After having such a remarkable experience with John Parish producing her last album, Fireworks & Karate Supplies, DeVoe headed back across the pond to continue the collaboration. The results were no less spectacular.

 

Says NUVO’s Rob Nichols, “…Strange Sunshine plays it right, giving us familiar notes and chords and ooh’s and aah’s that hit the gut, reminding us of how the best music is made – honoring the past while pushing sounds forward. The mix of Jennie’s soul and voice blends with music bubbling with an undercurrent of an unpretentious musical history.

 

Blues Revue Magazine’s Hal Horowitz continues: “Between the slinky blues of “Shoulda Stayed,” with its swamp guitar stank, and the lowdown R&B of “I Break Down,” it’s clear that blues is an overwhelming influence on DeVoe’s powerful voice —think a less commercial Joss Stone combined with Rickie Lee Jones — up front, with ever-present keyboards and stunning acoustic guitars hovering in the background. DeVoe doesn’t need much accompaniment to electrify, as on the spare-percussion, picked-guitar jazz scat of the scorching “Healer.”

 

And Soul Tracks Magazine’s Howard Dukes praises: “Strange Sunshine is a record for listeners who love good lyrics. DeVoe wrote or co-wrote every song except the fun "Fool Proof," and her songwriting captures the wittiness, world weariness, hope and simple brilliance that is blues music at its best.

 

"The star of this show is DeVoe's vocal instrument. It's not just her range and power that impresses. DeVoe sings with an honesty that makes the listener believe she is baring her soul on every track. DeVoe is every bit as believable on the female anthem "No Damn Man" as she is on the torch song "I Break Down." She'll make you a believer as well."