Dennis Coffey Back Home

Dennis Coffey’s first recording date was in the 1950s, when he was only 15. Years later, he would become a member of The Funk Brothers, playing on hits like Edwin Starr’s “War” and laying down the solo on The Temptations’ “Ball Of Confusion.” He also performed on tracks with Parliament/Funkadelic, Wilson Pickett, Chairmen Of The Board, and produced Cold Fact for Rodriguez. That’s some resume!

Dennis Coffey - Live Wire: The Westbound Years 1975-1978 (2008) {Westbound CDSEWD 148}
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© 1975-78, 2008 Westbound Records / Ace Records | CDSEWD 148
R&B / Funk / R&B Instrumental / Detroit Rock / Disco / Pop Soul / Guitar

When Dennis Coffey’s incendiary ‘Scorpio’ went both Pop and R&B Top 10, it was a surprise for both the guitarist and his record label. The album from which it came had already been and gone when some pioneering New York DJs started playing this cut to full dancefloors. Suddenly Dennis Coffey was catapulted from successful producer and session guitarist to star status. ‘Scorpio’ went on to have an extended afterlife as one of the founding tunes of hip hop. Dennis recorded several more albums for Sussex before the label went belly-up in the mid-70s, but by this time he had over a decade’s experience as a session guitarist, playing on many of the great Detroit soul recordings at Motown, Ric-Tic, Invictus and many more. Along with Mike Theodore he had produced several great records, both in his home city and in LA. On the basis of this track record Westbound’s Armen Boladian approached the pair to see if they could be tempted to become producers and artists for him back in Detroit.

Andre Williams - I Wanna Go Back To Detroit City (2016) {Bloodshot BS234}
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© 2016 Bloodshot Records | BS 234
Soul / Blues / R&B / Soul-Blues / Regional Blues / Detroit Blues

While the conventional wisdom in Michigan has it that the City of Detroit is slowly but surely making a comeback, Andre Williams isn't quite having that. Heading back to his old home town, Williams discovered the former home of Fortune Records, the Motor City label where he cut his first hits, was now an overgrown empty lot. Struck by this, Williams began writing lyrics about what Detroit was, is, and could be, and these tunes dominate 2016's I Wanna Go Back to Detroit City. The almost-80-year-old R&B wildman actually sings more about life on the mean streets than about sex this time out, limiting most of his obsessions about the opposite sex to the tune "Mississippi Sue" (who turns out to have passed on, making the finished product a bit less than lascivious).