Hensley wins Best Blues Artist award

On April 13 Casey Hensley will sing at the Fallbrook Live concert at Pala Mesa, which will be her first Fallbrook performance since she won the Best Blues Artist honor at the San Diego Music Awards.

The San Diego Music Awards were presented March 11 at the House of Blues in San Diego. Hensley has previously been nominated, but this year's San Diego Music Award is her first.

"It was awesome," Hensley said.

"The San Diego Music Awards is always great," Hensley said. "I'm glad to just hang out with everybody, and it was awesome to perform."

Hensley also had the distinction of taking home the Best Blues Artist award at the House of Blues. "That was so cool. That's the best place to win it," she said.

Fan voting – including by other musicians – determines the award winners after the San Diego Music Academy selects the nominees. "It's great to be recognized by your peers and be voted for by your fans," Hensley said. "A lot of my friends won, too, so it was super fun."

The awards ceremony includes performances by the nominees. "We had a great performance," Hensley said.

Hensley was joined by guitarists Anthony Cullins (who is still called the Fallbrook Kid even though he is now 18) and Jimmy Zollo, keyboardist Jody Bagley, bassist Mark Campbell, and drummer Evan Caleb Yearsley. "It's a team effort. Without them I can't do what I do," Hensley said.

"It's been good playing with Casey for the past year," Cullins said.

Hensley and her musicians performed two songs. Both are from her upcoming album, which has not yet been titled. "I thought why not do something new?" she said.

The first song, "Good As Gone," had never previously been performed. "It went over I thought beautifully. I think everybody really liked it," Hensley said.

The other song, "You Should Be So Lucky," was previously performed and is also on the upcoming album.

"Having everybody there I kind of wanted to see how it was received," Hensley said. "I thought it was the perfect place to do something with the new record."

The album is being recorded at Jason Mraz's studio in Fallbrook and Jeff Berkeley is the engineer. Both were present at the San Diego Music Awards. "It was special to do the new songs with them there," Hensley said.

"It was an honor to play that event," Cullins said. "It was just cool to be able to be at an event like that."

"I think it went over great," Hensley said.

Hensley, who is now 26, was nominated for Artist of the Year in 2018 and was nominated for Best New Artist in 2017. In October 2017, her album "Casey Hensley Live (Featuring Laura Chavez)" was released.

"We've been having a great time," Hensley said. "Thank you to everybody in Fallbrook and Bonsall for all the love and support. I really appreciate it."