I’m continuing my fill-in duties as host of In the Groove this week, with new music from Cameron Winter, Julien Baker & TORRES.

Plus, a ranging mix of classic cuts from the likes of Kate Bush, Bill Evans, and Thelonius Monk, to name but a few. 

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above.

In The Groove (with guest host Adam Fox) playlist for June 5, 2025

• “Cold Heart” – Nilüfer Yanya
• “Can You Get To That” – Funkadelic
• “Rill Rill” – Sleigh Bells
• “Uncanny Tales (The Score)” – Dabrye
• “Linear Motion” – Rebecca Goldberg
• “I Have the Touch” – Peter Gabriel
• “Sama Gàmmu” – Youssou N’Dour
• “One Hundred Years from Now” – The Byrds
• “Sugar in the Tank” – Julien Baker & TORRES
• “I Am Goodbye” – Bonnie “Prince” Billy
• “Horsehead” – DIIV
• “Rave Down” – Swervedriver
• “Cloudbusting” – Kate Bush
• “Headlock” – Imogen Heap
• “Magic Sam’s Boogie (Live)” – Magic Sam & Shakey Jake
• “Ride Like Hell” – Big Sugar
• “It’s Rough On Rats (If You’re Asking)” – Jack White
• “Love Takes Miles” – Cameron Winter
• “Tomorrow is Perfect” – mark william lewis
• “Tango” – Ryuichi Sakamoto
• “Love Is a Stranger” – Eurythmics
• “Eminence Front” – The Who
• “Down On the Street” – The Stooges
• “Corpse Pose” – Unwound “Starburster” – Fontaines D.C.
• “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” – Marianne Faithfull
• “Monk’s Dream (Take 8)” – Thelonious Monk
• “Waltz for Debby (Take 2)” – Bill Evans Trio
• “Atlantic High” – John Fahey
• “Stomping Gamay” – Karriem Riggins, Madlib & Jahari Massamba Unit
• “Star Roving” – Slowdive
• “The Concept” – Teenage Fanclub “Spastik” – Plastikman

Listen to In the Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org.

Adam Fox filling in for RPH again! Today on In The Groove, tracks from Robert Glasper, Detroit Cobras and Brian Eno.

Plus, new music from William Tyler, Preoccupations, and much more!

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above.

In The Groove (with guest host Adam Fox) playlist for June 4, 2025

• “The Dude” – Donald Byrd
• “Ill at Ease” – Preoccupations
• “We Live As We Dream, Alone” – Gang of Four
• “When I Grow Up” – Fever Ray
• “Eventually” – Rival Consoles
• “The Emperor’s New Clothes” – Sinéad O’Connor
• “Priestess” – Cass McCombs
• “VIVID DREAMS (feat. River Tiber)” – KAYTRANADA
• “Detroit State of Mind” – Will Sessions
• “Oh! You Pretty Things” – David Bowie
• “Grass” – The Pretty Things
• “Mambo Sun” – T. Rex
• “1176” – Russ Macklem
• “Sumpin’ Like Dat” – Marion Hayden
• “Check the Rhime” – A Tribe Called Quest
• “Afro Blue (feat. Erykah Badu)” – Robert Glasper Experiment
• “Peace Exists Here” – Max Cooper
• “Concern” – William Tyler
• “B Minor” – Lanterna
• “Pancho & Lefty (Live)” – Townes Van Zandt
• “Turn” – Ron Leary
• “Rid of Me” – PJ Harvey
• “Lip” – His Name Is Alive
• “St. Elmo’s Fire” – Brian Eno
• “Sweet Thing” – Van Morrison
• “Season of the Shark” – Yo La Tengo
• “Ode to a Black Man” – The Dirtbombs
• “Summers Gonna Be My Girl” – The Go
• “Bad Girl” – The Detroit Cobras
• “Hell Is Chrome” – Wilco
• “Pure Love” – DJ Koze & Damon Albarn

Listen to In the Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org.

Ryan Patrick Hooper is taking a well-earned vacation, which means I (WDET Program Director Adam Fox) get to play radio host for the rest of the week — I promise to take care of the Good Ship “ITG” in his stead!

We kicked off the fill-in shows with style today — new stuff from Marie Davidson, Stereolab and Luster, as well as some music that gets better with age from Taj Mahal, Sonny Rollins, Cate Le Bon and much more!

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above.

In The Groove (with guest host Adam Fox) playlist for June 3, 2025

• “Kiko and the Lavender Moon” – Los Lobos
• “Gratiot” – Detroit Escalator Company
• “Three Drums” – Four Tet
• “Close My Eyes” – Luster
• “Lorelei” – Cocteau Twins
• “Love Has Got Me Crying Again” – Denise James
• “The Department of Ghosts” – Outrageous Cherry
• “My City Was Gone” – Pretenders
• “Love Is Overtaking Me” – Arthur Russell
• “Monkey Gone to Heaven” – Pixies
• “Trailer Trash” – Modest Mouse
• “Most of the Time” – Bob Dylan
• “Lotta Love to Give” – Daniel Lanois
• “Are You With Me Now?” – Cate Le Bon
• “Respectable Street” – XTC
• “Bonnet of Pins” – Matt Berninger
• “Dan’s Boogie” – Destroyer
• “Same Old Song” – Four Tops
• “Leaving Trunk” – Taj Mahal
• “St. Thomas” – Sonny Rollins
• “Wu Punk” – Georgia Anne Muldrow
• “Sodajerk” – Buffalo Tom
• “Flag With No Pole” – World News
• “Demolition” – Marie Davidson
• “Washing Machine Heart” – Mitski
• “Policy of Truth” – Depeche Mode
• “Come On Let’s Go” – Broadcast
• “Transmutated Matter” – Stereolab
• “Le temps de l’amour” – Françoise Hardy
• “You Can Make It If You Try” – Sly and the Family Stone
• “You’re Welcome (Stop on By)” – Bobby Womack
• “Fusion Swirl” – Jeff Parker
• “Yekermo Sew” – Mulatu Astatke
• “Black Sand” – Glass Beams

Listen to In the Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org.

This is Chris Campbell from The Progressive Underground with your Pick of the Week.

This week, we dive into the sonic brilliance of Headnodic & Jazz Mafia, a West Coast collective of musicians and vocalists who craft rich, layered textures around the forward-thinking productions of Headnodic. Known for his seamless fusion of hip-hop and jazz, Headnodic leads this outfit through a self-titled debut that redefines the genre’s possibilities.

Up next is their bold and beautiful reimagining of Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage”— a modern tribute that honors the classic while sailing new creative waters.

That was Headnodic & The Jazz Mafia with “Maiden Voyage,” from their brand-new self-titled release.

If this brand of hip-hop jazz fusion hits your soul, join us every Saturday night at 6 p.m. on The Progressive Underground — where we explore future soul, nu-jazz, jazz-rap, rare grooves, and b-sides from across the spectrum.

For The Progressive Underground, I’m Chris Campbell. See you next time. Peace.

Ember LaFiamma is part of the future Detroit promised.

She grew up in the city surrounded by the sound — techno, house, ghetto tech— without knowing what the world called it by name.

Later, she learned that the music that shaped her was born right here.

Her journey deepened at the Underground Music Academy, where she learned to build beats from scratch and sharpened her skills as a DJ and producer. There, she began to truly understand the legacy — and the labor — behind the sound.

LaFiamma is not just performing, she is building. She co-leads Homie Hangz, a nonprofit that hosts free and donation-based DJ sessions and production workshops in community spaces across Detroit. She makes her own music, teaches, and builds bridges.

She is now preparing to open the Detroit stage at the Movement festival on Saturday. So, what does it mean to carry forward a sound rooted in resistance and innovation?

LaFiamma joined The Metro to talk about her journey, her city, and the community she’s helping to shape.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

More stories from The Metro

One of the top reasons to tune in to MI Local every Tuesday is the live energy! Sometimes even I, as the host, can’t be totally sure what might happen!

This week, for example, I was contacted by an esteemed Ypsilanti-based singer-songwriter, Kylee Phillips, who has been featured on WDET recently for her last album, “The Good Parts,” — turns out Phillips has a new song, “Devil I Know,” dropping on Friday paired up with a music video and, naturally, MI Local listeners were treated to an exclusive sneak-preview listen, finding the heretofore folk-associated songwriter leaning into a heavier, ballady indie-rock vibe.

I rearranged the playlist in time for more brand new music from local artists, including a single from the Pontiac-based brother duo, Pancho Villa’s Skull, with Tino and Ronaldo Ybarra bringing their Mariachi-punk energy with “Resistiré Existiré” — which the brothers said was “all about being unapologetically YOU in a world that wants to weed out any sort of otherness.”

We also looked ahead to the upcoming Movement Electronic Music Festival happening in Hart Plaza this holiday weekend, with tracks from producers/musicians like Whodat and Ladymonix (the latter is set to perform with WDET’s own Waajeed). Full schedule.

Along with Movement, we listened to artists who have upcoming shows around the region, like Ypsi-based experimental indie-pop group Kind of Animal, and the prog-rock super group Troy Gregory & the Mercury Gauntlett!

The feature of the night was a visit from the Grand Rapids-based indie-rock/alt-pop quintet Phabies. The group was formed by multi-disciplinary artist Laura Hobson, who has continually brought a vibrant, painterly-sensibility to her songwriting, blending moody and dynamic folk sensibilities with emphatic, serotonin-surging pop balladry. Hobson has been writing, recording and performing with her ensemble since 2018, featuring Garrett Stier, Joshua Holicki, and Max McKinnon, along with newest member Andrew Deters.

Remarkably, and charmingly, despite the rain and construction, both Hobson and Stier drove all the way into Detroit from Grand Rapids to visit WDET Studios for an interview and an exclusive premiere of a song from their forthcoming album, “The Curse of Caring” — which comes out June 13. We were able to give listeners a preview of a new single which is officially out next Tuesday, May 27: “I Care For You.”

As you can see, Hobson brought along a Polaroid camera! While in the studio with me, Hobson and Stier performed a pared-back acoustic version of their song “Green Cement,” yet another unreleased track from “The Curse of Caring.” This forthcoming album is their second full-length release, following 2022’s “Fire Seed,” along with several singles and EPs.

Stay for the music, but listen close for the quirky, almost Moth-esque mini-story-slam that Hobson delivers to explain the origins behind their name: Phabies!

See the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

MI Local Playlist for May 20, 2025

• “Devil I Know” – Kylee Phillips
• “it’s the weekend” – Kind of Animal
• “Eat the Plants” – Ideeyah & Meftah
• “Temperature” – Isacc Burgess
• “Resistiré Existiré” – Pancho Villa’s Skull
• “Good Mourning” – Whodat
• “High Notes” – Ladymonix
• “Mindchime” – R. Solomon
• “Our Laundry Day” – Troy Gregory
• “Stargazer” – Obsrvr
• “I Care For You” – Phabies
• “Green Cement” (live in WDET Studios) – Phabies
• “The Bloodletting” – Phabies

Love poured out onto the corner of 7 Mile and Revere Street on Friday, May 16, as the city of Detroit honored one of its most gifted, generous and influential musical sons: Joseph “Amp” Fiddler.

In a ceremony filled with rhythm, reverence and raw emotion, the city officially unveiled Amp Fiddler Avenue, permanently inscribing his name on the very block where so much of his magic was made.

It was the centerpiece of the second annual Amp Fiddler Day, a now-official recognition established by the Detroit City Council to commemorate a life lived in the service of music, community and connection.

I stood there on that familiar street, not just as the event’s host, but also as someone deeply connected to the man we honored. Amp was my friend. We were both raised in Conant Gardens, a neighborhood that has quietly birthed giants.

“To be part of this day wasn’t just professional. It was personal. It was a full-circle moment.”

–Chris Campbell, host, The Progressive Underground

He appeared on The Progressive Underground more than any other guest I’ve hosted in the show’s 13-year history — his spirit, warmth and fearless creativity made him not just a friend of the show, but by extension, a friend of WDET. To be part of this day wasn’t just professional. It was personal. It was a full-circle moment.

Amp was more than a master musician. He was a musical architect and a connector of generations. His fingerprints are on the sounds of Parliament-Funkadelic, Prince, Maxwell, Seal and Tony Allen. He infused Detroit soul into every synth line and groove he touched, creating an unmistakable sonic signature that made him a legend’s legend. But his true genius may have been the space he created for others.

It was in his modest home studio on Revere Street where countless artists gathered — where conversations turned into collaborations, and where a young James Yancey, better known as J Dilla, was handed his first MPC and a passport to change the future of hip-hop and neo-soul.

On this day, dignitaries, artists, family members, community elders and students came together to lift up Amp’s name and legacy. Councilmember Scott Benson opened the ceremony by reading the formal city resolution that first established Amp Fiddler Day and affirmed the renaming of Revere Street to Amp Fiddler Avenue.

He was joined by Councilmember Coleman A. Young II, who offered personal reflections, and Detroit Entertainment Commission Chair John Collins, who honored Amp’s influence on the city’s creative economy.

Poetic tributes came from internationally-renowned poet/activist/actor Mike-E (Mike Ellison), while Michigan State University faculty members Julian Chambliss, Mark Sullivan, Terra Goforth, Natasha T. Miller and John Collins offered insight into Amp’s cultural legacy.

Written words were shared from T3 of Slum Village, Ma Dukes, the mother of J Dilla and RJ Rice of RJ’s Latest Arrival, acknowledging Amp’s impact on their personal and professional journeys, and how he helped nurture a global movement through music.

But it was Amp’s wife and creative partner, Tombi Stewart Fiddler, who delivered the day’s most powerful remarks. Through tears and deep composure, she spoke of Amp not only as a world-renowned musician, but as a man who led with love, whose humility and compassion uplifted everyone he encountered. She announced the continuation of his legacy through the Camp Amp Foundation and stewardship of his estate, ensuring his work and vision will continue to nurture the next generation.

The program ended with nationally-renowned songstress Monica Blaire leading the crowd in a joyful countdown as the veil was lifted from the new street sign, officially renaming Revere as Amp Fiddler Avenue. Cheers erupted, and Amp’s music floated through the air as a soundtrack to a moment long overdue.

In a city known for birthing genius and too often letting that genius go uncelebrated, Friday’s ceremony stood as a righteous act of recognition.

Amp Fiddler was more than a sound. He was a force. A neighbor. A mentor. A beacon. Detroit showed up to say: We see you. We remember you. We honor you.

And now, every time someone turns onto Amp Fiddler Avenue, they’ll be reminded that love, art and community live on, in the city Amp helped shape, and in all the souls he helped set free.

Movement is right around the corner, and many in Detroit and beyond are getting ready to hit the dance floor together and celebrate.

But dance is much more than just movement — it’s a mode of self-expression and a bridge to human connection, or as author Emma Warren calls it, a “technology of togetherness.”

In her recent book, “Dance Your Way Home: A Journey Through the Dance Floor,” Warren reflects on how different styles of music like Detroit techno can influence movements, promote connection and create cultural change.

Today on The Metro, we revisit a conversation Warren had with WDET’s Ryan Patrick Hooper last year about the book and why dance is so important to humans.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

More stories from The Metro

Blowing out 75 birthday candles for Stevie Wonder today! That’s always a pleasure on this show. I make it clear that there are just a few artists you can always play and Stevie Wonder is someone you simply can’t exhaust — at least in my mind. Hope you agree! I’ll be playing your Stevie picks for the rest of the week… looking forward to that!

Plus new music from Ezra Furman, Elkka, Yannis & the Yaw and more.

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above.

In The Groove with Ryan Patrick Hooper playlist for May 13, 2025

• “Power of the Moon” – Ezra Furman
• “Rock & Roll” – Velvet Underground
• “Veni Vidi Vici” – Black Lips
• “South of the River” – Tom Misch
• “5pm” – Otis Junior & Dr. Dundiff
• “The Light” – Jordan Rakei
• “No Room for Doubt (feat. Willy Mason)” – Lianne La Havas
• “Golden Lady” – José Feliciano
• “All I Do” – Stevie Wonder
• “In My Life” – Doug Riley
• “Living For The City” – Stevie Wonder
• “I Wanna Be Where You Are” – Michael Jackson
• “We Can Work It Out” – Stevie Wonder
• “Love Having You Around (Live at the Keystone Korner)” – Abbey Lincoln
• “Voodoo Woman” – Koko Taylor
• “Bonnie And Clyde” – Brigitte Bardot & Serge Gainsbourg
• “7 AM” – Jacqueline Taïeb
• “The Call Up” – The Clash
• “Rain Can’t Reach Us (feat. Tony Allen)” – Yannis & the Yaw
• “Song Of Hope” – Nicolas Jaar
• “Cécile” – Edouard Ferlet
• “Stay Gold (feat. Gregoire Maret)” – Alicia Olatuja
• “Let it Happen (Soulwax Remix)” – Tame Impala
• “Sudden Weight (feat. Allysha Joy)” – First Beige
• “I Just Want To Love You” – Elkka
• “S.N.C.” – Darkside
• “SP12 Beat” – Mount Kimbie
• “Water Me Down” – Vagabon
• “Death & Romance” – Magdalena Bay
• “Starfish And Coffee” – Prince
• “I Like the Way You Do It to Me” – Roy Ayers
• “As” – Stevie Wonder

Listen to In the Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org.

There’s a new tribute album coming out to celebrate Broken Social Scene’s “You Forgot It In People” album, with contributions from Maggie Rogers & Sylvan Esso as well as Toro Y Moi (you’ll hear both and Broken Social Scene during the show).

Plus, new music from Baltimore punks TURNSTILE, Ezra Collective, Original Koffee and more.

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above.

In The Groove with Ryan Patrick Hooper playlist for May 12, 2025

• “No Room for Doubt (feat. Willy Mason)” – Lianne La Havas
• “Mantra” – Jordan Rakei
• “Opaline Bubbletear” – Dummy
• “Blue Dada” – Dummy
• “NEVER ENOUGH” – TURNSTILE
• “Underwater Boi” – Turnstile & BADBADNOTGOOD
• “Mambo Sun” – T. Rex
• “Osa Polar” – Melenas
• “Ponta de Lanca (Umbabarauma)” – Jorge Ben Jor
• “B.U.A” – Stereolab
• “Leggo Beast” – Gregory Isaacs
• “Mam Pe’ela Su’ure” – Florence Adooni
• “Glory” – Sault
• “Let Go” – Sonic Interventions
• “Down (feat. Dames Brown) [Natasha Diggs Extended Remix]” – The Vision
• “God Gave Me Feet For Dancing (feat. Yazmin Lacey)” – Ezra Collective
• “Conocerla (Amantes Del Futuro Edit)” – Reyna Tropical & AMANTES DEL FUTURO
• “KOFFEE” – Original Koffee
• “Sweetie” – Kokoroko
• “Musica” – Mildlife
• “Workin’ On It” – Brijean
• “Volume” – Caribou
• “Thrown Around” – James Blake
• “It’s Alright” – Baby Rose & BADBADNOTGOOD
• “DIPAD33 / W . I . D . F . U” – Saya Gray
• “Beta Pan” – Lawne
• “Levels” – oreglo
• “Fácil” – Empress Of
• “31 Bloom” – Four Tet
• “Dream State” – Kamasi Washington & André 3000
• “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl” – Maggie Rogers & Sylvan Esso
• “Stars And Sons” – Toro Y Moi
• “7/4 (Shoreline)” – Broken Social Scene

Listen to In the Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org.

WDET’s CuriosiD series answers your questions about everything Detroit. Subscribe to CuriosiD on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode of CuriosiD, we answer the question:

“Fortune Records recorded Detroit artists for 25 years — just a mile from WDET. Can you tell us the story and play us some music?”

WDET listener David Perry was perusing the stacks at Ann Arbor’s Encore Records when he stumbled upon a three-disc compilation album with 60 tracks — ranging from R&B and doo-wop to hillbilly, rockabilly, blues and gospel — all recorded at the now defunct Fortune Records in Detroit.

“It was $9.43 and it turned out to be a real bargain,” Perry said.

It was his first introduction to the pioneering mom and pop label, which — as a music lover — led him to wonder why he hadn’t ever heard of it before. So, he turned to WDET to find out more.

The short answer

Fortune Records was founded by husband and wife Jack and Devora Brown in 1946. It operated in Detroit for more than 30 years under the Fortune name and other subsidiary labels, recording a diverse range of artists and genres.

The label produced many local stars throughout the ’50s and ’60s out of their small studio on Linwood Avenue — and later on Third Avenue in the Cass Corridor — but the couple’s hesitancy toward licensing and distribution deals and a devastating accident would eventually hamper their success.

The ‘Myths and Mysteries’ of Fortune 

To help us learn more about this otherworldly Detroit gem and why it faded into obscurity, we headed to Hamtramck to speak with a man who, for all intents and purposes, wrote a textbook on the subject.

Michael Hurtt is a Detroit area writer, musician, and music historian. He co-wrote the book “Mind Over Matter: The Myths and Mysteries of Detroit’s Fortune Records” with his long-time friend Billy Miller, who sadly died four years before the book went to print.

“That was brutal,” Hurtt said of Miller’s death. “And to have to finish it without him would have been more difficult, had we not had an absolute cosmic connection over this stuff.”

At 576 pages, the book has been referred to as “the brick” or “the bible” for its heftiness. It took more than a decade to complete.

Still, Hurtt admits there were many mysteries associated with the label that they never did get to the bottom of.

“When Billy and me were marveling at this incredible story and asking ourselves, ‘Why did they do this? And why did they do that?’ It doesn’t make any sense…” Hurtt said. “A lot of times, we didn’t know the answers, and we never found them.”

The couple behind the label

Fortune’s story begins in the early 1940s with Jack and Devora Brown, a young, middle class Jewish couple in Detroit who had hopes of breaking into the music business.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio to immigrant parents, Devora was a talented songwriter and composer who dreamed of selling her music in Tin Pan Alley — New York’s historic music publishing district.

Jack studied accounting at Wayne University and spent most of his life in Detroit.

After striking out with publishers in New York City, the couple launched their own publishing company in 1943.

“Trianon Publications was the name of their company,” Hurtt said. “Jack founded it just sort of like, because he wanted her dream to come true, ya know? And then they just started the label in 1946.” 

And just like that, Fortune Records was born.

Without a studio space of their own, they recorded the label’s first hit at United Sound Studios on Second Avenue.

“A song called ‘Jane (Sweet as Summer Rain),’ that was the first Fortune record,” Hurtt said.

Devora wrote the music for the track, which was performed by Canadian singer Russ Titus with American bandleader Artie Fields and his Orchestra.

“[The track] doesn’t sound like any of the crazy rock and roll or rhythm and blues or soul or hillbilly music that we associate with the label,” Hurtt said. “But that’s interesting, because it’s sort of where they came from.”

Devora and Jack continued to make records at United Sound until 1951, when they opened their own studio on Linwood Avenue on the city’s west side, where much of the city’s Jewish community resided.

Sounds of the city

“The minute they opened the studio on Linwood, they started recording everyone that came through the door basically,” Hurtt said.

That included artists like the Davis Sisters, John Lee Hooker, Earl and Joyce Songer, Paul Lewis and The Swans, The Royal Jokers, The Five Dollars, and many other artists who — had it not been for Jack and Devora — may have never been recorded.

Contrary to Motown’s highly-polished, almost formulaic sound, Fortune stood out for its rawness and diversity of artists. Hurtt says Devora’s fondness for exotic or foreign styles of music and the melding of cultures in the city at the time was reflected in the types of records they produced.

“They had everybody on this label, every culture that was in the city at the time,” he said. “They recorded some of the first gypsy music that was ever recorded in the United States; Tony Valla and the Alamos, which was, you know, Latino rock and roll; and then later Tejano from Southwest Detroit.”

Fortune’s ‘Big Three’

The first real hitmakers for the label were Nolan Strong & the Diablos — a young doo-wop vocal group attending Detroit’s Central High School, which was across the street from the Brown’s studio.

“They just walked in there and wanted to know what they would sound like on a record, and they basically pestered Jack and Devora into recording them,” he said. “Of course, that became… it was ‘Adios My Desert Love,’ that really started the label off in rhythm and blues.”

“If I could really sing, I’d be Nolan Strong”

– Lou Reed

Andre Williams was the label’s next major star. Though he himself would say he was a lousy singer, he was a brilliant entertainer who masked his lack of singing skills by talking over his records.

Willams’ biggest hit, “Bacon Fat,” was recorded by the Browns in 1956. The record’s success led Devora and Jack to license it to Epic Records for wider distribution, but later felt that they weren’t compensated fairly.

As a prolific performer, Williams felt the Browns’ reluctance toward distribution deals with larger labels restricted him. He eventually left Fortune to record for various other labels over the years.

“[Andre] ended up helping Berry Gordy get Motown started, actually, which is something that I don’t think he really gets credit for,” said Detroit musician Matt Smith, who has performed with and produced records for both Williams and Nathaniel Mayer — Fortune’s third major hitmaker.

Smith says both Williams and Mayer played pivotal roles in the development of rock and roll, soul music and funk.

“Andre was really kind of ahead of his time with a lot of ideas, and his stuff had an enormous influence on the generation of rock and rollers that came after him,” he said.

Mayer’s 1961 record  “Village of Love” became Fortune’s biggest national hit. However, the Browns’ distrust of others would ultimately go on to stifle his success as well.

An ethereal echo: Fortune’s signature sound

Devora wrote many of the label’s biggest hits and was considered the creative force behind the label.

“There’s a certain mystique to Fortune Records, like an otherworldly sound,” Hurtt said. “And part of it has to do with Devora Brown and her Ampex 350 tape recorder, which she just loves the echo effects of.”

That ethereal echo effect is especially prevalent in The Diablos’ 1954 hit, “The Wind.”

“[‘The Wind’] is, you know, one of the greatest doo-wop records ever — if not thee greatest doo-wop record,” Smith said. “It’s just one of the most mysterious, supernatural sounding records ever made…I mean it is just weird.”

Hurtt says The Diablos wrote “The Wind” while cruising on Belle Isle.

“They’re like harmonizing sort of to the breeze…to the wind,” he said. “It’s almost like he is the wind, you know? Is this guy a spirit, or is he real?”

The label’s decline

In 1956, the Browns moved the label to a standalone cinderblock building on Third Avenue, in what was then considered Skid Row. 

“Supposedly the floor was partially dirt. Whether that’s true or not is another myth and mystery that we were never able to truly solve.”

– Michael Hurtt, co-author of “Mind Over Matter”

The label persisted at that location for decades, but after the mass exodus following the 1967 riots, the neighborhood wasn’t the same.

“The Detroit of the ’70s, was so much different than the Detroit of the ’60s,” Hurtt said. “And after the rebellion, you know, the riot…so much changed in the city that I think it was sort of a convenient time for Fortune to sort of, you know, go into decline.”

The label began to truly fall apart in 1973, when Jack and Devora were hit by a car while crossing the street.

“There are all these weird stories about that, you know, and one of them was that he was run over by a disgruntled hillbilly artist,” Hurtt said. “Well, that wasn’t true at all.”

Jack sustained internal injuries from the accident that eventually led to his death in 1980. 

Devora tried to keep the label alive but without Jack handling the business operations it proved to be too difficult to maintain. The building was sold in 1996, shortly before Devora died. Despite efforts to save it, the building was demolished in 2001. 

“It was criminal that that happened,” Hurtt reflected. “I mean you can imagine what it could be now, it could be a museum, that could be any number of things. There was enough left, even though the roof was gone, you know, it basically was a shell and it looked the same.”

Fortune Records may not have lasted long in our collective memory, but it certainly had an impact on the music industry and especially in Detroit.

“If you look for the records, they’re hard to find,” Smith said. “But there’s hundreds and hundreds of these Fortune records, and they’re all out there.”

About the listener

David Perry has lived in metro Detroit for over 30 years. As a music lover, Perry says he was drawn to the wide variety of genres recorded by the label during its golden era.

He currently resides in South Lyon with his wife and grandson.

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• What happens to old fire trucks in Detroit?
• How did Ann Arbor get its name?
• Does Gen Z know who Bob Seger is?

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We love having local musicians hang out in-studio during MI Local, and this week I have to appreciate how Elisabeth Pixley-Fink made the late-evening drive in from her homebase of Ann Arbor so that we could talk about her new album, “Heartskin.”

Pixley-Fink is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, band leader and poetic lyricist who, on her latest album, has woven together a particularly scintillating swath of guitar riffs and cathartic phrasings that taps into seminal riot grrrl energy, mixed with ballads that dynamically soften the sonic terrain with poignant lyrics sung in versatile vocal ranges that draw inspiration from queer Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, which we discuss during our live on-air interview!

Next Friday, May 16, at the Outer Limits Lounge, Pixley-Fink performs for an album release show that also features Kalamazoo-based indie-rockers The Go Rounds. Speaking of Kalamazoo, that’s actually Pixley-Fink’s original hometown; she’s been touring in, around, and outside of the state of Michigan over the last decade, and released her first recorded music back in 2012.

Pixley-Fink said “Heartskin” has been in the works for eight years.

“The process of making an album is the process of learning something,” she said. “So I took a long time writing the songs on ‘Heartskin’ and getting them to a place I wanted. Meanwhile, I have a day-job I work to support myself, and I think that’s an important part of myself as an artist: it’s cramming art into my daily life — having it be part of every day.”

Regarding the inspiration for the album, Pixley-Fink said she came across a collection by the late poet/playwright while she was living in Mexico City.

“I fell in love with (Lorca) as an artist,” Pixley-Fink said, “and felt a connection through time as a kindred spirit. There’s a poem called ‘Corezon Nuevo,’ that says ‘…my heart is like a serpent that has shed its skin / I hold it in my hands / heartskin of honey and wounds…'”

Just before we played Pixley-Fink’s title track song live on the air, she said “…it was the last song I recorded for the album and it just summed up the whole point of it — of looking at the beauty and the pain and the gooey goodness and the wounds, and I’m singing about all of that on the record.”

Speaking even further on the sense of “shedding,” Pixley-Fink posited that it ties in to a sense of recovery, “…of going through a lot and making sense of it — making sense of your part in it and accepting yourself, accepting all parts of yourself and not through someone else’s eyes.”

Among many other facets of the record, including a touching track titled “The Coffee Is Cold,” we also touched upon how many talented collaborators — all of them Michigan artists — contributed to the making of “Heartskin.” Even that, Pixley-Fink said, tied into a sense of shedding, perhaps “any protectiveness” that she may have felt, about the nature of opening up to collaboration, and the rewarding results that were rendered because of it.

Read back to a previous feature, when WDET premiered the music video for Elisabeth Pixley-Fink’s “Fearless & the Pure.”

Per usual, MI Local strives to deliver a sonic tour of the state, and this week we took listeners over to Grand Rapids to hear the latest from indie-rockers Low Phase, with their new single, “Reason,” which will lead into a forthcoming full-length album later in the summer. We also heard new music coming out of Kalamazoo, with songwriter (and librarian) Jay Alan Kay, delivering an EP of stripped-down acoustic ballads regaling nostalgia that’s endearingly tied to professional wrestling. Kay has a show this Thursday night at the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids. Speaking of live shows, you can see indie-art-punk singer-songwriter Henry Walters live at Ziggy’s in Ypsilanti this Friday — we heard a new song by Walters titled “Don’t Care.”

Another big premiere, this week, featured a new-ish Detroit-based indie-pop trio, Pretty Island, featuring Linda Ann Jordan, Lauren Milia, and Dina Bankole, each talented and harmonious singers and respectively songwriters who initially joined together a year go to flesh out solo songs by Jordan.

See the playlist below and listen to the episode on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

MI Local Playlist for May 6, 2025

• Reason – Low Phase
• Country Girl – Greet Death
• Put Me Over – Jay Alan Kay
• Don’t Care – Henry Walters
• Wild Child – Pretty Island
• Remnants – Lester
• 400 Horses – Death By Lions
• Stupid Luck – Addicus
• Get Back Up – TY
• What Were We Thinking – Tyvek
• Heartskin – Elisabeth Pixley-Fink
• Coffee is Cold – Elisabeth Pixley-Fink
• Those Were The Days – Elisabeth Pixley-Fink