On this week’s episode of Acoustic Café, it’s another Words & Music Show, pulling select thoughts, stories and performances out of our archives from the likes of Sting, Arlo Parks, Regina Spektor, Amy Ray, the late John Prine, guitar great Leo Kottke and many more!

See the playlist below and listen to the episodes on-demand for two weeks after it airs using the media player above.

Acoustic Café Playlist for Nov. 3, 2024

• “Million Dollar Intro” – Ani Difranco
• “Bye Bye Blackbird” – J.D. Souther (2011)
• “I Am A Pilgrim” – Rosanne Cash & John Leventhal (2023)
• “Come Around And Love Me” – Jalen Ngonda (2023)
• “A Mighty Thing”– Amy Ray (2023)
• “Soundtrack”– Matt Nathanson (2022)
• “Fields Of Gold” – Sting (2024)
• “Hope” – Arlo Parks (2021)
• “Stay Out Of It” – Michigander (2022)
• “Cast Iron Skillet” – Jason Isbell (2023)
• “I Get A Kick (Out Of You)” – Jamie Cullum (2004)
• “When The Silence Falls”– Janis Ian (1996)
• “July Jones”– The New Pornographers (2023)
• “Fear, Fear”– Kat Edmonson (from the SongWriter podcast)
• “You Got Gold” – John Prine (1995)
• “Lover Come Back” – City & Colour (2015)
• “Everything Is Alright” – Peter One (2023)
• “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love & Understanding” – Curtis Stigers (2021)
• “Ballad Of A Politician” – Regina Spektor (2017)
• “Play God” – Ani Difranco (2018)
• “Tough Mother” – Shemekia Copeland (2024)
• “Pacing The Cage” – Bruce Cockburn (1997)
• “Oddball” – Leo Kottke (1997)

Coming up this Sunday on Acoustic Café, the in-studio guest will be rock ‘n’ roll icon Sting.

Sting’s voice arrived in the new wave era as the frontman for The Police. And up until that point the world really hadn’t heard anything like it. The Police made five iconic albums between 1978-1983, and then called it a day. By 1985, Sting was not only established in music, but film as well, and the movie roles didn’t slow his solo career at all — now having released 15 solo albums.

After the first night of his current North American tour, Sting brought guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas to our studio at Big Sky Recording in Ann Arbor for their brand new song, a couple from Sting’s vast catalog and a classic from The Police. Our discussion included this new phase of Sting’s career (Sting 3.0), recent collaborations, his Broadway musical (The Last Ship) which may become an opera soon, and lots more.

Tune in to Acoustic Café from 1-3 p.m. this Sunday on 101.9 WDET FM, on the mobile app or online at wdet.org to hear the full interview.

On this episode of Rob Reinhart’s Essential Music, I’ll feature tracks from some cool albums released in September of decades passed.

Plus, hear a brand new song from Sting — who’s coming to the Fillmore Detroit for two shows next week — Nilufer Yanya, Shemekia Copeland and much more.

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 Sep. 7, 2024

• “Real Love Baby” – The Heavy Heavy (Acoustic Cafe in-studio performance)
  
• “You Wrecked Me” – The War On Drugs
  
• “Is There Anybody Up There” – Shemekia Copeland
  
• “Demons” – Allison Russell
  
• “Simple Girl” – Jr. Jr.
• “One More Chance” – Notorious B.I.G. (released Sept ’94)
• “American Idiot” – Green Day (released Sept ’04)
• “Dancing Machine” – Jackson 5 (released Sept ’74)
• “I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart)” – Sting
• “Demolition Man” – The Police
• “All In Good Time” – Iron & Wine (Acoustic Cafe performance)
• “It Don’t Come Easy” – Bettye LaVette
• “Crying In The Night” – Buckingham Nicks
• “Mutations” – Nilufer Yanya
• “Like 1999” – Valley
• “When You Know Someone” – Valley (Acoustic Cafe in-studio appearance)
• “The Future” – Dani Darling
• “Tonight” – David Bowie & Tina Turner (released Sept ’84)
• “Better Be Good To Me” – Tina Turner (released Sept ’84)
• “Pressure” – My Brightest Diamond (released Sept ’14)
• “Hater’s Anthem” – Infinity Song
• “I Don’t Wanna Surrender” – Extra Arms
• “Travelin’ Band” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
• “Trouble” – Ray Lamontagne (released Sept ’04)

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

Windsor’s AM 580 radio station, known for its nostalgic playlist of hits and deep tracks from the 1950s, ’60s and beyond, has undergone a surprising format change this week.

The station, with the call letters CKWW, has pivoted to a focus on local Windsor news and information following its acquisition by Toronto’s CINA Radio Group.

Al Pervin, the new general manager of AM 580, says the previous music-heavy format was not achieving high ratings in the market.

“We had the chance to buy it, so we did and we’re changing the format to focus more on local information for Windsor and also play some music from the ’70s and ’80s,” said Pervin. “But the local information is really our prime focus.”

The station launched a new morning show this month, with plans to introduce even more local programming in the near future.