December 03, 2025
Provided image/Jake Dillon
Jake Dillon plays covers as 'Delco Donny' in the parking lot of the Wawa on Chichester Avenue in Boothwyn.
Jake Dillon was just goofing around with his girlfriend when his musical alter ego was born. Knowing her mother hailed from Delaware County, he started riffing on the region's distinctive accent, dropping "youse" and "hun" in between his garbled Os. The bit continued and pretty soon, Dillon was picking up his guitar and hitting record on a cover of "You Found Me" by the Fray — performed as a dude from Delco.
That was just a few months ago. Now, "Delco Donny" is a social media sensation. His covers of "Champagne Supernova," "Creep" and "Closing Time" have each cracked over 100,000 views on TikTok, where he boasts over 1 million likes. His fame has been spurred in part by his preferred stage: Wawa parking lots. Since early November, Delco Donny has been spotted in Aston, Huntingdon Valley and other locations across the five counties. Last Sunday, he played a publicized pop-up show at the Wawa on Chichester Avenue in Boothwyn. He said a crowd of roughly 100 people was waiting in the parking lot when he arrived.
"These fans look at me like I'm Noah Kahan," Dillon, 29, said with a laugh. "That is the way they were behaving. ... At one point I was like, 'Can someone run in and grab me a tea for my throat?' and there were just people running to go get it."
Dillon is a singer-songwriter and music teacher, but these days, he's been spending a lot of time as Donny. The Northeast Philly native works with his producer and videographer to select Wawa locations for filming, then shows up and gets into character. Delco Donny will serenade customers in the lot, or sometimes go inside the store to sing for the cashiers. Though he admits some managers don't love his shtick, most of the workers find him amusing. The corporate office is clearly a fan; Wawa has sent Dillon shirts, socks, stickers, mugs and gift cards since he began sharing his videos.
Dillon says he tends to play songs that have already proven popular on social media — his fans love his takes on Oasis and the Killers, but he's also been rotating holiday tunes like "Jingle Bells" into the setlist recently. His catalog of covers exploits the quirks of the Delco accent, a matter of national fascination since "Mare of Easttown" aired on HBO.
"People will be like, 'I'm from California. I don't know what Delco is, but I love this,'" he said. "Or people are like, 'I moved to Florida 28 years ago, but I was born in Morton, Delaware County, and I miss it.' A lot of stuff like that."
Delco Donny has taken on such a life of his own, he's starting to get a backstory. Videos from November show off his cluttered van, with a chair inside for his Sizzli-themed meditations. He's also offered reviews of local pizza joints and asked his followers to explain billboards on I-95.
"He doesn't need a lot," Dillon said of his character. "He's a minimalist. He likes a Marlboro Red from time to time and maybe a Bud latte, but there ain't nothing wrong with that."
Dillon is already planning a return to the Wawa on Chichester Avenue and another pop-up show (location TBD) in the next week. He also has shows booked at the Wycombe Tavern in Bucks County and Boat House in Lambertville, though he'll be performing those as himself.
While Donny isn't a real person, Dillon does see a bit of himself in his creation.
"Delco Donny, he's a scrappy dude," he said. "He's kind of rugged and doesn't really care what people think of him. That's how I try to be as a person, as Jake Dillon."
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