GR’s throwback country outfit topped all other Mitten State artists in radio airplay, ahead of Billy Strings and The War & Treaty. View the Top 10 and listen to this week’s Local Spins on WYCE show podcast.
The Bootstrap Boys on Top: After a big year, the band returns to Midtown in GR on Saturday. (Photo/Joshua Tufts)
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With their distinctive approach to rootsy, retro country music, The Bootstrap Boys have bucked a lot of trends and conquered a lot of musical mountains along the way.
The Grand Rapids band has toured the land, won WYCE Jammie Awards (including 2023 Band of the Year honors), continued to release new tracks and cultivated an ultra-devoted fan base for their candid, gritty music and entertaining stage presence.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise that The Bootstrap Boys have emerged as the No. 1 Michigan Artist of 2024 at WYCE (88.1 FM), reflecting the Mitten State band whose tracks earned the most airplay over the past year on the Grand Rapids radio station which showcases more local and regional music than any other station in the state.
“It’s been a great year, starting with winning the big Jammies Award for Artist of the Year as well as Americana album of the year. We are still elated and beside ourselves,” said Jake Stilson, aka Big Jake Boostrap.
“We then cast our net even wider and had a great May tour around the mid-south and northeast, driving through the Appalachian mountains, making new fans and friends from cool little towns like Shelbyville, Ky., to bigger college towns like Chapel Hill, N.C.”
Stilson credits the band’s steadfast fans for supporting — and requesting — their music, songs that they’ll unfurl Saturday at The Bootstrap Boys’ annual “Winter Solstice Party” at Midtown in Grand Rapids. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.; tickets ($20-$30) available at themidtowngr.com.
“Kind and loving, generous and honest, everyday salt-of-the-earth fans like ours are hard earned. You search for these diehards, and mine those gems and keep them close,” he said. “I hope they come back knowing they’re gonna get some new stories to go home with and to watch a band pour their hearts out on the stage for the love of music.”
The Bootstrap Boys — who released an EP and several singles/covers in 2024 after releasing their award-winning, “Hungry & Sober” album in 2023 — came in ahead of several other popular Michigan artists on the year-end list at WYCE, including Kalamazoo hip hop cellist Jordan Hamilton, neosoul’s Earth Radio and bluegrass superstar Billy Strings.
‘Love and Magic’ on the Road: The Bootstrap Boys. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
The diverse list of Michigan artists whose music resonated the most with radio programmers and listeners also included Pablo Eskobear, Candid Antics, May Erlewine, Cal in Red, Pretoria and the nationally acclaimed The War and Treaty. Scroll down to listen to tracks from these artists as part of this week’s countdown on the Local Spins on WYCE radio show, which also debuted new tracks by Mystique, Aaron James Wright, Laura Rain & The Caesars and Knee Deep Shag.
After experiencing special nights and finding “love and magic” on the road in 2024, The Bootstrap Boys will close out the year with several performances: Saturday at Midtown, Dec. 27 at Horrocks Market and on New Year’s Eve as part of Kalamazoo’s New Year’s Fest.
“This is always a special show for us because so many friends and family members come out,” Stilson said of Saturday’s Winter Solstice Party. “That makes it feel so much more personal and intimate, sharing these fleeting moments of peace and goodwill with the ones we love and hold dear.”
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE’s Year-End Countdown (12/20/24)
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