Hensley headlines at Belly Up

Fallbrook singer Casey Hensley was the headline act at the Belly Up nightclub, Feb. 14.

"It was amazing," she said.

"It was Valentine's Day, so everybody was really feeling the love," Hensley said. "Everybody was dancing, so it was definitely a good one."

The capacity of the Belly Up is 600 guests.

"It was pretty packed," Hensley said.

Southland Soul, Karina Frost and The Banduvloons were the opening acts. Hensley performed for approximately an hour and a half and sang 15 songs.

"It was definitely a highlight," Hensley said.

Hensley was one of three Fallbrook residents in her performance, as her boyfriend, Evan Caleb Yearsley, played drums and Johnny Viau was on the saxophone. Oceanside resident Mark Campbell played bass, Laura Chavez of San Diego was the guitar player, and San Diego's Jody Bagley was on the organ.

"My show's very vocal heavy, and it's very guitar heavy," Hensley said.

Fallbrook resident and Six String Society founder Kenneth Rexrode spoke with Belly Up regional talent buyer Chad Waldorf to book Hensley and the other artists.

"We only knew five weeks ahead," Hensley said. "It was kind of a team effort with the Six String Society."

Hensley and Yearsley returned to Fallbrook as residents this past fall. They had previously lived in Fallbrook, but they had moved to Oceanside to take care of Yearsley's mother. After she died, Yearsley sold the house in Oceanside and returned to Fallbrook with Hensley.

"Fallbrook's been really great to me," Hensley said. "We've made a lot of friends."

Hensley, who is now 25, spent her early childhood in Northern California and began singing there.

"It's definitely been a lifelong thing for me. I used to set up my stuffed animals in my bed and sing to them," she said.

She would sing while in her car seat, which occasionally had the effect of her father telling her mother to turn the radio down.

"My mom would say, 'That's not the radio, that's your daughter,'" Hensley said.

Hensley was five when she first performed onstage, singing two songs at a Northern California mall. Her mother dressed Hensley and also gave the young singer instructions.

"She told me to move around onstage, and I didn't know what that meant so I was swaying back and forth," Hensley said.

At the age of eight, Hensley was in a recording studio.

"It was an original that I was doing," she said. "My parents had a great record collection. That definitely helped."

Hensley was 16 when she first became a San Diego County resident.

Soul and blues are Hensley's favorite types of music. "Any kind of music that has feelings behind it, that's what I gravitate toward," she said. "When I'm onstage it's putting the feeling into everything I do that's most important to me."

Hensley also plays guitar and piano, although she prefers to let other musicians handle those instruments.

Hensley has been nominated for a San Diego Music Award for the second consecutive year. The awards ceremony, March 19, at the House of Blues in Downtown San Diego will determine whether her nomination for Artist of the Year also results in that award. Last year she received a Best New Artist nomination.

"In one year to go from being nominated for Best New Artist to Artist of the Year is really awesome," she said.

Hensley played on the main stage of the Doheny Blues Festival in May 2017. The artists on the stage that day also included Jason Bonham, Canned Heat and Joe Walsh.

"That was one of the biggest highlights of my whole career," Hensley said.

In October 2017 she released an album, "Casey Hensley Live (Featuring Laura Chavez)" through the Vizztone Records label which reached the top position on the Global Radio Indicator charts, No. 4 on the Roots Music Report Soul and Blues chart, and No. 10 on the Living Blues Radio charts.

"It's been great so far," Hensley said of her music career. "I just want to say thank you to everybody for all the love and support. Without them, we couldn't share our gift and our passion."