The Detroit Cobras Will Bring the Wyandotte Street Art Fair to a Close on Saturday Night

The Detroit Cobras will be closing out this year's . The band will be headlining the Riverfront Entertainment Stage Saturday night, with a set from 9:30 to 11 p.m.

The band, who first achieved national attention during the Detroit "garage rock" explosion more than 10 years ago, is coming off the release of Rave On Buddy Holly. The album is a star-studded tribute to the legendary songwriter.

In addition to the Detroit Cobras, Rave On features contributions by an impressive list of artists. Paul McCartney, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, the Black Keys, and fellow Michigander Kid Rock join the Detroit Cobras in honoring Buddy Holly.

Randall Poster, who produced the project, asked the Detroit Cobras to contribute a song to the album. Rave On debuted on the Billboard 200 at 15.

"We were honored to be asked and blown away by the lineup," guitarist Mary Ramirez said.

The project wasn't too far from what the Detroit Cobras do on their own records. The band takes old songs and reworks them in their own raucous, ragged vision. Led by Ramirez and singer Rachel Nagy, the band has that famous Motor City swagger.

Having chosen the song Heartbeat for the record, the band was asked whether they approached the song differently than they do for the songs on their own records.

"No, not really, except that we wanted it to sound like it came from Detroit, and I think we do," Ramirez said.

Out of all the great Buddy Holly songs, choosing one could prove difficult. How they got to Heartbeat tells a lot about the band.

"Well Rachel said, 'I don't know, I keep coming back to this one,'" Ramirez said. "At this time Rave On was still available as were some other great ones. But the words and vocal melody are great, and for my band that comes first."

Their performance at the art fair will be the band's first in Wyandotte. That same day, the band will be joining another Detroit legend, Mitch Ryder, on stage at the Don Was Detroit All Star Revue at the Concert of Colors in Detroit.

"When you first start, you do it all for yourself," Ramirez said. "But being a Detroit musician, you get the opportunity to meet and mingle with all the heroes, from R&B to Rock n Roll, from punk to pop. So for most of us, it's about how far you want to take it.

"I think it's pretty wild that Johnny 'Bee' Badanjek played on the Buddy Holly track, that I sang backgrounds with Andre Williams, played with Don Was, and as a teenager played Looking At You and Kick Out the Jams with Rob Tyner at the Hamtramck Pub."

For all their success, the band remains Detroit-based and Detroit proud. The band gained notoriety during the "garage rock" scene that Detroit was famous for more than 10 years ago. Since that time, the Detroit Cobras have somehow come to represent the best aspects of that sound while also transcending it.

The band is rowdy and fun, sexy and dangerous, but sweet. Whether they're "garage rock" or not, that doesn't really matter.

"For me, it's always been the same," Ramirez said. "That's what makes Detroit. There will always be bands trying to identify themselves with their inherited musical history and the freedom to be themselves.

"The fact that there was a label put on it doesn't mean that it did not exist beforehand and that it's no longer there. Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, The Last Heard (Bob Seger) and the Amboy Dukes were all garage bands."

Saturday Entertainment Lineup at the Wyandotte Street Art Fair

• Misty Blues (1 to 3:30 p.m.)
• Little Davey and the Diplomats (4 to 5 p.m.)
• Crackjaw (5:30 to 6:30 p.m.)
• Wisteria (7:30 to 9 p.m.)
• The Detroit Cobras (9:30 to 11 p.m.)