With Detroit’s Jennifer Westwood & The Handsome Devils making their SpeakEZ Lounge debut in Grand Rapids on Friday, Local Spins asked the talented singer to reveal her biggest musical influences.
Jennifer Westwood & The Handsome Devils: Playing Grand Rapids on Friday, with Westwood revealing her influences for Local Spins today. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
EDITOR’S NOTE: All musicians can trace their inspiration to key recordings that influenced their careers. Writer Ross Boissoneau today showcases music that changed the world for Detroit’s Jennifer Westwood, who brings her band The Handsome Devils to Grand Rapids on Friday (Jan. 16) for a show at SpeakEZ Lounge. Scroll down for a Spotify playlist of her picks, including a current favorite and a couple of Westwood’s recent tracks.
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Award-winning, Detroit-based Americana singer and songwriter Jennifer Westwood’s musical roots go back to her early years.
“Like many, many people, I started singing in church,” says Westwood, who fronts the self-named Jennifer Westwood & The Handsome Devils.
Unfortunately, the idea of performing outside of worship wasn’t appreciated within her church. Such an activity was viewed as vain, a way to bring attention to oneself. “It was the kind of church that didn’t love the idea of using your talent for anything but church. There was a lot of shame attached to wanting to pursue (it).”
But she had done some work in jingles for TV and radio and sung some background vocals on other projects. “My life was compartmentalized,” Westwood says.
It took a long time for her to come to grips with the fact her community and her passion were at odds and could not be reconciled. “People condemned me for it. So if I wanted to do music, I had to get out,” she says.
Westwood: She performed at last year’s Jammie Awards. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
Ultimately music won out, and today she is happy to be writing and singing, along with hosting “Your Americana” on WAKT 106.1 out of Toledo.
Westwood and her guitarist husband Dylan Dunbar blend their affection for gospel, Texas blues, Stax and Muscle Shoals with family roots that tie them to the sounds of Appalachia. The soulful singer has shared stages with the likes of Don Was, Patti Smith, Johnny Bee Badanjek and others, and won numerous Detroit Music Awards, releasing her most recent album, “Mad Man’s World,” in 2024.
On Friday, Jennifer Westwood & The Handsome Devils make their SpeakEZ Lounge debut in Grand Rapids, performing at 7:30 p.m. for Local Spins’ Live Music Fridays series. Details here.
Westwood follows this with another West Michigan show: The Sounds of the Zoo’s first show of 2026, taking place at Old Dog Tavern in Kalamazoo on Jan. 24. The performance is billed as “a special acoustic show,” featuring Westwood, guitarist Dylan Dunbar and singer-songwriter Ted Russell Kamp, with special guests The Incantations. Admission is $10 at the door.
Want to learn more about Westwood? Check out this Local Spins story: Detroit Connections – The Lasso, Jennifer Westwood make splash on Hot Top 5 Chart
1. Curtis Mayfield, “The Anthology” (1992) – It seems far-flung, but if you know me it makes sense. I grew up singing in church in Detroit. Soul has such strong ties with gospel. It was birthed out of gospel. Curtis Mayfield is a perfect example of that. I love all phases of his career.
Listen: “Pusherman”
2. Hank Williams, “Honky Tonkin’” (1954) – I have country music history on my mother’s side. Her family is from coal country in Pennsylvania. Her family played with lots of greats. (Westwood didn’t select a particular album; “Honky Tonkin’” was one of Williams’ most successful recordings, released a year after his death.)
Listen: “Honky Tonkin'”
3. “Rent Soundtrack” (2005) – I love music that teeters on cheese. It’s a great catchy soundtrack. They’re all pieces of me. It’s loud and proud, not holding back.
Listen: “Seasons of Love”
Currently Loving: Waylon Jennings, “Songbird” (2025) – I listen to a lot of music, but not a lot of albums. I listen to a lot of friends’ music. But there is an album, “Songbird,” by Waylon Jennings. His son (Shooter Jennings) produced it, he made the decisions. It’s Shooter’s work. I want to know the story behind why these songs were recently released, (but) I don’t want to read about it yet, I just want to absorb the record. It’s cool to have something from the past in the present. I love the era and the production. (“Songbird” features tracks discovered by Shooter Jennings among a trove of his father’s unreleased work from the 70s and 80s that he digitized and released in October 2025.)
Listen: “Songbird”
ALBUMS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: Jennifer Westwood’s Playlist on Spotify
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