Since the pandemic, overdose deaths are continuing to decline in Michigan. The number is dropping quickly in Metro Detroit. 

There are a lot of possible explanations for the decline. Narcan is more readily available, the state has turned toward a harm-reduction approach, and the pandemic, when people were cooped up inside, is further in the rearview mirror. 

Peer recovery coaches are also a big reason for the reduction. That work received significantly more money from the state in recent years.

What does it look like to create intimacy with someone struggling with addiction, and to help them recover?

Pepper Catt is a peer recovery coach with the Alliance of Coalitions for Healthy Communities. That’s a Troy nonprofit. She spoke about all this with The Metro’s Sam Corey. 

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This Throwback Thursday opens with tracks from Nouvelle Vague, Feist, and Brittany Howard, moves through the sounds of Pete Brandt’s Method, NOMO, Nino Ferrer, and Folk Bitch Trio, and into timeless classics from The Beatles, LaVern Baker, and Terry Callier. 

We feature Detroit DJ Deon Jamar’s track “Ok Dub,” along with soul, folk, and rock moments from Bill Withers, Steve Earle, and The War on Drugs, leading into closing tracks from Tranquility Bass and LEFTO EARLY BIRD. 

Check the playlist below and listen to the episode for two weeks after it airs using the player above. 

In The Groove with Ryan Patrick Hooper playlist for April 9, 2026 

• “Heart of Glass (feat. Gerald Toto & Mélanie Pain)” – Nouvelle Vague 

• “Mushaboom” – Feist 

• “Stay High” – Brittany Howard 

• “What You Are” – Pete Brandt’s Method 

• “Nova” – NOMO 

• “Looking For You” – Nino Ferrer 

• “Cathode Ray” – Folk Bitch Trio 

• “Revolution (Esher Demo)” – The Beatles 

• “You’re Goin’ Miss Your Candyman” – Terry Callier 

• “ASR (feat. Jeff Parker)” – Meshell Ndegeocello 

• “Ha Ya! (Eternal Life) [feat. Natalie Greffel]” – musclecars 

• “ORACLE (feat. aja monet)” – Machinedrum 

• “Ok Dub” – Deon Jamar 

• “El Bandido” – Nicolás Jaar 

• “Paloma” – Angélica Garcia 

• “Carry Me” – Nubiyan Twist & Seun Kuti 

• “Trust” – Jordan Rakei 

• “Don’t You Want to Stay?” – Bill Withers 

• “levels” – oreglo 

• “Soul On Fire” – LaVern Baker 

• “Blues for Monday” – The Emanon “4” 

• “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” – Andrew Bird, Alan Hampton & Ted Poor 

• “Nine Hundred Miles” – Barbara Dane 

• “Train Song” – Benjamin Gibbard & Feist 

• “Fire” – Waxahatchee 

• “Farewell Transmission” – Songs: Ohia 

• “Transcendental Blues” – Steve Earle 

• “Under the Pressure” – The War on Drugs 

• “They Came in Peace” – Tranquility Bass 

• “Diane Charlemagne (Iman Houssein Remix)” – LEFTO EARLY BIRD 

Listen to In The Groove with host Ryan Patrick Hooper weekdays from noon-3 p.m. ET on 101.9 WDET or stream on-demand at wdet.org.