Tomorrow Brings Memories by Craig Maki (signed)
In 1939, a new record from a shadowy storefront on Detroit’s east side starts showing up in juke boxes all over town. It quickly becomes a smash hit, sending men scrambling to cash in, by creating Detroit’s first home-grown record company, Universal, which evolves into Mel- low Records. Here’s the untold story of an unlikely pair of tattooed hustlers: an ex-con, and a shell-shocked World War I vet, plus: jukeboxes, the mafia, Hamtramck mamas, Wayne County grifters, the first all-female western swing act on records, the first rockabilly trio — all playing roles in sensational music originally pressed on 78 rpm discs that document the dawn of Detroit’s recording industry.
“Detroit is not only a city of extremes, but one where things always seem to happen first: the inventive ingenuity of industry and the multi-cultural migration that fueled it; the arc of wealth, poverty, urban crisis and ruin; and, most recently, reckoning and rebirth. A culture of creativity has underscored it all, and it’s this trailblazing spirit
— coupled with its often inevitable invisibility — that Craig Maki zeroes in on, as he unveils the never-before-told tale of the city’s very first record producers, and the roots of the now-storied recording revolution that they sparked.” — MICHAEL HURTT, co- author of Mind Over Matter: The Myths and Mysteries of Detroit’s Fortune Records
“Maki’s passion for both country music and record hunting is evident on each page, as he unravels the sordid origins of Detroit’s earliest recording company. It’s a riveting story, meticulously researched, beautifully illustrated, and an essential record col- lector’s crate-digging companion.” — NATHAN D. GIBSON, author of The Starday Records Story: The House That Country Music Built
136pps, numerous black and white photos with additional drawings by Craig Maki,sixe: 4.25(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.32(d), Weight: .3 lbs
Signed copies by Craig Maki available.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Craig Maki is co-author of the ground-breaking Detroit Country Music: Mountaineers, Cowboys, and Rockabillies (with Keith Cady, University of Michigan Press, 2013); contributed to M.L. Liebler’s anthology Heaven Was De- troit: From Jazz to Hip-Hop and Beyond (Wayne State University Press, 2016); wrote liner notes for I’m A Whip- Cracking’ Daddy – Ricky Riddle (BACM CD 644, British Archive of Country Music, U.K., 2019), Slow Down – Jack Earls and the Jimbos – The Sun Years, Plus (BCD 16935, Bear Family, Germany, 2010), Cool Daddy – Jimmy Kirk- land (RCCD 3054, Rollercoaster, U.K., 2007); and furnished pieces to music magazines: American Music (Sweden), and Blue Suede News (U.S.A.). Maki enjoys playing music and collecting old records. For ten years, he hosted radio shows on public stations in Southeast Michigan, featuring rockabilly and country music. Find his blog at www.carcitycountry.com.
$ 16.69
