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To access a catalogue of Lorraine’s recordings — from her original CD, songwriter recordings, and 80’s cuts,  to select covers and film soundtracks — click the SoundCloud button below: 

A LITTLE PERFORMANCE HISTORY: A child of the Midwest with roots in folk music, a theater major at the University of Illinois; a teenage belter who left school to tour with popular road band, Lonnie & the Lugnutz, and later a veteran of the wild creative scene in LA, Lorraine Devon Wilke has virtually immersed her life in the arts. For a few highlights, present and past, read on:

CURRENTLY:

After the far-too-long hiatus demanded by the pandemic, Devon Wilke’s band, SIXTH & THIRD, performed on Saturday, March 2nd, 2024, for a Democratic fundraiser in support of the Biden/Harris Reelection Campaign. Hosted at a private home in the Hollywood Hills, the band presented a 90-minute concert of original songs and select covers for the invited audience of enthusiastic donors, raising an impressive sum for the campaign. They look forward to working with other organizations and parties hosting similar events during this urgent election year. Have a fundraiser coming up and want to provide some entertainment? Get in touch via the Contact Page. 

RECENT/PAST PROJECTS: 
Over the past year, Devon Wilke worked with her husband, attorney/writer/producer, Pete Wilke, on the “reboot” of his original musical, COUNTRY THE MUSICAL, which had its smash premiere at the famed Crazy Horse Saloon, later performing at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace. Having starred in the original production in 1999/2000, she is not only script consultant, media manager, and web designer for the updated version of the project, but will once again play a lead role when it hits the stage. Click INFORMATION for details about the show and its writer; MUSIC to listen to any or all of the twenty original songs, or COMPANY to learn more about the business structure of the project.  Enjoy this montage from the show!

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JULY 2021: I LOVE LUCIFER Podcast! …from GoGirlMedia

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August 17th, 2019: Devon Wilke’s band, Sixth & Third, appeared on a double-bill with noted actor and storyteller exemplar, Troy Evans, in a fundraiser for 2020 Democratic candidates. Performing at the enchanting Hiner House in Los Angeles’ Highland Park neighborhood, the event raised over $3000 for the cause.

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A few more historical highlights:  After those 2.5 years on the road with Lonnie & the Lugnutz, Devon Wilke  ultimately landed in Los Angeles. Early time there was spent in pursuit of an acting career, teased by various stage productions and small roles in film and TV, but it wasn’t long before the siren song of music pulled her back in.

It was the wild and wooly ’80s when she first gained notice as a singer and songwriter with her original band, DEVON. The “new wave/soul” band built a loyal following during the height of the 80s, playing the famed circuit from Madame Wong’s and FM Station, to The Lingerie, Sasch, and The Palace. This was the memorable era of big hair, leather and lace, wild, raucous performances, and the sense of being part of a new movement: the MTV era, with its requisite clanging guitars, reedy keyboards, and outrageous costumes. Writing, recording, and performing songs that were a distinctive mix of New Wave rock, tapping into her gritty, soulful singing style,  DEVON was an industry and club favorite, garnering regional and international recognition while working with such respected producers as the late Bob Shad of Mercury and Mainstream Records, Australian hitmaker Brian Cadd, and rock veterans Bob DeStocki and Craig Krampf, to name a few.

By the late 80s, Devon Wilke was collaborating with Rod Stewart vets, Kevin Savigar and Jim Cregan, in a project called THIRD PERSON, during which time she worked with some of rock music’s best. Co-writing and recording songs that have appeared in numerous film soundtracks and performed around the world. It was also during this time that Devon Wilke became a favorite session vocalist for production and publishing companies, cutting tracks for countless songwriters and jingle producers, and singing backgrounds for top bands (including Jefferson Starship, Spencer Davis, and Stevie Wonder). Her vocals have been featured in commercials, industrials; film soundtracks, and TV theme songs.

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The early ’90s brought a merge of mediums when a screenplay she co-wrote with Patricia Royce, To Cross the Rubicon, was produced by Seattle indie group, The Lensman Company.

Directed by Barry Caillier, it starred both screenwriters, as well as iconic song man, J.D. Souther, and Twilight‘s Billy Burke—with David Crosby and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in cameo roles. Devon Wilke also wrote and performed three of the soundtrack songs. A small but appreciated gem on the indie circuit at the time, its most enduring significance for Devon Wilke (beyond introducing her to her husband) was both launching her screenwriting career and convincing her to re-embrace the art and craft of acting.

[One of the film’s highlights was Devon Wilke’s onscreen performance of “I Surrender,” a song she co-wrote with David Resnik. This video is a montage of scenes from the film soundtracked by that performance:]

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As a member of the prestigious Alliance Repertory Company of Burbank, CA, she appeared in a number of stage productions, most notably THE FINISH LINE, a well-received collage piece on the topic of euthanasia. Controversial and irreverent, Devon Wilke wrote five of the performed pieces, appearing in several, as well as wrote and recorded the show’s titular theme song. 

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By the late 90s, Devon Wilke was cast as a cynical executive (who got all the blues songs) in the iconic Los Angeles hit, IT IS JUST ME, OR IS IT HOT IN HERE?, an original musical presented by Theatre InSite.

Helmed by award-winning director, Michael Arabian, produced by Matt Goldsby, with book & lyrics by Barbara Schill, music by Dave MacKay, and choreographed by Kay Cole (who originated the role of “Maggie” in A Chorus Line), the show ran for eighteen months by way of CBS Radford Studios and the Odyssey Theatre, finishing its successful run at the Century City Playhouse.

And then the original run of  COUNTRY, THE MUSICAL: Environmental theater at its finest, the original musical won accolades for its inventive staging and music. Devon Wilke starred as an on-the-outs rocker/waitress working a country bar with a much younger singer, both vying for a chance at stardom. 

The music and book were written by her husband, producer/attorney Pete Wilke, the show directed and choreographed by Kay Cole. With 20 original songs, music director Phil Swann recorded tracks on Music Row in Nashville, lending them appropriate country music bona fides. After a successful run at The Crazy Horse Saloon in Santa Ana, CA, the show had a later short-run at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, CA.

In 2001 she met Rick Hirsch, a versatile and accomplished guitarist, and they formed ROAD TO BLUE, a blues/rock project that quickly met with success, playing such noted venues as Harvelle’s in Santa Monica and B.B. King’s Blues Club at Universal City Walk in Los Angeles. After developing a substantial library of original material, they produced and recorded an 11-song CD titled Richer for Rain, a project that later evolved into a solo vehicle for Devon Wilke under the new title, somewhere on the way. Well reviewed as “musically timeless,” this soulful collection of roots/rock songs garnered a new league of fans and deepened the respect for her singing and songwriting skills.

In more recent years, and after a long hiatus from acting, Devon Wilke got back on the boards in 2017 as “Helen,” a frustrated documentarian with a lifelong secret, in The Geeze and Me, a funny, irreverent, poignant original musical dealing with the “vicissitudes of aging.” Written by creative team, Nancy Locke Capers (book/director) and Hedges Capers (book/music), premiering at The Tenth Avenue Arts Center in San Diego, CA, in March/April 2017, the show’s repertoire of 20+ original songs tapped handily into Devon Wilke’s expansive range of vocal styles (“a wondrous singer”…”warm, gritty vocals”), as well as her wealth of theatrical experience.

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REVIEW BLURBS FROM The Geeze & Me, San Diego, CA

Charlene Baldridge, La Jolla Village News:“Helen [is played by] wondrous singer Lorraine Devon Wilke, whose ‘Myself ‘ is one of the show’s most effective numbers.”

Milo Shapiro, Stage and Cinema:
“Also touching is one woman’s interaction with a homeless woman in the poignant ‘Oh, Sister,’ sung by Lorraine Devon Wilke and Erin Vanderhyde.”

James Hebert, San Diego Union Tribune:
“Wilke brings strong, gritty vocals to ‘Myself.’”

David Dixon, San Diego Story:
“Several of his more dramatic numbers are sung tenderly by Wilke, and her emotional singing on ‘If I Ever Smile Again’ touchingly fleshes out Helen.”

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