Tis the time of year for giving thanks, and we want to thank everyone out there who’s been tuning in to all of the local music shows featured during the evening hours on WDET, including (and particularly?) MI Local!

This week, we meet more of the unique personalities and creative minds behind the music coming out of metro Detroit, including the retro rock ‘n’ rollers known as Lyons Lane, and the mesmerizingly melodic alt-folk vibes of Jeffrey Jablonski, which means we ALSO had the opportunity to exclusively premiere some new songs!

Now, the night before Thanksgiving is notoriously known as “the busiest bar night of the year.” To the tons of folks home for the holidays who may or may not be lucky enough to not be saddled with turkey-duty at the break of dawn: this means that pretty much every local venue in town is hosting a great lineup of local music, from former MI Local guests Power Moonroof performing at UFO Bar, to WDET favorites like Deadbeat Beat at the Outer Limits Lounge!

Tonight, I’m shouting out a lineup over at Ziggy’s in Ypsilanti, featuring the alt-country indie-rockers Cowgirl: we kicked off the show with their song “How on a Hot Tin Roof.”

Speaking of Ypsilanti, we also heard from that town’s eminent indie-folk singer/songwriter, Matt Jones, with his new single “All My Stars,” from his forthcoming album, “The Good Life,” out on Dec. 12. Other new tracks include Kalamazoo-based songwriter Spencer LaJoye’s “Looks Like We’re Alive” and Detroit-based lo-fi duo The Long Stairs with “Running Cold.”

Mark Leo, the lead singer of the rock ‘n’ roll outfit known as Lyons Lane, stopped by the studio to premiere a new single, “Emma’s Addiction.” 

Leo spoke with me about his lifelong love of melodic rock ‘n’ roll and classic pop, as well as the development of this project with collaborator Tomcat Thompson. Leo, along with Thompson and saxophonist Matthew Stevens, treated WDET listeners to a live in-studio performance, covering “Love Potion No. 9.” Lyons Lane’s next show is on Dec. 13, at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. 

Jeffrey Jabolnski, a Detroit-based alt-folk singer-songwriter, also came by the studio to hang out for an interview and live performance.

Jablonsky’s been writing and recording for years, and has been performing live around the scene for more than a decade. He also hosts the Ghost Light Sessions residency on the last Wednesday of each month this year and Wednesday will be the last show of the year for that series.

Jablonski let us premiere a new song while also treating listeners to a live in-studio performance, accompanied as a trio with acoustic guitar and wind instruments.

Joining Jablonski is Matthew Beyer (saxophone), Leslie Wacker (clarinet) and Todd McNulty (drums); McNulty, it should be noted, while not pictured below, actually performed with both Jablonski and, on the spot, sat in with Lyons Lane to add percussion to their set too! Always a fun time on MI Local!

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.

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

• “Who Else” – Cowgirl
• “Running Cold” – The Long Stairs
• “All My Stars” – Matt Jones & the Reconstruction
• “Looks Like We’re Alive” – Spencer LaJoye
• “Something About You” – Premium Rat
• “Babytalk” – Lyons Lane
• “Love Potion No. 9” – Lyons Lane (live in WDET Studios)
• “Emma’s Addiction” – Lyons Lane
• “Tula” – Jeffrey Jablonski
• “Side By Side” – Jeffrey Jablonski

It’s another stacked show this week on MI Local, with three guests from the local arts and music scene stopping by to chat about upcoming releases, events, and ongoing projects! That, plus a chance to hear some brand new recordings and some exclusive live in-studio performances!

This week’s guests include singer-songwriter JonPaul Wallace, who has a new EP, Lemon Days, out this week. We spun his track, “Addicted to Love,” and then he performed his song “Loving You” live, keyboard in tow.

I spoke with Wallace about his latest album and his inclinations toward high-energy, “fun” pop music, including his collaboration with producer Bryan Hugo Iglesias. You can see Wallace perform live next Saturday at the Detroit Fall Beer Fest.

After Wallace, we welcomed the unique performance artist and vocalist known as Satori Circus, who has performed at countless burlesque and/or vaudeville-themed shows and concerts across the last three decades, notably with an ensemble of talented jazz musicians formerly known as the Theatre Bizarre Orchestra, now simply The Bazaar Orchestra. Several of those players comprise another group known as the Aston Neighborhood Pleasure Club; saxophonist/clarinetist Joshua James leads both outfits.

I spoke with Satori about his various collaborations, how his performance style has evolved over the years, and we heard plenty of details about his upcoming show, this Saturday at Batch Brewing: Sinners’ Ball 2, featuring The Bazaar Orchestra!

We also spun a couple of amazing jazz arrangements by the ANPC and heard an exceptional a cappella performance by Satori, covering Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah!”

Our third guest of the night was singer/songwriter Nicholas Thomasma, who also serves as the Executive Director of the Michigan Music Alliance. I spoke with Thomasma about the MMA’s mission to deepen the connections between local musicians and strengthen the state’s broader independent music community. We also spun a track by Thomasma, “Bus Life,” and heard an exclusive in-studio acoustic performance of his song, “Love Is Love.”

It was an oops: all guests night on MI Local, so it’s a shorter playlist this time. Bonus, though: some great interviews!

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

• “Addicted To Love” – JonPaul Wallace
• “Loving You” – JonPaul Wallace, live in WDET Studios
• “Little Red Riding Hood” – The Aston Neighborhood Pleasure Club
• “Hallelujah!” – Satori Circus, live in WDET Studios (Leonard Cohen cover)
• “You Rascal You!” – Aston Neighborhood Pleasure Club
• “Bus Life!” – Nicholas Thomasma
• “Love Is Love” – Nicholas Thomasma, live in WDET Studios
• “Kindness of Strangers” – Nicholas Thomasma

Former Critics are a five-piece Detroit group that blend elements of punk, hard-rock, and maybe even a little bit, just a bit, of shreddy-metal, post-hardcore and Midwest emo!

Now, what do any of these attributive compounded nouns and sub-genres actually mean, you ask? Well, we explore that together on this week’s MI Local—fitting since the group’s name conjures a vocation that I, myself, use to have, (read: a music ‘critic’) who would often get preoccupied with these cryptic descriptors, like, say, for example, “graveyard punk!”

Former Critics started ten years ago and have since released two EPs and two full-length albums. Their most recent album, “I Wanna Be Dramatic”, came out just two weeks ago, hot on the heels of their recent mid-summer tour!

The band formed out of a high school friendship between singer Jessica Murray, guitarist Doug Luenner, and drummer Mike Pakulski, initially beginning as an acoustic trio. Bassist Branden Szymanski and guitarist Dave Holm round out the current lineup, althought Szymanski wasn’t able to join us in-studio due to a recent injury, (he’s okay and will still be performing with them live, later this weekend)!

Former Critics’ arrangements blend breakneck tempos with exceedingly catchy, headbanging-inducing hooks and anthemic choruses, typically laced with distortion-shredded guitars and lyrics that cut with blunt social commentary, heart-wrenching confessionals coated in a goth/macabre-adjacent vocabulary.

And their live shows absolutely match the frenetic energy of their recordings: you can see them live this Saturday at the Loving Touch in Ferndale!

I premiered “Black Hole,” the third single from Former Critics’ latest album back in June and the group has since released a music video that you can watch below!

But what a treat, because they ALSO performed that song live, acoustically, during this week’s MI Local! And yes, you can translate hard-rocking graveyard punk to a softer acoustic side, I saw it and heard it with my own eyes and ears.

Also new this week: We heard new synth-pop sounds from the Detroit duo known as Deadbeat Dad, and an in-case-you-missed-it spin of the latest single by Matthew Smith, current leader of The Matthew Smith Group and former leader of Outrageous Cherry!

Another notable spin this week was the latest from the psych-folk singer/songwriter known as Santiparro, a born/raised Metro Detroiter who recently collaborated with well-known alt-folk pioneer Bonnie “Prince” Billy. You can see Santiparro perform live this Saturday at Third Man Records!

Speaking of shows happening around the region, the throwback pop stylists known as Lyons Lane will join Drey Skonie at El Club this Friday night for a prom-themed concert, and organist John Szymanski will be busy this week, performing with his post-punk art-rock group Eck! on Friday night at the Paris Bar then traveling to Ann Arbor at the Great Honk Fest at Olson Park.

Lastly, we also spun a great new track by Detroit-based R&B dynamo Beth, with “Call Me.” WDET recently featured Beth during our Sounds Like Detroit Showcase, a live concert hosted at Batch Brewing last month! Check out the new music video by Beth below, and scroll further for the full playlist from this week’s show.

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

• “Runaway” – Light Scene Factory
• “DANCE TRACK” – deadbeatdad
• “Call Me” – Beth
• “Fall” – Tariq Gardner & the Evening Star
• “Remember Me” – Bevlove
• “Others” – The Matthew Smith Group
• “Chaos Incarnate” – Santiparro
• “Babytalk” – Lyons Lane
• “Woke Up” – Eck!
• “Can You Feel It” – Former Critics
• “I Wanna Be Dramatic” – Former Critics