Tunesday: Detroit City
A sample of some obscure – and maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s medley selection: Bobby Bare (1963) & Tom Jones (1967) – “Detroit City“
What if home is Detroit City?
What if I’m actually in Detroit City as you listen to this?
Back home by next week – God willin’ and the crik don’t rise …
Being of advanced age, it’s Bobby Bare for me. I remember seeing him perform that on Midwestern Hayride, WLWT TV in 1963 or 1964 and recall being mesmerized by the guitar lick. Of course it doesn’t hurt that Bobby is a fellow Buckeye, was a fishing buddy of Jerry Reed and friend of Chet Atkins. He’s still living and over 90.
That song really resonates with the experience of several generations, leaving family and childhood to escape poverty for the promise of good jobs and security in the northern industrial cities or in the California sun. My mom and her siblings never stopped missing the Missouri Ozarks even though the times were hard and life was more secure on the West Coast.