Aaron Dessner, Taylor Swift Co-Producer and Member of the National, on Navigating Both Sides of the Mixing Board
The latest episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast features Aaron Dessner — the man Swifties are indebted to for collaborating on big chunks of “Folklore” and “Evermore,” but who more than earned his keep for a quarter-century prior to that as a member of the exalted-in-their-own-right band the National.
Dessner’s Grammy-winning group has been one of the mainstays of rock ’n roll since the late ’90s. But when most musicians were taking a time-out early in the pandemic, Dessner got called in by Taylor Swift to help create her perception-changing “Folklore” album, soon followed that same year by “Evermore.” Ever since, he’s been one of the most sought-after producer/co-writers in the business — even as the National has gotten busier with the resumption of touring, and two albums of their own in 2023. His production efforts just this year have included two new albums with superstar Ed Sheeran, and a breakthrough album with up-and-comer Gracie Abrams that led to her getting a best new artist Grammy nomination.
More from Variety
How does Dessner juggle these demanding roles? Partly by working with artists in his own home-adjacent studio (the name of which, Long Pond, has become famous in its own right, due to be the setting for a Swift special). For stars, or would-be stars, who want to establish themselves with a more homegrown-sounding approach (either as first-timers, like Abrams, or veterans making a left turn, like Swift and Sheeran) Dessner is the man. At least for as long as he can keep his band’s tour bus at bay.
“When Taylor and I collaborated on ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore,’ of course, she’s such a lightning rod,” Dessner tells Variety, “and she showed some dimension of my work that the world maybe didn’t know about. And so, it did cause a lot of, more attention and a lot more interest, which has been really positive and really exciting and wonderful. One of the amazing things about her is how she brings her friends and her collaborators up, through her ways of encouraging and teaching and lending her talent. You kind of feel like all of a sudden you have a superpower, but really a lot of it is really just her ability to carve into something that you’re doing.
“But then the other thing is that she’s generous with introductions and a feeling of encouragement, and she wants her collaborators to spread their wings and do things… Part of the community that I come out of also is just like: All boats rise. To me, the smallest project is as important as the ones that have higher pressure or bigger audiences, because you never know where you’re going to grow or where the magic will be made.”
Dessner is, indeed, as excited about working with first-timers as stars, though he recognizes that finding them often requires more time than he’s been able to find for discovery in his burgeoning production career. “I’m not a Google Calendar sort of person,” he says. “I do have a manager who’s much more organized. What’s harder is to make time to meet new people, and to find time for them to come visit, or I visit them… It’s always a way to grow when you encounter someone new and have to learn what their way of working is and their process and their strength and how you might click, and what the chemistry might be, and that’s where it gets really interesting. So I’ve been doing that a little bit of late, and I hope to do more next year.”
Listen to the latest episode of “Strictly Business” below or wherever you get your podcasts.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
