This week’s CarTune is Bobby Bare’s first hit and a genuine country classic, “Detroit City.” 

(Note: this song was featured previously at Motor City Garage, but lapsed due to licensing issues. Please enjoy this alternate version.) 

Bobby Bare made “Detroit City” famous, scoring a Billboard Top 10 Country hit and winning a Grammy with the song in 1963, but he wasn’t the writer. This one was a Danny Dill and Mel Tillis composition.

The story itself is a familiar one for Detroiters: Southern boy leaves his family and moves north to work in the auto plants, only to be crushed by loneliness and homesickness. It was an emotional space that both white and black auto workers knew well. As music fans, we all know about the impact of the Southern black diaspora on the Motown music industry. But for white Southerners in Detroit, there was a thriving country and rockabilly scene, too. Take a moment to check this out.

You know Bare’s reading of “Detroit City” is real country music because it has a recitation in the middle. Recitations are cornball, you may well say, but that’s country. When the performer stops singing and speaks directly to the listener, he’s got a message to put across. Here’s Bare in a 1964 concert performance in Oslo, Norway. Enjoy.