Ask the average person about Detroit music and you’ll likely hear about the soul and R&B of Motown, the rock and roll of Bob Seger, the blues of John Lee Hooker, the proto-punk of the MC5 and the Stooges, or the techno revolution kicked off by such artists as Carl Craig and Derrick May. But mention Detroit country music and most people will draw a blank. The very idea of country music in a Northern city runs against the grain of conventional wisdom.
Yet there was a time, from the ’30s through the ’60s, when the Motor City was a hotbed of countrified creativity. And thanks to researchers Craig Maki and Keith Cady, that long-lost scene is now getting its due in the book Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys and Rockabillies, out now on University of Michigan Press.
What set Detroit country apart? Like Detroit’s soul and R&B, Detroit’s country scene was a product of a massive wave of immigration from the South. Similarly, it took roots music and produced an updated, electrified, more eclectic sound imbued with many different influences. Now little-known, it was a pioneering scene that included electric guitar in its mountain music and bluegrass, jazz sidemen playing with country fiddlers, hot records with slap bass that presaged rockabilly, and even the occasional female bandleader. What’s more, it had a gritty, raw and often randy side to it that seems particularly “Detroit.”
Author Craig Maki was kind enough to share his time with us and present us with a trove of photos of the groups and musicians who created this groundbreaking country music scene.
