Today’s In the Groove opened with Nine Perfect Lives and their new track “Die,” which was released today. It’s a new Brooklyn-based project featuring Helena Straight and Stella Wave, both founding members of Hello Mary (we love them!). The song was written while Straight was living in Los Angeles and Wave remained in Brooklyn, reflecting the emotional strain of their separation and their determination to keep making music together. It’s their first release on the AD 93 label, which is always ahead of the curve.

We also highlighted new music from Westside Cowboy, who will be in town next year opening up for Fontaines D.C. They’re a Manchester band who just dropped their debut album, “It Goes On,” back in August. The song features shared vocals from Aoife Anson O’Connell and Reuben Haycocks, with an arrangement partly inspired by The Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On.” The band has described the album as an attempt to capture the music that made them fall in love with making songs in the first place.

We’re opening up the groove hotline to get your picks for songs that feel kinda spooky but aren’t necessarily traditional Halloween songs. You can call in and leave a voice message on the hotline (313-577-3414) and we’ll play them later this week!

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 October 27, 2026

• “Die” — Nine Perfect Lives
• “Lost Boys” — Phoebe Bridgers
• “Easy Street” — Queens of the Stone Age
• “Dream On” — Palace
• “Something Else to Give” — Man/Woman/Chainsaw
• “Kick Stones (The Boys)” — Westside Cowboy
• “A Movie Script Ending” — Death Cab for Cutie
• “Fire on the Water” — Bonobo & Arooj Aftab
• “Black Ego” — Digable Planets
• “Four On Six (Remastered 2025)” — Wes Montgomery
• “Please Go Easy With Me” — S.E. Rogie
• “Firesuite” — Doves
• “Here It Comes” — Doves
• “Can’t Run But” — Paul Simon
• “Roo” — Bullion
• “Roscoe (Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve Remix)” — Midlake
• “Demon in Profile” — The Afghan Whigs
• “God Gets You Back” — Mogwai
• “Fingertips” — The Brian Jonestown Massacre
• “The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness” — The Feelies
• “Coast to Coast” — Elliott Smith
• “Where’s My Phone?” — Mitski
• “only tomorrow” — my bloody valentine
• “Days Move Slow” — Bully
• “Boys Don’t Cry (86 12″ Mix) [2026 Remaster]” — The Cure
• “Give Me Back My Man” — The B-52’s
• “mettle” — she’s green
• “Boyfriend” — Best Coast
• “New Muscles” — mary in the junkyard
• “Venus Hour (Peanut Butter Wolf Remix)” — Automatic & Peanut Butter Wolf
• “A Fragile Thing (Mark Saunders Heartbroken Remix)” — The Cure
• “Cairo FM” — Alewya
• “Pick Up” — DJ Koze

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.

This week on Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music, Detroit’s Kathy Kosins and Nick Piunti, new music from Thundercat, Trixie Whitley, David Byrne and many more.

Also, cool 70s re-issues from Funkadelic and Elton John!

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

Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music Playlist for October 24, 2026

HOUR ONE:

• “OH GOOD!” – Michigander
• “Laurel Canyon” – Danielle Ponder
• “Hit It And Quit It” – Funkadelic
• “Let Me Sell You A Dream” – David Byrne & Daniel Pemberton
• “Slow Learning” – Nick Piunti
• “Autosmile” – @
• “Stone” – Prince
• “Easy Company” – Joy Oldadokun
• “Street Kids” – Elton John
• “Passing Faces” – Brooke Combe
• “Black Stars” – Smashing Pumpkins
• “Disarm” – Smashing Pumpkins

HOUR TWO:

• “Flying Underground” – Rodrigo y Gabriela
• “Moving At Light Speed” – Thundercat x Button Masher
• “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” – Richard Thompson
• “The Kid With The Crown” – This Is Lorelei
• “If Love Could Talk” – Kathy Kosins
• “Jester In A Bowl” – Mon Rovia
• “Strange Memory” – Rainbow Body
• “Church And State” – Brandi Carlile
• “Make America Great Again ” – Frank Turner
• “Say Yes” – Apropos
• “Stone Over Water” – Death Cab For Cutie
• “Weather Girl” – Trixie Whitley
• “Sympathy For The Devil” – The Rolling Stones (Bill Wyman is 90 today!)

Listen to Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music every Saturday from 2-4 p.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand at wdet.org

This week on Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music, it’s an All Covers Show! Interestingly, all of the covers on today’s show are classic songs, and they’ve all been released in just the last few months. Artists are still covering The Stones, Motown classics, Donovan, Procol Harum and many more…I suspect these songs will continue to be covered for a long time to come!

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

Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music Playlist for October 17, 2026

HOUR ONE:

• “Islands In The Stream” – Meshell Ndegeocell & Chaka Khan
• “Gimme Shelter” – Ghost Hounds
• “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime” – Beck
• “Soak Up The Sun” – AJ Lee & Blue Summit
• “For What It’s Worth” – Old Crow Medicine Show
• “Just The Two Of Us” – Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.
• “Feeling Good” – Crys Matthews
• “Soulshine” – Jill Jack
• “Don’t Look Back” – Buddy Miller & Dan Penn
• “Sentimental Lady” – Ken Pomeroy
• “High On A Mountain” – Rhiannon Giddens
• “And So It Goes” – Brandi Carlile

HOUR TWO:

• “Don’t Stop The Music” – Meshell Ndegeocello & Nick Hakim
• “Whiter Shade Of Pale” – Johnny Blue Skies
• “It’s Only Love” – ROZZI
• “To Love Somebody” – Al Green
• “Ordinary World” – Vitamin String Quartet & Girl Named Tom
• “These Days” – Muiranne Bradley
• “You Know I’m No Good” – The Rolling Stones
• “Hand It Over” – Keb’ Mo’ ft. Soweto Gospel Choir
• “Pressure ” – Matt Nathanson
• “Orphan Girl” – Suzi Dian & Robert Plant
• “Universal Soldier” – Depeche Mode
• “The Closer I Get To You” – Meshell Ndegeocello

Listen to Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music every Saturday from 2-4 p.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand at wdet.org

“You can do the thing that you’re watching…” 

Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Chris Bathgate provided some inspirational words on this week’s MI Local, as we got into a bit of a TED Talk-ish tear about the importance of participating in your community.

In this sense, we spun a ramble on watching YouTube clips instead of actually getting out there and actually doing the thing, yourself! But to a larger extent, we were talking about making sure that you’re showing up to support local music, and especially local music venues. 

Bathgate, who recently released his sixth full-length album (The Significance of Peaches), came to the studio to specifically talk about other musicians, particularly singer/songwriter Cash Harrison, whose new single, “Dog Year,” we premiered at the top of the show.

Bathgate and Harrison are both performing this weekend (Friday, Oct. 10) at The Ghost Light in Hamtramck, with The Go Rounds. 

Along with a brief interview, where we touched on the beauty of Harrison’s new song, as well as an update on Bathgate’s own new writing projects, we were treated to a live performance of the song “In The City,” from Bathgate’s 2011 album Salt Year. 

After that, Ann Arbor-based singer/songwriter and genre-defier Kat Steih, who leads the four-piece rock group known as The Ferals, sat in for an interview and a couple of live performances. Steih is a musician, singer, composer, and educator who has lived abroad for much of her life but always called Michigan home–she’s also continually experimented with her sound and describes, in compelling detail, what motivates her adventurous spirit as a creator. 

Kat Steih and the Ferals are releasing a new album on Nov. 5, Feral Geometry, and we spoke about that, as well as the details around the release party.

Along with a brief interview, we also heard two live performances and the lead single from their new album. You’ll hear guitarist Alex Anest contributing, while drummer Bob Zammit focused on photographic documentation. 

Also on tonight’s show, some premieres of new music from Detroit-based artists Moon Date (indie-pop/new-wave revivalism), Carley Lusk (alt-folk/indie-pop), and a new electronic project from the talented singer/songwriter Annie Bacon, known as Ma Reilly.

Bacon premiered a new single, “Give It Grace,” under the new Ma Reilly moniker, ahead of the Dec. 3 release of that project’s debut album, Exile to Neptune.