Jenny Paquette went to Las Vegas in 1997 for a competition sponsored by the Country Music Organizations of America. Her experiences at that contest convinced her to form a band of her own. The following year, representing her home state of Maine, Paquette and North Country won an impressive nine awards,including 1998 Female Vocalist of the Year.
Her grandfather, Lucien Paquette, was a member of the Dixon Brothers, a Maine country band that flourished in the 1940s and 1950s;1 and her father was in the popular rock band, Black Hart. During her father's rehearsals, she would step up to the microphone-stand and imagine that she was singing in a great concert hall. "I always knew music would be a big part of my life," she said.
Paquette grew up in Sanford, Maine, hometown of one of New England's best country songwriters, John Lincoln Wright. The Maine Sunday Telegram said that she's "as country as broken hearts and pickup trucks."
In June 1999, Paquette released her debut CD, Time Will Tell. By then, she was opening for nationally known acts; and in August it must have been a high point in her career, so far, when she opened for country superstars Alabama at the Augusta Civic Center. It was a big jump from intimate nightclubs to arenas. At that time she said, "I feel like someone who just got pulled up from the audience to sing."
From the beginning of her career, Paquette has generously performed for the benefit of various charities,2 including singing the "Star Spangled Banner" at Fenway Park for the Jimmy Fund. Speaking of her voice, she said, "I have a responsibility to use it to help other people."
A quick look at Paquette's busy concert schedule suggests that she is among New England's most successful country music acts, making frequent appearances all this summer;3 and one listen to See What You Do, her most recent CD, tells why. It's a strong, cohesive, mainstream album that was produced with care; but the main attraction is Paquette's full, clear, classic country voice.4 She can belt out a song when it's called for; but she also shines on gentle numbers, such as "All the Things Never Done."
The Boston Globe said she has "camera-ready" looks and predicted that she "could give Faith Hill and Shania Twain a run for the money."5 She definitely has the voice for it. -- Alan Lewis
1. Lucien Paquette was well known, among much else, for singing on the Ken MacKenzie television broadcast.
2. In fact, Jenny Paquette's very first public performance, not counting school shows, was a benefit for a young girl with cystic fibrosis.
3. One article in Paquette's press kit suggests that Bill Beasley, who manages Rustic Overtones, has been managing Paquette's career, as well.
4. Though Paquette has a voice of her own, in a couple passages veterans of New England's country-music circuit may notice a resemblance to Chris Anders, a popular singer from the Boston area.
5. Joan Anderman, Boston Globe, 4/23/2001.
Though curious, I wasn't able to learn by my deadline whether Jenny is related to Bert Paquette, who released the intriguing country-rock album, Bert Paquette and the New Gamblers (LP, Black Rose, 1981); but I did notice that Jenny's grandfather, Lucien Paquette, has a CD.
This notice was originally published in the August 2, 2001, issue of my town's newspaper, the Brattleboro (VT) Reformer.
Contact: jennypaquette.com
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