On this week’s show, I revealed the lineup for the 2026 Sounds Like Detroit Showcase, as voted on by WDET listeners!

This is WDET’s version of NPR’s annual Tiny Desk Contest, where we present 10 local artists who submitted to the national program and let YOU decide which ones you’d like to see perform live at our showcase happening at Batch Brewing on Aug. 13. Tickets are available NOW. 

On the show, I sampled songs from each of the winning artists, including modern jazz from KTCHEN, a blend of jazz and neo-soul from Aisha Ellis, passionate and poetic hip-hop, R&B and soul from Jubilee Jackson, and then the special MI Local pick, the storytelling folk ballads from singer-songwriter Michelle Held! 

This is the fourth annual Sounds Like Detroit Showcase, and my third time serving as your official emcee, so take my word for it when I tell you: you don’t wanna miss this! It’s a special night with incredible vibes where YOU can discover your new favorite local artist! Or, if you cast a vote, then join us to cheer on your favorite! It’s a celebration of local music, brought to you by WDET! Stay tuned for more featurettes on MI Local in the weeks ahead, and make sure you get your tickets now! 

Meanwhile, we also had a ton of premieres this week on the show, including a new single from Hamtramck-based singer-songwriter John Salvage, who has a new album out in July, along with Ricochet The Kid, The Quitters, Ani Mari, and more!

My in-studio guests were organizers of a special film screening event happening at the Outer Limits Lounge this weekend, where they’ll be showing a rarely-seen music documentary that captures the scene around Detroit in 1979, titled Face The 80s. We talked about the legacy of bands from that era, including The Romantics and Destroy All Monsters, and sampled songs by bands featured in the film, like Algebra Mothers, Sonics Rendezvous Band, and more.

Listen to the full show above for up to two weeks after it airs.

This week on The Shake Out, rare Detroit soul from Tommy Neal, Edwin Starr, Rose Battiste, Andre Williams, the Capitols and more. Plus Michigan rock’n’roll from the Shondells, the Misty Wizards, Jason Merrick and the Finders, and more.

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

The Shake Out playlist for June 9, 2026

• “Shake” – Shadows of Knight
• “Goin’ to a Happening” – Tommy Neal
• “Way Over There” – Edwin Starr
• “I Can’t Leave You” – Rose Battiste
• “Tee Ta” – Tommy Neal
• “Cool Pearl” – The Capitols
• “Pearl Time” – Andre Williams
• “Hard Hustling” – Andre Williams
• “The Gorilla Walk” – Plookie McCline
• “The Dog” – Junior and the Classics
• “Can Your Monkey Do the Dog” – Rufus Thomas
• “Sack O Woe” – The Mar-Keys
• “Hanky Panky” – The Shondells
• “You Shouldn’t Say You Love Me” – Larry Coverdale and the Horsemen
• “Pygmy Pt 1” – The Delegates
• “It’s Love” – The Misty Wizards
• “No Love at All” – Jason Merrick and the Finders
• “The Sneak” – Georgie Young and the Rockin’ Bocs
• “Friday’s Child” – Billie Dearborn
• “Feel Right Saturday Night” – The Velvetiers
• “Sunny” – Les McCann Ltd.
• “Sunny Sunday” – Bunny Sigler
• “Who Loves the Sun” – The Velvet Underground
• “Ain’t That Peculiar” – George Benson Quartet
• “Summertime” – George Benson Quartet
• “When That Evening Sun Goes Down” – Van Morrison
• “Soul Limbo” – Booker T and the MGs

Listen to The Shake Out with host Dave Lawson on Tuesdays from 8-9 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand. Catch re-airs Friday at midnight.

Busy night on MI Local this week! We started off with an update on WDET’s annual Sounds Like Detroit contest, featuring tracks from five more artists from our Top 10 Contenders, drawn from submissions to this year’s NPR Tiny Desk. 

You, dear WDET listeners, will be determining who among the Top 10 will go on to play our annual showcase at Batch Brewing! You’ll be invited to that, of course: it’s happening on August 13. But first, we’ll need YOU to start voting! Voting is LIVE now, visit wdet.org/votesld.

On tonight’s show, we heard from CHECKER (garage rock), Mild Pulp (pop-rock), KTCHN (free jazz), Jubilee Jackson (hip-hop) and Aisha Ellis (jazz).

Also on the show, the indie-rock quintet Moravian stopped by to premiere a brand new single, ahead of their upcoming show at Orchid Theatre in Ferndale, presented by PUG Fest and the Pleasant Underground.

Moravian’s presence and buzz have been been percolating over the last two years, developing notoriety for their high energy live performances and their ultra-catchy, rough and tumble, fast-tempo, pop-informed rock rips. The band, featuring Alex Christ (vocals), Blake Potvin (lead guitar), Shane Wheeler (rhythm guitar), Coby Valead (bass) and Ricardo Velez (drums), formed in 2022 when many of them were still finishing up college.

Catch Moravian at Orchid Theatre next Friday, June 12, with Mild Pulp and Starlings.

Everyone I Owe 2

Finally, we had members from three different groups on the show to talk about another show, happening this Friday, June 5, at the Loving Touch in Ferndale. There’s lots of lore to unpack with this one…

In the summer of 2011, more than a dozen bands were assembled to perform a jam-packed night of live music, which was to be filmed and then turned into a documentary that would basically stand as Detroit’s version as the iconic 1982 post-punk concert-doc “Urgh: a Music War.” The film was never completed, things went south, feelings soured, and it required a recompense event in 2016, with another attempt at an assemblage of several local bands, which was filmed successfully and turned into a doc called “Everyone I Owe.”

Here we are, now, and we’re doing it again! Bands like The Rogue Satellites, Pia the Band, Starlings, Carjack, The Beggars, and many many more, will be performing at the Loving Touch on June 5, and each performance will be filmed for an intended second documentary film!

I was joined by Jesse Shepherd-Bates, a solo artist and member of indie-rock group Handgrenades, along with Pia-Allison Roa of Pia The Band, and by Lisa Poszywak and Jaye Allen of Rogue Satellites. We had a great conversation about the friendships forged in the local music scene, the benefit of bonding between one generation and the next, and what it means and feels like to be inside of or part of any certain ‘wave’ or moment of a scene! Check out Everyone I Owe Pt. 2 this Friday at the Loving Touch!

On this week’s show, we heard new tracks by Craig Benedict Valentine Badynee, formerly of Pas/Cal, along with a new Allman Bros. cover by Jill Jack and a groovy pop song by Pesky Kid!

We had some in-studio guests, including Deadbeat Beat, who brought some new music to spin. We also talked about Detroit X Detroit happening this weekend with Danny VanZandt.

Deadbeat Beat’s new album and upcoming release party

Deadbeat Beat sprouted from a teenage friendship between drummer-vocalist Maria Nuccilli and guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Alex Glendenning, leaning into an intersection of garage rock drive and indie-pop catchiness. The band was rounded out by bassist Zak Frieling, who came from the Flint scene to join these high energy east siders as a power trio, releasing an album and touring fairly extensively.

There’s been new energy, though, over the last couple years, with the addition of Pete Steffy on keyboards and synthesizers. Deadbeat Beat’s 2019 album “How Far” was recorded by Jeff Else in his North End home studio, where Steffy lived at the time, and during these sessions he gave valuable advice.

The band talked about the ideas and stories behind the album’s title, and it’s two new singles, one of which was exclusively premiered on the show tonight.

Deadbeat Beat also discussed moving away from the well-prepared-yet-quickly-executed style of basement recordings to the more deliberate process of working with celebrated engineer Chris Koltay at High Bias Studio.

Deadbeat Beat have their album release party at the Paris Bar on June 12, which will be followed up by some touring and some more high-profile gigs that they also detail during our interview.

Detroit X Detroit this Saturday

Also, the annual Detroit X Detroit Showcase is Saturday April 15, 2026 at the Loving Touch.

This is a super-fun concert with more than a dozen local bands doing short, high-energy cover sets of other notable Detroit and Michigan artists. These contemporary bands and songwriters can choose to do covers of icons like Stevie Wonder or Bob Seger, or they can select a set of later trailblazers like The White Stripes.

Singer-songwriter Danny VanZandt, who performs solo but also has a full band, will be doing a set of Seger covers, with his group, at the event.

On the show, I also spun a track by the artist, Annemarie Jo, who will be doing a set of Marvin Gaye covers.

In the middle of our interview, VanZandt treated us to a live cover of “Night Moves.”