Delilah DeWylde

T.J. Hamilton | The Grand Rapids PressDelilah DeWylde and The Lost Boys perform during the Tuesday Evening Music Club at Frederik Meijer Gardens.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Seems Delilah DeWylde and The Lost Boys have been found.

A growing number of fans hardly can get enough of the band's retro honky tonk act, which is heavy on '50s and '60s tunes with a rockabilly bent. That popularity has kept the group hopping from one milestone to another in its sixth year.

Among them:

• A main-stage gig Friday night and appearances Saturday in the highly regarded Wheatland Music Festival near Remus.

• This week's release of the band's second album, "The Price You Pay," following up its 2008 disc, "Honky Tonk Heart."

• Recent taping of a one-hour special for WKAR-TV's "Backstage Pass" series, to air early next year.

• Leading roles as legendary country crooner Patsy Cline and band in "Always Patsy Cline" in Saugatuck's Red Barn Theater in April.

The fall will be busy, too. The group will play Muskegon's Blue Note nightclub on Sept. 17, and the Eastown Street Fair and the New Holland Brewing Co. in Holland on Sept. 18, as well as The B.O.B. on Oct. 1 during ArtPrize. The band's Web site hints at a reprise of its "Always" roles in a November sequel in Hamilton.

"Every summer I say, 'I don't know how it can get any busier,' and then it does," said DeWylde, bassist and lead singer. "The only reason I can do it is scheduling and booking come naturally to me."

Which is a good thing, because the group has been on a steady upward track since July 2004, when it was formed by three musicians who had been in the well-known rockabilly-psychobilly band DangerVille -- DeWylde and drummer-guitarist Lee Harvey, both of Saugatuck, and previous drummer D.J. McCoy, of Grand Rapids.

IF YOU GO
Delilah DeWylde and the Lost Boys

When: 11:10 p.m. Friday on the Main Stage, and 8:30 p.m. Saturday on the Dance Stage at the 37th Wheatland Music Festival, which features a variety of performers, jam sessions and workshops in traditional arts.

Where: Wheatland Music Organization grounds, 50th Avenue at Pierce Road, Remus

Tickets: All Friday and Saturday festival events were sold out in advance; day-passes for Sunday activities are available at the gate starting at 8 a.m. Sunday for $25 adults, $3 ages 5-12; (989) 967-8561, (989) 967-8879, wheatlandmusic.org

Coming up:

• 9 p.m. Sept. 17, Blue Note, 60 W. Broadway St., Muskegon
• 2:30 p.m. Sept. 18, Eastown Street Fair
• 9 p.m. Sept. 18, New Holland Brewing Co., 66 E. Eighth St., Holland
• 10 p.m. Sept. 23, Prospecto Musical Showcase and Sonic Experience at Billy's Lounge, 1437 Wealthy St. SE
• Noon Sept. 25, Blue Star Harvest Festival at Saugatuck Brewing Co., 2948 Blue Star Highway, Douglas

More info: myspace.com/delilahdewyldeandthelostboys


When they get the chance, they add steel guitar player Drew Howard, of Mason, or fiddler Mark Schrock, of Fennville, to the mix. On frequent trips to Wisconsin and other states, they play with guitar and steel player Hank Thomas, of Milwaukee. And you might find Joe Wilson, Traverse City steel, dobro and trombone player from the band Steppin' In It, in the lineup sometimes.

"It's fun -- and a little adventurous -- to have that fourth spot rotating. Not a lot of people play steel, and D.J. and Harvey don't sing, so I try to keep that spot open to bring in new sounds and a different take on things," DeWylde said.

For that and other reasons, "adventurous" is as good a description of the band as any.

DeWylde's distinctive style includes not only playing stand-up bass but sometimes playing while standing on the bass and other times slinging it around as if it were a guitar. Although the band's thirty- and fortysomethings wear traditional "country-western" garb, play vintage instruments with an old-time tube-amplifier sound and brandish tunes by the likes of Hank Williams, Buck Owens and Loretta Lynn, they unapologetically -- even triumphantly -- swim against the current of today's slick, commercial country music.

"I don't like modern country," DeWylde said. "It sounds like bad pop music to me."

She and the boys have found an enthusiastic audience that agrees. And while they're a hit with people in their 50s and 60s, DeWylde said they're gaining acceptance among other ages.

"We walk a fine line. We're not a blues band, we don't take requests, but we play a lot of familiar songs people like to hear, with a bit of a modern edge."

Such updated touches show up on the latest album, she said.

"I think it's a little more modern sounding than the last one, and a little more mature. We've all grown as players and really gelled playing with each other since the first album."

Her favorite cuts include a pair of originals by Harvey -- the rock-tinged "Turn This Ship Around" and the psychobilly "Hammer" (with "wicked banjo by Drew") -- and a nod to country icon Hank Williams in "Just for the Hank of It" by local songwriters Roger S. Brown and Clayton Sawyer, which she calls "clever and fun."

And if "fun" sounds like it neatly sums up Delilah and the boys' approach to music, you've pretty much got it.
- The Grand Rapids Press

Delilah DeWylde is a Grand Rapids music staple. From her vintage dress to her black bangs, perched atop an upright bass, one is hard-pressed to find a West Michigan music lover who hasn't seen her perform.
When asked about her persona compared to the real her, she said it might surprise people that she can be "a bit shy," but said a love of music and fun persists for both the stage-side character and the "stay-at-home-in-pajamas" version. A prominent member of DangerVille until 2006, DeWylde switched her focus to Delilah DeWylde and the Lost Boys, then with Lee Harvey (guitar) and Dan McCoy (drums).

"It was actually [Harvey's] idea to start this band, since he wanted to switch from drums to guitar," DeWylde said. "This band is different because I had to become the frontperson and do all the singing."

DeWylde cites a love for The Bakersfield Revival, as well as "vintage-throwback" in general, as shaping factors when forming the group.

"Our intention was to continue with our rockabilly roots and branch out into classic country sounds," she said. "The classic country vocal style was fun to sing, so we kind of went with that since the beginning."

Going along with the classic country themes, DeWylde rattles off a list of the usual lyrical suspects — "Broken hearts, cheating, drinking," to name a few, as Harvey's use, along with reworked versions of old songs the group likes. DeWylde helps Harvey with the arrangements.

Delilah DeWylde and the Lost Boys
Album: The Price You Pay
Genre: Americana/Honky Tonk
Sounds Like: Rose Maddox, Buck Owens, Led Zeppelin


Upcoming Show:

CD Release wsg Ralston Bowles, Red Sea Pedestrians
Billy's Lounge, Grand Rapids
Sept. 8, 9 p.m., $5
billyslounge.com, (616) 459-5757
Recorded by Joe McCarger at River City Studios, The Price You Pay is important to DeWylde and the band for many reasons. DeWylde feels as though her singing has improved over the year, making it a more personal record. But it is also close for more tragic reasons.

"Dan's brother, Neal McCoy, passed away during the middle of all this, after a long painful battle with cancer," DeWylde said. "It was rough on Dan because he was the only immediate family member in town, but he never missed a gig, a rehearsal or a studio date. Neal was also a musician, and encouraged Dan to do what he needed to do."

- Music Review Magazine