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6, 2021 ROCKWiRED NOTES: CASEY HENSLEY
![]() hat moment
when an artist finds
their voice and
starts sharing it
with the world is
the stuff of dreams.
Rock n roll dreams
anyway. Blues rock
artist CASE
HENSLEY's own rock n
roll dreams were
about to become a
reality with the
release of her first
studio album GOOD AS
GONE on March 13,
2020. Armed with
first rate blues
rock gems penned by
HENSLEY and
guitarist and
collaborator LAURA
CHAVEZ, GOOD AS GONE
should've brought
the whole blues rock
world into a frenzy.
Unfortunately, GOOD
AS GONE's release
coincided with the
date that the
country and the rest
of the world
officially shut down
due to the
Coronavirus. There
was not a whole lot
to celebrate in the
year 2020 but GOOD
AS GONE was one hell
of a ride with its
hard rocking first
single IF I PRAY,
its uplifting title
track and the
absolutely smoking
BREAKING YOUR HEART.
I get the feeling
that an electrifying
live show could've
taken this album and
the artist to some
exciting places but
13 months in the
pandemic, society is
starting to see
glimmers of hope
with the roll out of
vaccines. Perhaps
live shows will be
coming back into the
picture and HENSLEY
can seize the rock n
roll moment and
glory that she so
richly deserves. You
managed to roll
out your album
GOOD AS GONE
during a pandemic
and get some
rather fine
notices for your
work. Now that the
album has been out
there for a while,
how do you feel
about the finished
work? Who all did you work with in putting the album together? I recorded the album mostly at HOMEGROWN STUDIOS which is JASON MRAZ's home studio. The studio was amazing and JASON was just an amazing guy. We did all of the sessions there and then we re-recorded my vocals at another studio with my producer ANDREW LANE. He just knows how to get the best performance out of me vocally and with this album I was happy to be teamed up with guitarist LAURA CHAVEZ who is just so good and is getting tons of recognition for her work as a guitarist.CHECK
OUT THE ViDEO
FOR iF i
PRAY!!!
LAURA CHAVEZ sounds like your KEITH RICHARDS. How did the two of you become acquainted? She and I go back seven years. She plays guitar in bands with various different artists. She also did background vocals for the late-CANDI KANE and that was how I got to know her through that band. From there our friendship just evolved naturally and we started to come together to make some really hard rocking music.Was blues music always a fascination for you? How did that kind of music come into your life? When I was growing up, blues music was always being played in my house. My parents were huge blues music fans so the music kind of rubbed off on me from a very early age. When I was a toddler, my parents took me to go shopping with them in this store and I just started singing at the the top of my lungs and people really paid attention, so I figured out early on that music was my thing. I was five years old the first time I ever sang on a stage and I was 8 years old the first time I ever set foot in a recording studio. When I was in high school I started my own rock band and that carried me through school until the time I graduated. When I was out on my own I decided to pursue blues music.How do you feel this album is different from your previous output? When I was younger my music making as all about singles. I was more of a studio artist back then and less of a performer. I gained some performing chops when I formed my first rock band in high school but when I started doing blues music I realized that I had to become more of a performer. My first album as a blues artist was a live recording that had me performing a lot of covers from artists like JOHNNY GUITAR WATSONS and KOKO TAYLOR. That album came out in 2017 and it received all kinds of nominations. While I'm proud of that album, this current album, AS GOOD AS GONE, is special to me because Every song on it is an original. Every song on it is mine. I really enjoy the diversity that is on this record. It's really all over the place.What inspired this set of of songs? The writing for AS GOOD AS GONE was inspired by things like heartbreak and being an angry girl. The music feels a lot harder than before. I came up with the lyrics for all of the songs and then I would present them to guitarist LAURA CHAVEZ and she would help me turn the lyrics into full fledged songs. LAURA has been invaluable throughout this process. She and I became a team on this album and the chemistry between us is great.What songs off of the album stand out for you the most from this album and why? IF I PRAY is the first single off of the album. It's a hard rocking song and of all of the songs on this album, I feel like it has what it takes to crossover to the mainstream. GOOD AS GONE, the title track, is a really empowering song and BREAK YOUR HEART is a song that I wrote while getting ready for a gig. It was a song that just came to me.You picked an interesting time to release this album? It was the worst. It was the worst possible timing. The album was in the can and I was looking forward to start pushing the record with a series of shows and a tour and on the day the album was released on March 13, 2021, the pandemic went into high gear and everything starting closing and tour dates started to get canceled. Ever since then, I've just had to roll with the punches and do my best to promote this album. A lot of shows had to be canceled and rescheduled and right now there is just a lot of waiting around. I'm so addicted to being on stage and this pandemic has been terrible. Being on stage is my first love and hopefully things will turn around this year to where it'll be safe enough to go out and do shows.What is the big idea behind this album? What would you like for a listener to come away thinking and feeling? I would like people to listen to the album and come away with their own interpretation of the music – whatever that may be. I'd love for the music to be different for everyone.![]() ![]() ![]() CONTACT
BRiAN LUSH
AT: djlush@rockwired.com
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