New Jersey Stage Issue 71 | Page 47

Debra Devi is a singer-songwriter-guitarist from Jersey City who combines some of the best blues slide-guitar playing the great State of New Jersey’s rich and fertile music scene has to offer with a pop-rock sensibility. Imagine a cross between Bonnie Raitt, Joan Jett and Pat Benatar. On her latest EP, “A Zillion Stars Overhead,” the best examples of that guitar work are a fascinating and impressive reworking of Neil Young’s “The Needle and the Damage Done” and an exotically tuned original instrumental, “Canna Indica,” which closes the fivesong collection. The slide work on both offers a psychedelic flare, kind of like David Gilmour. The rest of the EP features two other originals. “Stay” builds with layered guitars reminiscent of The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary” atop Watch a video for “When It Comes Down” by Debra Devi NJ STAGE - ISSUE 71 INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 47