Jennie DeVoe

Story by Casi D. Owens   Photos courtesy of Jennie DeVoe

Jennie DeVoe may not be a name you recognize, but her roots to New Castle, Ind., run deep.  As a child, DeVoe would frequently visit New Castle to see her great-aunt who helped raise her DeVoe’s mother. DeVoe says she is excited to play at the Arts Center in New Castle because she loves to play live and at new venues. She says, “Live shows allow me to talk to the audience, to connect to them.”

DeVoe loves to tell “behind the song” stories at live shows. She says, “I love to entertain, sing and write.”  Music has always been a passion of DeVoe’s.

“I always wanted to sing,” she said. “I had a yearning to be up on the stage instead of watching the show.” DeVoe’s passion for music bloomed after college when she took a job at a music studio, but she did not feel effective behind a desk. It was when she was helping in the studio doing voiceovers and commercials that she felt important. This realization helped her start her own career in music. She says, “It’s cornball to say, but ‘Build it and they will come.’ I put out really good songs and people just started finding me.”

DeVoe’s writing style and sound are unique, but her inspiration comes from everyday experiences. She says her songs are “inspired by relationships, being in love and going through break-ups.”

“You can unearth a pool of artistic stuff to use, past stuff too,” she explained. “It’s not that you relive it, but that you can make something others can relate to.” DeVoe says she likes to do something different for fans. She likes the ability music gives her “to touch people.” For her music is cathartic, “a gift you get to give back.”

DeVoe enjoys the mobile experience that music gives her.

“Music provides me with a lifestyle that allows me not to be anchored,” she said, adding that she does not stay in one place too long, so music as a career works for her. DeVoe’s goal for music is to make “timeless music.”

“There should be no feel of a certain era about it,” she explained. “These are the records I like to make. Art should not get old.”

Her new release, titled Strange Sunshine, is a 12-track disc that was recorded in Bath, England and was produced by John Parish. It is a 12-track disc. Why England?

“It’s good to get away from daily life when recording,” she noted. “It allows you to not concentrate on daily life.” However, this is not the first time DeVoe went across the pond to record. Her 2004 album, Fireworks and Karate Supplies, was recorded there, again with John Parish. To highlight DeVoe’s true love of her music she paid for her band to go to England with her to record Strange Sunshine. Her band includes drummer John Wittman, guitarist Brett Lodde, both of whom have been with her for 10 years, bassist Jeff Stone, keyboardist Greg McGuirk and backing vocalist Nicole Proctor. The latter three have been with her for about three years.

As for live shows, DeVoe does mostly original music. She will do covers but is picky. She says, “I like to sing something I can relate to and feel good about.”  You can hear some of her covers on her other new album titled Busted Flat, which was recorded over a  two-year period at her live shows by one of Jennie's favorite members of her band, her soundman Karl Bruhn. DeVoe says this is for her fans because she had push back the release of Strange Sunshine due to a distribution deal.

DeVoe says she has had radio play on mainstream stations, won numerous awards, was Meijer’s Indiana pick for their Indie release section in stores nationwide and she even won a Billboard award in 2004 for Independent Song of the Year. Yet she prefers the Indie scene, and Indianapolis is home for her. She says, “There is a good audience in Indianapolis and my family lives nearby. My husband’s business is here, my life; my friends are here. I have to leave more often, but I think of it as a mini vacation.”

While music is DeVoe’s main passion, she says when she was young she wanted to be a novelist and will eventually do that. She says, “I have a sense of humor and I want to write an antidotes/life experiences book. Music is a fun, good career.”  She added, “God watches over and pushes you where you need to be.”

You can see DeVoe perform at the Arts Park in New Castle, Ind. 218 S. 15th St., on June 27, 2008. Tickets go on sale May 1, 2008 and are $15 in advance and $18 day of show. Gates open at 6:30 p.m. All ticket sales benefit the Art Association of Henry County, Inc.