You may not have heard her name, but we guarantee you will in the not too distant future. Casey Ahern is a 20-year old singer-songwriter who is a multi-talented professional that is a potential game-changer on the country/Americana scene.
The southern California based Ahern, who has been performing consistently with her band since she was 16, defines herself as a contemporary country artist. Truthfully, her music has a strong resemblance to what came out of Laurel Canyon in the 70s – with obvious influences of artists like Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and the Eagles.
Ahern recently released a four-song EP called He was Summer (which we will be reviewing shortly), produced by David Brown, who has worked with Fleetwood Mac (including solo works by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks), Alice Cooper, Willie Nelson and Frank Zappa.
“David brought out elements of that classic Fleetwood Mac sound that I love so much,” explained Ahern. “Thanks to my parents, I grew up listening to country, all decades of country music, from Glen Campbell to Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and so it’s got a unique mix of influences. As my first EP, the songs represent the different aspects of who I am as a person and artist, and the people, places and values that are important to me.”
Considering the fact that Ahern was just getting over pneumonia, her vocal quality was pretty good, but nothing compared to the smooth sound of her EP. What truly sets Ahern apart from her peers is her amazing songwriting, which tells elaborate stories that her listeners can truly connect with and relate to.
She performed two of the songs on the EP – the title track “He Was Summer” and “Indio,” as well as four more great songs that included “Bradley” (a song about a town in northern California, “Never Finish Anything,” “Just a Dance,” and “Seeing Eye Dog” (our personal favorite, with our favorite line “Love is blind, but I’ve got a seeing eye dog”). She was joined onstage by Alex Kawasaki on upright bass and Aaron Rudin on cajon (who had an amazing solo on the closing track, “Indio.”
Ahern is heading to Nashville next month to work on her follow-up EP. We can hardly wait to hear the result.