The Grand Rapids old-school country act has a new single and new tour as it recovers from a tragic loss. Plus, Local Spins debuts tracks from The Go Rounds, Hannah Rae, Zero Sun and other Michigan acts.
Moving On Under a ‘Super Dark Cloud’ of Grief: The Bootstrap Boys (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
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The pain of losing a beloved bandmate in sudden fashion never goes away.
So, The Bootstrap Boys’ first tour without guitarist Nick Alexander — who died of heart complications in January at age 39 — embarks this weekend under a “super dark cloud” of grief, but with determination to carry on in tribute to their comrade.
Hence, it’s labeled the “Heavy Hearts Honky-Tonk” tour – a title culled from the 2019 Bootstrap Boys song, “Strong Drinks for Heavy Hearts.”
“It definitely encapsulates my own personal feelings and where we are right now emotionally in dealing with the passing of our dear friend, brother, co-founder and guitarist. It is with heavy hearts that we send him off to whatever’s next,” said Jake “Big Jake” Stilson, frontman for the award-winning, old-school country band.
Fallen Comrade: Nick Alexander (Photo/Joshua Tufts)
“In his memory, we look forward to going as hard as we can this year, and doing our best to make him proud. … We’re all now standing on the shoulders of the work that he put into this project with us.”
In that vein, Stilson said the band decided they didn’t want to find a replacement for Alexander, but rather ask other musicians to sit in for the upcoming Midwest tour and other shows later this year.
“I don’t think that we can replace him. That’s not anything that even interested me, really,” he said. “I think that it’ll just be a little bit different, and that’s the case when you lose someone: It’s just always going to be different after that.”
So for the band’s upcoming April shows – starting with Sunday night at Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill in Grand Rapids, opening for singer-songwriter John R. Miller – pedal steel guitarist Justin Wierenga will sit in, with Dobroist Mark Lavengood joining The Bootstrap Boys for appearances later this spring. (Get Tip Top show details and tickets, $20, online here.)
“We have gotten together with (Wierenga) a good few times over the last month and he fits real well with what we do,” noted Stilson. “Mark (Lavengoood) is no stranger to the Bootstrap live set and has joined us on stage many times in the past. Who else might pop up in the mix? Only time will tell.”
Following the band’s April shows in Tennessee, North Carolina and Ohio, Stilson will return to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky for a week-long May residency – something he’s done before as a solo act and with the band.
The Tour Poster by Lil’ Mama Bootstrap
The Bootstrap Boys – who won the WYCE Jammie Award for “artist of the year” two years in a row – have plenty of fresh releases on the docket as well, having already recorded some music with Alexander as well as other new songs they’d been eyeing.
“We’ve got a wealth of new material that we haven’t even had really the chance to explore because this just took us right off our feet for a bit,” said Stilson.
“We were in the studio working on songs right up to a few days before Nick left us. We will be finishing that up next month. We have also recorded some brand new original material that is finished and will make its way out in the near future.”
The band plans to wrap up a new album in April, with a released planned for December – a project featuring “multiple guest spots from friends, family and fellow musicians. The range of instrumentation and production will be bigger than anything we’ve ever done before.”
For this week’s edition of Local Spins on WYCE – which spotlights Michigan music at 11 a.m. Fridays and 5 p.m. Sundays on WYCE (88.1 FM) and online at wyce.org, and at 7 p.m. Saturdays on Interlochen Public Radio – The Bootstrap Boys featured a brand new track, their cover of Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky,” as well as “Strong Drinks for Heavy Hearts.”
The show also featured new music from The Go Rounds, Hannah Rae, Frankie Ballard, Mellow Out, Maxwell Rincon, Zero Sun, Planet D Nonet, Coley Kennedy and DJ Holographic. Listen to the show here.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (3/28/25)
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