Hyla’s Bio
Hyla loves Rock ‘n Roll with a solid blues influence such as the musical sty lings of the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Band. Some of her favorite cover songs to play are old Rolling Stones songs because they capture the essence of life, heat, and passion.
Basically, Hyla is drawn to music that rings true. Her eclectic tastes include jazz greats such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Duke Ellington, as well as blues artists Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker. And she is moved by the universal appeal and sincerity of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.
Hyla is driven by a passion for poetry, literature, music and art and a quest for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Some of her poetic influences include William Blake, Jack London, Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the American folk hero icon, Woody Guthrie.
She has also been heavily influenced by the poetic beauty emanating from the art and music of her grandmother, Yaltah Menuhin, who was not only a saintly spirit, but an extraordinarily skilled and graceful classical pianist. Her father, Lionel Rolfe, was a talented and enduring journalist who wrote Literary L.A., numerous newspaper and magazine stories and a collection of 10 books.
On Hyla’s mother’s side, her grandparents were a big influence on her as well, both as role models and musically. Her grandfather played the trumpet, guitar, piano, they both sang and “grampy” led the Sunday choir, which was one of her early introductions to melody and harmony. Hyla’s mother, Dianna, is a talented multi-instrumentalist and folk singer/songwriter and has also been an inspiration!
When Hyla lived in the northern California redwoods, she put a band together with her longtime musical partner and then husband Michael Douglas. They called the band Lapis Lazuli after the beautiful blue and gold stone. Later in Los Angeles, the band Lapis played the local club circuit with several songwriting talents adding zest and variety to the bands’ unique brand of progressive rock ‘n roll.
Since that time, Hyla has busied herself with songwriting, poetry writing, recording and performing. She has created two poetry collections along with her first album entitled Sticky Yellow Monkey Flowers.
Both of the poetry books were given out at Burning Man, the first is entitled Black Rock City in tribute to the alternative music and art festival and the second book entitled Bathtub Poetry was inspired by a lavender-anointed outdoor bathtub on an oak-studded hillside in the musical and artistic enclave of Topanga Canyon on the rural edge of Los Angeles.
While living in Topanga, she has happily been part of several musical collaborations, the earliest singing with the blues rock original artist Jim Crawford and Friends, a band that has played and performed together for over a decade, mostly in the Topanga community and everyone with their dancing shoes on!
She was part of an Americana style all girl band called The Porch Girls! It was while playing and performing with the PGs that she started gaining a deeper appreciation for roots and old country music, such as Hank Williams and Patsy Cline, as well as more contemporary yet classic artists such as Townes Van Zandt and Gillian Welch.
She is currently part of an all women band called The Wild Honeys! She absolutely loves playing with these super talented and fun ladies! Their repertoire includes original songs by each of the members and cover songs worked up in three-part harmony and varied instrumentation. Their sets tend to include sea shanties as well as classic and obscure songs spanning many genres of material! The Wild Honeys are currently recording and will be adding songs to their new Facebook page, and when it is safe to go out and play again, will be posting show dates as well!
With her singular style of music, art, and poetry, Hyla adds an insightful perspective from within and without the jaded and disillusioned society in which we live. On this website, she offers a sampling for your consideration, enjoyment, and entertainment.
