INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

DeVoe rocks folk series

Indy Folk Series
Unitarian Universalist Church
Saturday, Oct. 15

“How hard can a house of God rock?” I asked myself. Pretty hard. Jennie DeVoe, folk rocker and starlet, played the Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis last Saturday night. The Indy Folk Series kicked off its fifth season of bringing nationally renowned folk-bluegrass-electro acoustic rock and jazz artists into Indianapolis.

“The series began just weeks after Sept. 11, 2001,” said Dan Henkel, the show’s coordinator. “We were all asking ourselves whether we should do it or not, and then we realized that music was the most powerful weapon to fight back at such terrible atrocities.”

Now five years strong, the series has attracted much buzz and audiences numbering into the 200s. Saturday’s admission went to benefit the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The audience sipped their wine and listened deeply to DeVoe’s words and the professional precision of her band. Hot red lights and pumpkin spice candles lit her face; you could swear you’d stepped back to the beatnik era.

“I’m sure to come back,” DeVoe said after the concert. “It’s much more cozy than a loud, smoke-filled bar.”

DeVoe will be playing with Blues Traveler at the Indianapolis Convention Center on Oct. 29.

The Indy Folk Series 2005-2006 schedule can be found at www.indyfolkseries.org and includes Peter, Paul and Mary songwriter Bill Staines, Irish-American flute and banjo artists, The Lathans and many more.