Motown blues?

[dr greg]

I found this quote while browsing:
It may take courage or an eccentric spirit to wear a dress hat in many parts of the country, but not in Detroit, the home of the blues. It's an excellent place for hat lovers, with dozens of places to buy them and enough men wearing felt hats to raise the comfort level. Detroiters like to dress, Detroit has always been a good hat town and a fashion leader.
here: http://www.hathistory.org/gangster/index.html
and it raises a couple of questions
A: I always thought Chicago was the home of the Urban Blues
B: is this fashion trend so conspicuous there.....anybody?

 

[The Wingnut]

Sounds like a load of crap...not to deny Detroit its blues heritage, but the whole page reads like a hipster marketing bit, especially since it hammers on the 'gangster' angle so much.

 

[BigSleep]

I'm no expert but I think Detroit and Chicago used to share the title due to the influx of Blacks during and after WWII. Like my family they came north looking for work. They brought electric blues north with them. I know that John Lee Hooker lived in Detroit for years. I'm sure if you do a Google search you'll find others.

 

[Samsa]

I live in the suburbs of Detroit (which isn't even in the same county), but I'm downtown for school several days of the week, and was down there five days a week last year when I was in law school. I've seen a couple other people wearing fedoras, but that's about it. To be fair I spend most of my time on a busy campus, and as we all know the average college student of today is not sartorially inclined.

That said, we do have an excellent hatter - Henry the Hatter - who has been mentioned on the forum several times.