Debra Devi

During the pandemic, Debra Devi started live-streaming from her Jersey City living room. This grew into her popular full-band “Jamification Station” livestream, broadcast bi-monthly from drummer John Roccesano's Hoboken recording studio, Silver Horse Sound. 

In June 2022, Debra released a live EP, Jamification Station Vol. 1, that she and John mixed from ProTools recordings of the livestream shows. The EP spent three months in the Relix/Jambands.com Radio Chart Top 30, reaching #5--pretty astonishing for a self-produced live record from an unsigned artist. John and Debra are currently mixing Vol. 2, for release in 2024. 

Debra's previous EP,  A Zillion Stars Overhead was recorded after she met then-Gov't Mule bassist Jorgen Carlsson backstage at the Beacon, and Jorgen suggested they record together sometime. 

“I didn't think anything would come of it,” Debra admits, “but six weeks later we were in the studio with drummer John Hummel. We put the basic tracks down in one incredible day of jamming.” Debra produced the EP and was thrilled when her hero Sylvia Massy agreed to mix it. 

Live, Debra leads “a ferocious guitar-driven band equally adept at sprawling psychedelic jams and terse soulful rockers.” (NY Music Daily). Her core band is Kevin Jones on bass and John Roccesano on drums, plus a rotating crew of gifted keyboardists, including Rob Clores (Jesse Malin), Andy Burton (LIttle Steven, Cyndi Lauper) and Matt Wade (Samantha Fish). 

Debra's growing acclaim as "one of the most remarkable guitarists on the East Coast." (Good Times) has led to festival dates from Memphis to Montana. She endorses Homestead Amplifiers, which builds custom amps for Gov’t Mule, Gary Clark Jr. and Jimmy Herring. She's opened for Joan Osborne, Jesse Malin, Ana Popovic, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, Joe Louis Walker and Marshall Crenshaw. 

Debra's passion for the blues led her to write The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu (foreword by Dr. John) which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Outstanding Book on Music. The book is blurbed by Bonnie Raitt, Joe Bonamassa, Hal Willner, Bob Margolin and Jimmy Vivino. Debra gives her “Language of the Blues” talk at colleges, clubs and festivals. 

Debra fell in love with electric guitar as a girl, listening to her teenage neighbor play Led Zeppelin while he worked on his car, and her brother’s rock albums. “I always sang the guitar solos, instead of the lyrics,” she says. Growing up in that Milwaukee suburb, though, she got the message that only boys played in bands.  

When she saw Bonnie Raitt perform in college, Debra couldn’t stifle her longing to play anymore. She bought a Fender Mustang at a pawnshop and moved to NYC. She joined various punk, industrial and rock bands, touring the US, Canada and Europe.  

As a solo artist, Debra created a classic blues/rock sound that enables her to indulge her love of the guitar. “I think people are starved for real, live music – to experience that spontaneous magic,” Debra says. “I hope to deliver that magic with every record and performance.” 

FILM & TELEVISION CREDITS 

DEBRA DEVI DISCO LIBRARY - FULL CATALOG

Fight Like a Girl - documentary on female boxers starring Golden Glove champion Maureen Shea  
End credit song - "All That I Need" 

Tenderness - feature film starring Russell Crowe, Laura Dern 
Song - "All That I Need" 

Getting Off - feature film starring Christine Harnos, Brooke Smith (Showtime Cable)  
Songs - "Get Free," "Demon in the Sack"  

Stripped: Exposing the Business of Baring It All  (Sundance Cable) 
Theme - "Take It Off" 
Songs - "Prayer Is Sexy," "In Motion," "Jacksonville  

"Driven/Tim McGraw" (VH-1)  
Songs - "Prayer Is Sexy," "Take It Off" 

Not the End of the World  - short film (Tribeca Film Festival) 
End credit song - "All That I Need" 

By Any Means - short film (La Femme Int'l Film Festival) 
Song - "Love That Lasts"