Casey Hensley

Casey Hensley is a San Diego-based blues singer and songwriter, and her self-monikered backing band includes celebrated guitar slinger <a href="spotify:artist:39qB5Kj80W3eIDrI1PHXf2">Laura Chavez</a>, drummer Evan Caleb Yearsley (son of the late vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:70svT4F0xhbyQ5lQx6UE4b">Candye Kane</a>), saxophonist Johnny Viau, and bassist Marcos C. They are well known in California and the American Southwest for their ability to cross blues subgenres, including jump, swing, and Chicago blues.

Born in Los Gatos, Hensley was raised in a musical home in San Diego and began performing on stages when she was just five by emulating singers such as <a href="spotify:artist:0iOVhN3tnSvgDbcg25JoJb">Etta James</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7nwUJBm0HE4ZxD3f5cy5ok">Aretha Franklin</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:48nwxUvPJZkm8uPa7xMzmj">Bobby "Blue" Bland</a>. By age nine she was already a professional musician. She fronted the band Chasing Norman in her late teens and early twenties before breaking out on her own, attending numerous blues jams in the San Diego region and meeting <a href="spotify:artist:39qB5Kj80W3eIDrI1PHXf2">Chavez</a> and Yearsley (the latter is also her life partner). Together they formed her backing band, enlisted the rest of the personnel, and began playing gigs wherever they could find them, mixing their originals with classic blues covers.

The San Diego press took notice right away. In May 2017, the singer's band headlined the Ojai Blues Festival, appeared at Gator by the Bay, and played the Doheny Blues Fest. Later that year, they played Las Vegas' Big Blues Bender at the Plaza Hotel and toured the Pacific Northwest. After Hensley and band signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Vizztone+Records%22">Vizztone Records</a>, the album Casey Hensley Live Featuring Laura Chavez was issued in October 2017. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi