Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Detroit is one of the most important music cities in America. 

We’re finally getting some credit for being the birthplace of techno music, sounds that came out of Motown can still be heard on rotation, and we often talk about jazz and its influence on Motown. 

There’s a common thread that weaves all this music together — the Black church.

Aretha Franklin began at church like so many other musicians. The sound coupled with jazz and blues gave way to modern-day R&B. 

Deborah Smith Pollard is a professor emeritus of English literature at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She is also the long-time host of Sunday Morning Inspiration. Pollard joined The Metro to talk about the state of gospel music and why Detroit is so influential to the genre.

Use the media player above to hear the conversation.

Hear more stories from The Metro on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.