Detroit busted out in the 60s with an explosion of sweet Motown soul, inspiring Michigan garage bands to play rhythm and blues and soul covers to screaming white fans.  This was the new sound, putting the soul into rock n roll, Motor City style. 

Two 1960s Michigan bands stick out in my mind as being the kings of white boy garage soul:  The Rationals and Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels.   

The Rationals were a little edgier and punkier, not strickly sticking to a soul sound, but instead branching out into more of a classic psych/British invasion style for some of their songs.  They DID do a sweet version of Otis Redding’s Respect that inspired Aretha Franklin do her much more famous interpretation.  The Rational’s unique sound is exactly what grabs me, even when they were doing other stuff, they were still damn soulful.  The song you’ll hear below is Something’s Got A Hold of Me, off their self titled LP on Crewe, first done SO right by the one and only Etta James.

Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels are hugely underrated.  Their records don’t sell for very much on ebay - although this may be because they’re relatively easy to find (because they were so popular to begin with).  They didn’t venture too far away from their sound, they stuck with a garage take on soul and R&B, and they had more of a pure style - incorporating many elements of gospel including organs and call and responses (Ah said I get lonely YEAH YEAH in the middle of the night! YEAH YEAH turn of your lovelight TURN ON YOUR LOVE…)  In addition to Bobby Blue Bland’s Turn On Your Lovelight, which I selected for you to listen to, they did a bunch of great soul covers, including Walking The Dog, In The Midnight Hour, Oo Papa Doo, Stubborn Kind Of Fellow, Shake a Tailfeather, and more.  Their Breakout LP on New Voice (pictured above) is highly recommended.