The Best of the Detroit Cobras

 

Welcome to CLEAR THE DECKS WEEK!  Stinky and Koen have been sending in some great stuff, and this week we're going to see (and hear) a lot of new posts.  There will be a new post every day this week -- maybe longer -- until we get caught up on this backlog of musical goodness!

The Detroit Cobras was a garage rock band with a revolving lineup centered around singer Rachel Nagy (left) and guitarist Mary Ramirez (right).  The band existed from 1994 until Rachel's death in 2022.

The Detroit Cobras released four albums, consisting almost entirely of cover songs from the 1950's and 1960's (with the exception of an original composition called "Hot Dog").  Their music encompassed influences that included blues, rockabilly, R&B, soul and girl groups.  Their talent lay in making all of these songs sound like their own.  If you've heard their music, you know.  If you haven't, you're in for a treat.

Stinky has personally selected 32 of the finest tracks from the Cobras' catalog.  He writes, "I had the extreme pleasure of seeing them live in NYC, which drove home that LIVE was how they made their legend.  They were AMAZING.  The list of female rockers who look and sound the part as much as Rachel Nagy did is pretty short: Ronnie Spector, Tina Turner, & Amy Winehouse."  Let's add Pearl Harbour to that list.

I got to see the Detroit Cobras perform live myself (while Greg Cartwright was in the band).  It was a fabulous evening, especially when they kicked into their version of Mickey Lee Lane's "Hey Sah-Lo-Ney" (which the Cobras called "Hey Sailor").

PREVIOUSLY ON JONDERBLOG:  Stinky's compilations of the best of Ronnie Spector (who also passed away in 2022).