mentions Dusty, along with a quote from Dusty about the tribute.

"Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons" (Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara; 4,562 seats; $107 top)

Presented by House of Blues Concerts and Nederlander West. Reviewed July 9, 2004; also at Universal Amphitheater July 10.

Artists: Keith Richards, Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Dwight Yoakam, John Doe, Steve Earle, Jim Lauderdale, Kathleen Edwards, Jay Farrar, Jim James, Raul Malo, Sylvia St. James and the House of Blues All Stars, Susan Marshall, the Sin City All Stars.

"The artists took advantage of their positions. With the help of house band the Sin City All Stars -- led by bassist Dusty Wakeman, who's played on many of the other performers' records -- there was very little straight-up hero worship and much more influence-rendering. Norah Jones demonstrated where the bits of twang come from in her music while fronting the band for "Streets of Baltimore" to start her three-song set; Rolling Stones guitarist Richards gave "Love Hurts" a bit of attitude in his. Through it all, the revolving-door members of the Sin City All Stars played the songs as if they lived in them, souping up solos with sizzling slides or simmering down the slow songs with actively tasteful plucking. It was apparent their professionalism put the other performers at ease."

- By JEFF MILLER "As a white suburban kid growing up in Houston, Texas, it was all about The Beatles and The Stones...until the Byrds' 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' came out. Gram and Chris Hillman turned me on for the first time to the country music that had been all around me. All of a sudden country music was cool. From that point on, the lines between country and rock disappeared forever.

The Gram Parsons Tribute shows were a perfect example of receiving ten-fold the energy one puts into something important---a real labor of love. "
-DW, on the Tribute to Gram Parsons

PARTIAL DISCOGRAPHY