This week on Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music we play a bunch of Detroit Stories for the Fourth of July! No city has contributed more stories that have become America’s stories than the Motor City!

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 July 4, 2026

HOUR ONE:

• “Fingertips” – Little Stevie Wonder
• “Freeway Of Love” – Aretha Franklin
• “Ball Of Confusion” – The Temptations
• “Dancing In The Streets” – Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
• “Urge For Going (Detroit Demo)” – Joni Mitchell
• “Hotel Yorba” – White Stripes
• “Good Life” – Inner City
• “One Nation Under A Groove” – Funkadelic
• “Money” – Barrett Strong
• “What I Like About You” – The Romantics
• “Detroit, Michigan” – Andre Williams
• “1969” – The Stooges
• “Lose Yourself” – Eminem

HOUR TWO:

• “Boogie Chillen” – John Lee Hooker
• “Sunday Morning” – Thornetta Davis
• “I Wish” – Stevie Wonder
• “Jenny Take A Ride” – Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
• “Detroit Sunrise” – Dwele
• “Makin’ Thunderbirds” – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
• “Strings Of Life” – Derrick May
• “Motor City” – The Satintones
• “Inner City Blues” – Marvin Gaye
• “Anti-American Graffiti” – J Dilla
• “Be My Lover” – Alice Cooper
• “Eastern Market” – Yusef Lateef

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 we’re celebrating Record Store Day by doing the show live in a record store! It’s an all-vinyl show, featuring vintage and brand new discs, live from Third Man Records in the Cass Corridor!

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 April 18, 2026

HOUR ONE:

• “Dead Leaves & The Dirty Ground” – The White Stripes (live at WDET 1999)
• “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” – James Brown
• “1999” – Charli XCX
• “Little Plastic Castles” – Ani Difranco
• “In The Stone” – Earth Wind & Fire
  
• “Some Other Guy” – The Hentchmen (Third Man Records customer purchase)
  
• “Get On The Right Track Baby” – Ray Charles
• “George Clinton Got In My Car” – The Howling Diablos
• “Can You Get To That” – Funkadelic
• “Looking At You” – MC5
• “Make You Better” – The Decemberists
• “If You Want Me” – The Womack Sisters
• “Let’s Rock” – Barrett Strong
  

• “Atlantic City” – The City Lines
• “On The Northline” – Frontier Ruckus
• “Hurtin’ On The Bottle” – Margo Price
• “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” – Sheryl Crow
• “Talk To Me Nice” – Tinashe
• “Tribute To Mississippi Fred McDowell” – Bonnie Raitt
• “Paint This Town” – Old Crow Medicine Show (Third Man Records customer purchase)
• “Lizzie” – Starcrawler (Third Man Records customer purchase)
• “Rock You Up” – The Romantics
• “Paradise” – Sade
• “Lookin’ Back” – Bob Seger
  
• “I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It” – Stevie Wonder
  

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