Interview with Jennie DeVoe

July 19, 2002
Jennie DeVoe - Indianapolis Area Singer/Songwriter

by James Esler and Margaret Olek

It’s a rainy, hot evening in Indianapolis, but the streets downtown are full of people, couples and groups and families, braving the humidity and showers for a night out. At 401 East Michigan Street, in the historic Athenaeum Building, the wait for a table in the German Rathskellar restaurant is long, but the reputation of the food and the atmosphere make it worth the wait. Through the dining room and toward the back, up a flight of stairs, the Biergarten awaits with its picnic tables and potted plants and, at the center of it all, the stage which tonight will be home to performances by Andrew Kurr and the headliner—the Jennie DeVoe band.

Jennie DeVoe has something of a cult following in the Indianapolis area, as evidenced tonight by the throngs of fans ranging from the stroller-bound to grandmothers and every age in between. When she and her band take the stage, the crowd rises to their feet; the dancing starts off slow, but before long there is swaying and spinning and hands in the air everywhere. People sing along to the favorites—“Barefoot To Babylon” and “Red Hot Sun”—and listen attentively to the new melodies that Jennie has to offer, true DeVoe in their strong subtle rhythms and impressive, moving lyrics. 

After the show, Jennie takes the time to mingle with the masses that line up to see her, ask her to pose for pictures and sign autographs, or just talk. She makes everyone feel like her lifelong friend, and honesty and charm that are so much a part of her music come through on a personal level. We wait patiently, and then she calls us over to her picnic table and we are smitten—she is so genuinely nice that it is almost (but not quite) possible to forget that this woman has such an amazing gift for music. 

James Esler:   When did you start singing, writing, playing music?

Jennie DeVoe:      Gosh, I used to write short stories…I used to think I was going to be a novelist but then my stories were very short, so I just started writing lyrics.  I probably actually wrote stuff when I was in elementary school.  I started taking piano lessons in elementary school.  I never did take guitar lessons; I picked up the guitar later.  I really did it young, I think; my mom taught in the church choir.

JE:       Did you ever have vocal lessons?

JD:      Nope.  No vocal at all.

JE:       Who are your musical influences?

JD:      I really have my favorite artists, and I think they influence me because I am so amazed by them.  People like Tom Waits…when I am reading Tom Waits’ lyrics or when I’m just listening to his stuff…I just can’t fathom some of the songs he writes.  When I was younger I liked some people, but as I go and I find new people…I’m inspired by new artists a lot.  I love Ben Harper, Bob Schneider—love them. Still love Led Zeppelin…I just saw Robert Plant on a show the other night, and I was just like, that guy is still kicking, and I think he’s really made it.  I love KD Lang’s voice…I love her voice.  Carole King, James Taylor—one of my favorite all-time songwriters.  He’s the only concert I can sit all the way through; it’s the first DVD I bought—James Taylor, Live at the Beacon.  I love him.  Chris Isaac, Natalie Merchant, Bonnie Raitt—biggest, hugest, probably one of my greatest influences ever. 

JE:       I heard that Robert Plant, he used to listen to a lot of Joni Mitchell.  That’s kind of an odd combination.

JD:      Yeah!  Everybody listens to Joni Mitchell.  She’s definitely an icon. I saw [Plant] on his VH1 thing the other day, and he was talking about how when [Zeppelin] was at a loss for writing, they just listened to American Blues because they didn’t have that in England.  Still today, English people just don’t have that, they don’t grow up with that, so they are pretty excited when someone goes over there and plays the blues.  Hey, maybe I should go over there and do a Blues tour of England!

JE:       You played in Canada?

JD:      I played in Canada, that was pretty exciting.  It’s funny, this just keeps building.  I think I’m doing the right thing, not being on a major label.  Now it’s just a different game than it used to be, it’s a panicky kind of thing…we know we’ve got a good thing going I think, so we’ll just keep it to ourselves I guess.

JE:       What inspires your songs?

JD:      You know, sometimes my favorite songs are the ones I write in stream-of-consciousness.  And then I look at it after I’m done and I’m like, wow! Where did that come from?  Let me tell you, that’s kind of rare, so I do a lot of purging…I love things that haven’t been said in that way before.  And I love if I can work at coming up with stuff like that.  I don’t always know what the inspiration is.  It could be relationships… you know, somebody could make you mad, and then you don’t actually go write about that person but it can give you enough of a feeling of being pissed off or whatever to write a sarcastic song.  And it’s great that you go write it about them, you don’t give them that much…that happens with love songs too.  It might start out that you’re thinking about an old boyfriend, and it doesn’t necessarily end up being about that person.  It’s a jump start.

JE:       What do you like to do besides music?

JD:      I have five animals—probably my second most favorite thing.  I used to get calls for helping people do rescues.  I hang out with my husband whenever I can.  It’s funny because my hobby and my career are music.  I’m pretty lucky.  A lot of what I do financially…this doesn’t always pay all the bills, so I do a lot of commercials, voice-overs, but I feel pretty lucky.  I enjoy it.

JE:       What animals do you have?

JD:      I have two dogs and three cats.

JE:       Do you like to play small venues or larger places? 

JD:      Small.  It’s rewarding for some reason.  I like doing big, full energy shows, and I love playing with my band, but there’s something very rewarding about playing a song in a 100-seat room—I can emote it so much better and I really enjoy my own voice better.  I enjoy listening rooms, and I’ve kind of gotten spoiled going out east, because they really have them there.  We just did a listening room down in Atlanta, and I loved it.  It was called Eddie’s Attic and they were really good to us.

JE:       The first time I saw you play was at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, for about 20 people.

JD:      We did a show at Borders Bookstore, and there were like 300 people there, so I don’t know if they’re ever going to invite us back.  But it was fun, and they get a cut of my CD’s, so I think they were actually pretty happy to have us there.

JE:       Which of your songs is your favorite?

JD:      “Blue Sky, Big Sun” is one of my favorites.  But “How I Feel” is my absolute favorite.  I enjoy “Red Hot Sun”…it changes.  It’s funny, because sometimes I’ll go back to a CD and think, did I really sing that like that?  I get so far away from what I originally did.  And really, I go through a lot of changes before I even record it.  The songs never really stay the same, they continue to evolve.  “How I Feel” feels to me like I got it right the first time, so I usually sing it pretty much the same.  And that song took me 10 minutes to write.  The guy who was writing the music with me…we couldn’t write fast enough.  I had all the lyrics, and I was like, this is it—and we were done.  That was pretty rewarding.  We knew it was special.

JE:       You’re working on a new CD now.  When is that due?

JD:      I don’t know.  I was hoping before or near the end of the year, or maybe January/February.  I have so many conflicts though.  Greg, my keyboard player, mixed a lot of the live CD—the songs are just what happened; I like what he did.

JE:       How much and how often do you write?

JD:       I usually write something every day.  I usually pick up the guitar every day, but it doesn’t necessarily get done.  Sometimes I’ll put together chunks of stuff that I’ve collected; sometimes I’ll finish a whole song, and sometimes I just let the pieces come together.  But I try to write every day.  It’s a good exercise, and I know that it won’t all make it—it’s just an exercise to keep it coming.  Once you get it on paper, it’s there—you can start.
            On TA-DA, all the lyrics for “Faster Johnny”, “Forward In Time”, “Away”, and “Somebody’s Daughter”, I wrote those all in one day.  There might have been some changes along the way, but overall, I had this green pad of paper and I was cleaning the house and it was total stream-of-consciousness.  You know what you’re writing, but you just kind of let it go without thinking too much, and then it just gets right. 
            Sometimes I work it around; if I need something really rhythmic I work with Brett, and he came up with a couple of musical ideas and I hadn’t had melodies for them yet.  That’s the cool thing about “Forward In Time” and “Away”, he started playing and I started singing and it came together right away.  Normally, if I was writing with my guitar, I would have given it more time to stretch it all out.

JE:       I know you’re tired, we’ll let you go.  Thank you.

JD:      I was glad to see you again!