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Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents Have Soul

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Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents (Courtesy)
(Courtesy)

You'd be forgiven if you thought you stumbled back in time when you walked into a Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents concert.

The 10 piece band on stage, belting out Soul hits, wearing matching outfits. The three women singers coordinating their dance moves. It feels like the '60s. But it's not.

"Jenny Dee" is better known to Boston music fans as Jen D'Angora. She's the singer-songwriter for garage rockers The Downbeat 5. She's also with the punk group The Dents. D'Angora and her husband, bassist Ed Valauskas, went from garage rock band to Motown machine.

At first, D'Angora's fans didn't like the change in styles.

Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents (Beth Oram/Courtesy)
Jenny Dee & The Delinquents (Beth Oram/Courtesy)

"It finally caught on and people got used to it," D'Angora said. "But I think you can affect people as much with some really powerful dramatic vocals as you can with a guitar solo."

D'Angora, herself, even had some trouble adjusting to her new band.

"In my other two bands if I didn’t hit the note it wasn’t that bad because I yelled a lot," she said. "I mean, I’d eventually get there. But with this stuff, you've kind of got to hit it.”

It's easy to dismiss The Deelinquents as part of the ongoing female-led, retro-soul, Amy Winehouse movement. But Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents is different. For one thing, there's joy in the music. And another thing — they've caught the attention of New England megastars, Aerosmith.

Last summer the band reached the pinnacle of the Boston rock scene when it opened for Aerosmith and the J. Geils Band at Fenway Park.

So whether you remember the '60s or not, don't sleep on Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents.

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This segment aired on March 31, 2011.

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