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slow burn vocals of the slow burn ‘Good Love’ are followed by the girly-sounding ‘Cheeky’, and ‘So
Damn Blue’ is a jazz-tinged blues.

‘He Loves Me’ ups the tempo, a fine rocker with some excellent vintage touches, ‘Lousy Cards’ is

slow and a little torch-y in the vocal, and ‘What The Heart Knows’ is an unusual stop-time shuffle.
‘The Haunting’ has a suitably spooky edge, ‘Wouldn’t You Ever’ is a fine blues band tackling classy,
catchy soul, and the closing, live ‘The Wine Song’ is a bit of fun with audience participation that
brings a smile to the listener’s face.

In short, this is a very fine set of blues, blues-rock and related music, with a top-notch vocalist out
in front and some strong material. Check it out.

Norman Darwen

(www.luckylipsband.com.au)

Casey Hensley—Good as Gone—Vizztone Vtch-002

Singer Casey Hensley was acclaimed as the Best Blues Act at
2019’s San Diego Music Awards ceremony, and this is her first

all-original album, though her debut release for Vizztone arrived
in 2017. It shows her to be an excellent singer, and incidentally
also features a top-notch band including the always excellent,
always reliable guitarist Laura Chavez.

The title track opens the album, with Casey’s powerful intro
reminiscent of vintage Etta James, before the song settles into a powerful rocking groove and with
a huge-sounding guitar break. ‘You Should Be So Lucky’ is an excellent, deep, Magic Sam styled
West side blues, and just listen to Casey’s voice on the fade! ‘If I Pray’ is pounding blues-rock-
gospel, and ‘Be My Baby (What Do You Say)’ is a jazzy, jumping blues with ringing guitar work
behind Casey’s flirty vocals. It is a complete contrast to the intense ‘Love Will Break Your Heart’ a
Bobby Bland-ish slow soul-blues song, and ‘Searching For A Man’, a fine slab of slow- to mid-tempo

R’n’B, again with echoes of Etta in the vocals. ‘What’s A Woman To Do’ is an up tempo R’n’B
number with a crisp beat and a sax solo behind the high vocals - it should have been a 45 around
the beginning of the 60s.

‘Don’t Want It To Stop’ is a southern soul slow burner, that sounds like it could have come out of
Muscle Shoals in the glory days, and the closing track of this extremely fine release is the rocking
blues of ‘All In’. Yes, this is impressive, and I am going to have to check out Ms Hensley’s back

catalogue for sure!

Norman Darwen

(www.caseyhensleymusic.com)