Like punk, which is an attitude as much as a style of music, yacht rock is not just a genre, it is a lifestyle. It is a state of mind, an escape from reality, a retreat to a simpler time.
So, Michael Scoenith and Scott Kusmirek know that the home of yacht rock can be any physical location as long as the vibes are right. To that end, the two promoters/yacht rock devotees, who are both based in Michigan, are making Detroit the home of yacht rock the weekend of July 17, 2026, with a two-day celebration, Yacht Rock Detroit, on the river.
Featuring a mix of original yacht rock artists such as Pablo Cruise, Three Dog Night, Ambrosia and John Ford Cloey, and Yacht Rock Revue and Seven Wonders, a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, the two-day concert/party is the second annual event. We spoke to Schoenith and Kusmirek about all things yacht rock.
Hit Parader: Where did the idea to celebrate yacht rock first come in?
Michael Schoenith: You’ve got to remember that this is something that’s slowly sweeping the nation. As much as LA takes credit for the music, you look at Michigan and you look at how many boating licenses we have. We get one summer and yacht rock is a part of life now. And LA has always been ahead on things when it comes to cappuccino or sushi, right? But this is really taking over the whole nation. You start seeing it happening everywhere, from New Orleans to every major city.
HP: Why do you think that is?
Schoenith: The world is very loud right now, and this allows you to turn it down a notch. We’re not going after the nostalgia of a particular decade. You think of Yacht Rock as 70s, I might think of it more as early 80s. But we’re just trying to take you back. Yacht Rock just takes you back to simpler times, where you get to unplug a little bit and enjoy life in the moment. You don’t need to scroll. You don’t need to be on your phone. You don’t need to worry, worry, worry. It just takes you back to a simpler time in everyone’s youth, whether you were 16 or 25.
HP: I’m sure you find this at the festival, there is nostalgia for people who weren’t even alive then, they are wistful for a time that they didn’t get to see. So, I imagine with the festival, you have fans there who were not even born during yacht rock.
Schoenith: Correct, people romanticize it. Obviously, I’m going to plug the Rooster Tail here, but my grandfather built the Rooster Tail in 1958 where the festival is being held, and we brought in all sorts of major artists back then, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin. My dad in his early 20s hated that music, it was just old person’s music, so he brought in Motown. That was all before I was born, so I romanticize myself about the Motown Mondays that used to happen here, what that must have been like to see the [Four] Tops and Temptations and Diana Ross being shy, not a diva but being a little girl who would work so hard she’d sweat and her fake eyelashes would fall off. None of them knew they were making history at the time, but I grew up working here at the Rooster Tail and just romanticizing about these times where Bobby Darren was doing that and he’d go fishing every day on the water here. It’s just these stories I’d hear and that I still hear from people. and you’re 100 percent right about the kids not being born. I’ve got adult children all in their 20s. And honestly, it started as a joke. I was wearing a sweater like this and one of my sons said, “You look like one of those yacht rock guys.” And my other son’s like, “Yeah, Dad, have you ever heard of this band called Chicago?” I didn’t know if they were kidding me or not. They’re trying to turn me on to this old music that I already know. And, and next thing you know, I said, “Let’s throw a party.” And that was last year. Then with Scott being a musician and being a true yacht rock devotee, he knows everything. It brings you back to when music was a little simpler, when you could hear the chords and you knew what instruments were being played and it was manually done. It’s a cool sound; it’s dance in your chair kind of music.
Scott Kusmirek: To talk about my grandfather a little bit too, my grandfather was the president of Seabird Jukebox Company out of New York. I’m from New York, Long Island. So, I was in the music business, through the record business all through the 70s growing up, and my father ran a lot of locations across the country. We were working with all the major labels because we were putting out these hit songs and all that old vinyl I grew up with. My father’s first eight track was Pablo Cruise, so I was in the thick of it. Then when I got older, I ended up playing for the Gin Blossoms for 10 years. And when I was living in L.A. at the time, I saw these guys on YouTube making fun of Yacht Rock, and it was hilarious. I moved back to Michigan and started throwing yacht rock parties on Marquette Island over by Mackinac Island back in 2014. No one ever heard what it was. I happened to meet Michael and put this thing together that we’re doing this year. There is a time period back then in the 70s and 80s where it was just analog. I think these festivals take people back to that 70s and 80s time period and these kids that are seeing that are going, “Wow, life isn’t like that today.” That’s why they’re getting involved in these yacht rock shows, plus the music is timeless.
Schoenith: It’s like an adult family thing, too. Being in my 50s with 20 some year-old children, I can go to the same festival with them, and we both get something different out of it. And this year, we’re mixing the Instagram TikTok famous DJs. I don’t want to say it’s all ages, but all ages 21 and up. So, there could be a 25-year-old and a 55-year-old having equally as good of a time. It’s not like, “Oh, my parents dragged me to this.” Sometimes it’s the kids dragging their parents.
HP: I remember those videos, they were hilarious. But you could tell they were done affectionately.
Kusmirek: Yeah, the skit they did with Michael McDonald where he’s going from studio to studio, it was like that for him. He was singing on everybody’s record, so it was crazy.
Schoenith: And, yeah, it started out as a joke, it was a punchline. But in the end, the music won.
Kusmirek: It started out with AM Gold. Remember when they were pushing those AM Gold CDs and albums and stuff? And it never really stuck. But when they labeled it yacht rock, now it’s here for a while.
HP: What were you looking for in putting this together?
Schoenith: We put it on last year and we had one big national act that wasn’t really Yacht Rock. We called it Yacht Rock adjacent. It was Lou Gramm from Foreigner. But we started real late in the game, and we had a lot of cover bands. Last year the vibe was incredible. And we didn’t know what direction to go. Do we go with just all cover bands or do we double down? And we were about to go with all cover bands. Then Scott came to the door and he’s like, “Michael, I know these guys. I can get you these bands.” Scott and his team put together a huge lineup. I’m looking online and I feel we have the greatest weekend lineup in the country for a yacht rock festival when you look at the names and the people that are playing over 20 hours right in a in a two-day period. I think Scott put together the greatest and then the cherry on top is the two DJs, Mr. Wired Up and Party Pupils. They’re blowing up huge right now because the genre is taking off and they’re mixing yacht rock songs with like Duran Duran and Kendrick Lamar and New Hit. So, I think the lineup is out of control.
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