Music
George York
1910–1974 · country singer, guitarist
Elder half of the York Brothers, the Kentucky-born harmony duo who became stars of Detroit's country taverns and scored a local smash in 1939 with “Hamtramck Mama.”
- Born
Louisa, Kentucky- Died
Dallas, Texas- Also known as
- The York Brothers
- Detroit years
- late 1930s–1946, 1950s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
George York worked as a coal miner in Kentucky before trying his luck as a musician in Denver and on radio in Portsmouth, Ohio, where his younger brother Leslie joined him. In the late 1930s the pair moved to Detroit, whose auto plants employed thousands of Southern migrants hungry for hillbilly music. As the York Brothers they quickly filled the city's country taverns, and their 1939 debut single “Hamtramck Mama,” on Detroit's Universal label, reportedly sold about 300,000 copies in the Detroit area alone, while its bawdy lyrics drew protests from Hamtramck politicians. They signed with Decca in 1941 and recorded for the local Mellow label before both joined the Navy. After the war they played the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, then returned to Detroit in 1950 and cut dozens of sides for King, including tributes such as “Motor City Boogie” and “Detroit Hula Girl.” Their country boogie is seen as a forerunner of rockabilly.
Highlights
- “Hamtramck Mama” (1939) sold about 300,000 copies in metro Detroit
- Recorded for Detroit's Universal and Mellow labels, then Decca and King
- Members of the Grand Ole Opry (1946–1950)
- Songs about the city include “Motor City Boogie” and “Detroit Hula Girl”