For those unaware, Fortune was more than just a legendary Detroit label - it was the independent powerhouse in Motown City long before Motown Records put Detroit on the global music map. From the late 1940s through the mid-1960s, the small Fortune studio produced music of striking immediacy and grit.

Nothing was polished, nothing diluted. Country, rockabilly, rock ’n’ roll and rhythm & blues were recorded side by side, captured in a raw, driving sound that still hits with full force today.

This CD - with a second volume already in preparation - focuses on the unfiltered Fortune sound in the realm of hard-hitting rockabilly and wild rock ’n’ roll. The opening track sets the tone perfectly: Dell Vaughn’s Rock The Universe, a true classic that encapsulates the explosive energy of the Fortune studio.

Fortune launched and nurtured an impressive roster of artists, including the York Brothers, Johnny Powers, Pete DeBree, Roy Hall, and Andre Bacon Fat Williams. Though Williams was primarily known for his rhythm & blues recordings, he also cut ferocious rock ’n’ roll sides for Fortune - performances so intense they seemed ready to shake the studio walls. That stylistic openness became part of the Fortune identity.

Much of the label’s output - including releases on its subsidiary labels Hi-Q and Strate 8 - was recorded with an in-house studio band featuring rotating musicians. One of the key session players was guitarist Eddie Jackson, a core member of the Fortune sound. Included here is an extremely rare recording originally issued as the sole release on Jackson’s own Caravan label - a fitting addition given his integral role within the Fortune family.

This compilation is not nostalgia - it is a powerful document of a time when music was direct, loud and unapologetically real. It rocks from start to finish - and that’s exactly what made Fortune, Hi-Q and Strate 8 legendary.

1. Dell Vaughn and The Fortune Aires - Rock The Universe
2. Pete De Bree and The Wanderers - Long Tall Lou
3. Kenny Land and His Bull Dogs - Columbus Stockade Blues
4. Butch Vaden and The Nite Sounds - The Roll
5. The Terrigan Brothers with The Sterlings - Hi Ho Little Girl
6. Eddie Jackson - Blues I Can’t Hide
7. Jimmy Gartin with The Highlanders - Gonna Ride That Satellite
8. Little Ernest Tucker and The Ted Walker Orchestra - Gonna Get Me A Satellite
9. The Earthquakes with The Rhythm Kings - Crazy Bop
10. The York Brothers - Hamtramck Mama
11. Roy Hall and His Cohutta Mountain Boys, vcl. Frankie Brumbalough - Dirty Boogie
12. The Catalinas - Long Walk
13. Don Rader - Rock And Roll Grandpa
14. Jim Myers and Tex Regan with The Gems - J & D Hop
15. George Young and His Guitar and Band - Shakin‘ Shelley
16. Nolan Strong and The Diablos - Try Me One More Time
17. Ellis Kirk and The Town And Country Boys - Flamingo Rock
18. Johnny Buckett and The Cumberland River Boys - Griddle Greasin‘ Daddy
19. The Hunt Sisters & Mark with Roy Hall and His Boys - Elvis Is Rocking Again
20. Pete De Bree and The Wanderers - Hey Mr. Presley
21. Johnny Powers and His Rockets - Honey, Let’s Go (To A Rock And Roll Show)
22. The Whirl Wind Evangelists - No Grave
23. Farris Wilder and His Band - It’s All Your Fault
24. Jimmy Lee - You Ain’t No Good For Me
25. The Ferros with Nick & His Jaguars - Tough Cat
26. The Phaetons - Fling
27. Roy Hall and His Jumping Cats - Three Aleey Cats
28. Shorty Frog and His Space Cats - I’m Glad We Didn’t Say Goodbye

Featuring some of the best songs ever put out by Fortune and co. back in the day, and with each and every song rocking from start to finish, some of the highlights here include the openers: the crazy wild sounds of Dell Vaughn and The Fortune Aires’ Rock The Universe and the highly emotive Pete De Bree and The Wanderers’ Long Tall Lou, and then comes such beauties as the robustly delivered The Terrigan Brothers with The Sterlings’ Hi Ho Little Girl, the great hillbilly boogie of Eddie Jackson’s Blues I Can’t Hide, the effortlessly rhythmic The Earthquakes with The Rhythm Kings’ Crazy Bop, the 1947 cut (and once banned due to its, at the time, supposedly risqué lyrics) The York Brothers’ Hamtramck Mama, and as we head deeper into collection, the peak dirty guitar work shown on Johnny Powers and His Rockets’ Honey, Let’s Go (To A Rock And Roll Show), the blue eyed, slap bass gospel with a rockabilly twist of The Whirl Wind Evangelists’ No Grave and both the totally rocking The Ferros with Nick & His Jaguars’ Tough Cat and 1958 rockabilly closer Shorty Frog and His Space Cats’ I’m Glad We Didn’t Say Goodbye.

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