The artist, Willie Jones, was “the first person to sing r&b in Detroit,” according to Bettye LaVette, who introduced the two of us. Willie is a fantastic soul singer, and at age 81 still has all his “notes.” He had a group in the 50s called The Royal Jokers that everyone in Motor City came down to see and said, “I can do that.” And they did (Berry Gordy, Marvin Gaye, et al), finding great success while Willie and the Royal Jokers languished as a singles act on Atlantic. Here is Willie's latest single filled with social commentary.