Detroit steel players

Joel Jackson · Post by **Joel Jackson** » 12 Jan 2019 6:36 am

Looks like I might be heading up that way soon. Any steel players up in the Detroit area?

Joel Jackson · Post by **Joel Jackson** » 1 Feb 2019 2:41 pm

Hmmm, perhaps it's all rock and roll and R&B...

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 1 Feb 2019 4:36 pm

Joel, I don't have an answer but Joe Wright is from Detroit and Tony Smith was in that area. Maybe a forum search would turn up in the member section.

Harry Dove · Post by **Harry Dove** » 1 Feb 2019 4:39 pm

Michigan isn't exactly the heart of steel country. Joe Wright used to be in southeast Michigan, Jackson area I believe, but I don't know where he is anymore. I can't tell you much about what goes on in Detroit. I've lived in Michigan all my life and never been to Detroit and I aim to keep it that way. I believe in the country part of country music.

Kevin Fix · Post by **Kevin Fix** » 1 Feb 2019 7:05 pm

If you have never been to Detroit, you ain't missing anything. Not as bad as it used to be, but still a crap hole.

Bill Moore · Post by **Bill Moore** » 2 Feb 2019 6:19 am

It probably depends on what you are looking for. The Detroit Metro area is big, it extends about 40 miles North, West and South from the center of downtown Detroit. Several million people live there. The area of the actual city of Detroit is only a small part of the total.

I live about 50 miles west of Detroit, between Ann Arbor and Jackson. My impression is that there are steel players scattered throughout the general area. Not as many as some places but they are out there.

As far as country music, there is not a lot going on that I am aware of. I believe that the suburbs north of Detroit have some country venues. Also, the Sacred Steel community can be found in Detroit.

If you want to play gigs, I think it will depend on how choosy you are about who you play with. There seems to be a fair number of "new country" bands out there. But usually they will be younger, less experienced players. if that doesn't bother you, you can probably find some kind of gig. But there seems to be a real shortage of people that actually know what they are doing.

So, you need to narrow down the actual area you might be moving to, and decide just what kind of music you want to play. Then it would be easier to focus on what's out there.

Overall, Southeast Michigan is a nice area, the cost of living is relatively low, lots of family type activities going on all the time. And you will be near some pretty good fishing areas.

Hope this helps.

Joel Jackson · Post by **Joel Jackson** » 2 Feb 2019 8:00 am

Thanks for the responses. I assumed there probably wasn't much of a country scene in the metro area but know that there's some steelers up in the area. Bill, your response was pretty much exactly what I had imagined.

Dale Rivard · Post by **Dale Rivard** » 2 Feb 2019 10:30 am

Hi Joel, I don't live in Detroit but I'm only about an hour away in Ontario, Canada. If you don't mind crossing the border, I'm in a little place tonight called Essex(not far from windsor). Playing with a good country band(great guitar player). Send me a message if you would like more details. All the best, Dale

Kevin Fix · Post by **Kevin Fix** » 2 Feb 2019 3:19 pm

I used to play a big club circuit in the Detroit area back in the "90s". There was probably a dozen big clubs there then. Was a lot of fun back in the day. You could play 7 nights a week if you wanted. One group I was with back then had 2 Steel Players. I played Monday thru Wednesday and the other guy played Thursday thru Saturday. We played a circuit there. 500 to 1000 seat clubs. The big country Ho Down was a fun gig also. Was on Mothers Day weekend. The Michigan State Fair was a good gig also. They used to have a lot of activity around the Detroit area. Pretty quiet up there now. Don't hear much anymore. Detroit, Mich. and Monroe, Mich. and Toledo, Ohio used to have a lot of Country Bars and Clubs. Just sort of died in this area. I don't play in this area anymore. Nothing here. I am still pretty active doing County Fairs, Festivals and some private parties. Busy in the warm months. Have to do some traveling now, but that is ok now because I am retired.

Joel Jackson · Post by **Joel Jackson** » 2 Feb 2019 3:23 pm

Thanks everyone.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 2 Feb 2019 6:08 pm

Kevin, back in the 90s and earlier we had the same here in St. Louis and surrounding areas. My belief is that the auto manufacturing industry was booming and many of my friends worked there and were frequent followers of the bar scene. Now that the plants are gone so went the bar crowd. I'm sure Detroit has the same story.

Kevin Fix · Post by **Kevin Fix** » 3 Feb 2019 5:14 pm

Larry, I never thought of it that way, but their is a whole lot of truth there. Auto industry went into a slump here. The population in the Detroit area has dropped significantly over the last 30 years because of it.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 3 Feb 2019 5:56 pm

Kevin, I sure had a great time with my beer guzzling buddies. My wife worked at Chrysler for 32 years. I worked at the car dealers for the same. Great days until the plants closed. Bars are drying up and few have real music. My son plays and has trouble keeping a steady gig. Crowds are smaller and owners want to pay less than my heyday. I guess we had it all. I'm thankful for those good years.

Kevin Fix · Post by **Kevin Fix** » 4 Feb 2019 7:49 am

Larry, I remember those days. I always had lots of friends and buddies that always came out where ever I was playing. One friend of mine worked midnights at GM. He worked seven days a week and would be where we were playing at 8:00 and he would leave about 10:30 so he would be to work on time. That is a real fan for sure.

Harry Dove · Post by **Harry Dove** » 4 Feb 2019 3:01 pm

The other thing that has really hurt the bar scene is that now you can probably get hooked up for just smelling a beer and driving.