"Rylatt wrote a great first book on Manchester's Twisted Wheel called Central 1179 and has equalled that with his second, a detailed dissection of the Motor City soul scene interspersed with rarely seen pics, reproduced flyers, label scans and a chunky A-Z of singers/groups and imprints. Motown gets a mention, of course, along with John Lee Hooker and Edwin Starr, but for the most part it's the rarely sung and their role in shaping the sonicscape who grab the space here…
LOIS WILSON Mojo
“This may be a bold statement but if someone else is thinking of writing a book looking at an element of soul music in the future, read this first.”
DAVE THORLEY Top Dog Records
"Detroit soul To many, Detroit soul means Motown, which dominated the city’s recording scene throughout soul’s golden era. But the city’s big, vibrant music scene threw up dozens of hopeful contenders. Some, such as Ric Tic and Anna, got too successful, so Motown bought them out. Others, including Fortune, stayed for the long haul but were largely local mom-and-pop operations. Still more burned briefly but brightly, leaving a few precious soul classics for posterity.
Keith Rylatt devotes the first 140 pages of this lavishly-illustrated book to the artists, labels and movers-and-shakers on the scene, from TJ Fowler and John Lee Hooker to the late-blooming Invictus label. Some chapters, such as that on Golden World, are deeply informative, some are perfunctory: surely singer/songwriter/producer Lorraine Chandler deserved more than one page?
But let Rylatt loose on a gruellingly-researched directory of Detroit’s R&B and soul artists and there’s no stopping him: 120 pages list every known name, personnel of vocal groups, and every label for which they recorded, along with informative capsules (did you know that The Lamp Sisters of Woman With The Blues fame were not sisters, just Buddy Lamp’s backing singers?).
He follows this with a 40-page knockout punch, listing every Motor City label which ever issued soul records, with full artist listings for each. These sections are the book’s strengths, and the reasons why every Detroit fan should head for GroovesvilleUSA.com and get a copy."
MIKE ATHERTON Record Collector
“Awesome! …People who love great music history feel the information in your book is priceless! Thanks for keeping history alive!”
SONYA BERNARD HOLLINS
“This is a great reference book and essential reading for all fans of the Detroit sound; be it from the northern soul perspective or just as a history source.”
HEIKKI SUOSALO Soul Express
“Truly awesome piece of work from Keith. Simply, a series of articles on some of the names behind the Soul & R&B scene in Detroit, and then a meticulously researched A to Z of Detroit Soul labels, interspersed with lots of previously unseen photographs. If you have any interest in Detroit Soul music, you must buy this book!”
DAVE RIMMER Soulful Kinda Music
"In this fact and picture-packed, 320-page book, which looks equally at home on the coffee table as it does on the library shelves amongst other worthy reference works, Keith Rylatt succeeds in proving there was more to the Detroit music scene in its heyday than just Motown… Read it cover-to-cover and then dip in and out as and when."
In The Basement
"Only a lucky few in the UK were able to make the record buying trip back in the 60s, 70s and even into the 80s; so those who didn't see cities like Detroit, CHicago, New York et al, when they were so musically prolific, depend on books like Groovesville USA to put the flesh on the bones of all the familiar names of the artists and records we still collect and dance to. Even now 40 odd years later we seem to have a thirst for knowledge and a fire in our bellies that just can't be quenched – more books like Groovesville USA will alwys be a welcome addition..."
SHIRLEY WOOD Soul Up North