Ask singer-songwriter Lee DeWyze what fans can expect from his shows, and he doesn’t share a setlist or a genre breakdown. He talks about relationships.
“When I’m on stage, my whole thing is connecting with the audience,” he said. “People think ‘connecting’ means I’m performing and they’re hearing it. But what I mean is something deeper — this shared emotional experience.”
DeWyze will strengthen those ties when he returns to the Musical Instrument Museum on Sunday, June 28. The “American Idol” alum said the 300-seat MIM is a natural fit, as it’s built for intimacy and storytelling.
“I think, over the past few years, I’ve reached a point where — I can’t really put it into better words if I tried — it’s my job to be an ‘emotional locksmith,’” said DeWyze, whose music has appeared in 100 projects, including “Blackbird Song” in “The Walking Dead.”
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Settled at home
The indie folk rocker isn’t always this serious. He lives in California with his wife, actress Jonna Walsh, and their golden retriever, Remy — named after the rat in “Ratatouille,” not the cognac. DeWyze is a big kid at heart.
“When he was a puppy, he’d sit in the kitchen so patiently while we cooked,” he said. “He reminded us of Remy from the movie.”
Walsh works with local schools and theater programs, and DeWyze occasionally steps in to help kids with singing.
“It’s more volunteer work for me,” he said. “But I love being part of what she’s doing. She’s really good at it.
“We both really support each other in our creative worlds. Her family is my family. My family is in Chicago, so I go back a lot. But I love being out here. I’m on the road a lot. When I’m home, I really appreciate it.”
Early in his career, he looked at performances as formulaic: hit the notes and play the chords. But over time, he realized he no longer needed to do so.
“Now, there aren’t any boxes that I want to check,” DeWyze said. “I just want to get up there and put it all out there emotionally and vocally and tell the story. I think, over time, I’ve allowed myself to be more vulnerable on stage. By doing that and weakening those walls, it’s allowed people in.”
Emotional walls go both ways, so if he allows his fans through that barrier, he is also giving them permission to reach out, he said.
“Every time I perform, it’s in the moment. I think you hear a lot about ‘method acting’? I do a lot of ‘method performing’ and ‘storytelling.’ I don’t mean on a performative level, putting on some kind of show.”
“I’m performing, but I’m living in the songs. The songs are so honest to me. They’re so from me. They are my stories. They are things that I’ve written.
“Everybody knows what it’s like to love. Everybody knows what it’s like to feel lonely. Those are really powerful things that everyone experiences, but we all experience them differently. I want people to know that they’re not alone in those things. It’s therapeutic for me and, I hope, for them.”
That shift required vulnerability — the kind that feels risky, even dangerous.
“Being vulnerable sounds scary, and it is,” he says. “But I realized there’s nothing anyone could ever say about me that I haven’t said about myself a thousand times worse.”
That approach changes the energy in the room. Fans feel it as well. They tell him when he’s meeting and greeting them after gigs, or via social media.
“It’s almost therapeutic,” he says. “For me, and I hope for them. It lets people know they’re not alone in the things they feel.”
Two years ago, DeWyze questioned his career choice while recording 2024’s “Gone for Days” in Bristol, Tennessee. He was concerned about expectations and pressure — mostly on his side.
“I asked myself, ‘Do you love doing this anymore?’ And the answer was ‘yes,’” he said. “But then I asked, ‘Why?’ And what came into my head wasn’t money or interviews or any of that. It was that there’s nothing I love more than being on stage, performing for people, and having it move them.”
