Casey Penn

My goal with each show is to engage with the audience. I share the music I love, whether I wrote it or not, and the music of my band mates as well. Some songs are poignant. Others are toe tappers. Others still are just a hoot! I have found that if I share a variety of songs that speak to me, the crowd is usually in sync with me, loving it, too! With my band, I perform 1 to 2-hour shows typically. For larger venues, I prefer working with your sound and light crew. For smaller gigs, I can provide sound if needed, depending.

Every song ... every gig ... is an opportunity ... for conversation and connection. Let's connect today and plan a great gig together!

CASEY PENN BAND
With her touring band formed in early 2022, Penn has played events in Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. She's building on that as quick as possible and would love to play your festival, event, house concert, or venue! Band shows have included things like IBMA (Raleigh, NC); Bluegrass & Fried Chicken (Mtn View, AR); Mountain View Meeting Place (Mtn View, AR); Bluegrass, Boots & Blue Jeans (Conway, AR); St. Louis Art Fair, El Dorado’s MAD district, The Station Inn (Nashville, TN), Arkansas Country Music Awards, Lorraine’s Coffee & Music (NC), Tall Grass Festival (OK), and other venues and private events.

Penn performs first as a full band, in a variety of settings, but she can also accept smaller-footprint gigs as a duo or trio. GIGSALAD PRICING IS TYPICAL STARTING PRICE FOR A FULL-BAND SHOW (4+); REACH OUT FOR INFO ON SMALLER GROUPINGS. She plays larger events in which sound is provided and sometimes brings sound for smaller events. Penn is a full-time communications professional by day, so gigs are most often on the weekends. (With ample notice and compensation, she accepts the odd weekday gig.) Shows ramp up during the summer months, but she performs shows year round.

RECORDINGS & CHARTS
Based in Central Arkansas, Penn is an Arkansas Country Music Award-nominated songwriter and a performing bluegrass artist. She has released three singles and a debut album (One Step Away / February 2023, Mountain Fever Records). Her third single from the album, "We Go Together Like a Guitar and a Fiddle," remained on the Bluegrass Unlimited Top 30 charts for seven months (peaking at #14), and her album graced the Top 15 Album Chart for Bluegrass Unlimited as well. The second single ("Little Lives," written by Carl Jackson and Lucinda Crosby) released in September 2022, and you can check it out here. Her first single for the label, "Chasing Rainbows," earned a spot on the Bluegrass Today’s Top 20 Song chart.

Previous chart success includes Penn's 2021 release with a previous band. The song, “I’ll Never Be A Mountain Girl,” written by Penn and Irene Kelley, reached #8 on Bluegrass Today’s Weekly Grassicana chart.

OTHER PAST SUCCESSES
With co-writer Rodger King, Penn won an Arkansas-wide songwriting competition and produced and released an LP, KINGPENN. Bluegrass Unlimited reviewer Bill Conger wrote of the album, "One of the greatest joys in reviewing CDs is the discovery of new music ... Penn’s cut-to-the-soul vocals are featured in several of the songs ... My favorite is the opening cut, 'Oceans (I Have Cried),' which won an honorable mention in the 2016 Hazel Dickens Bluegrass Songwriting Competition."

SONGWRITING HONORS
Penn is also a New Song Contest Winner (Walnut Valley Festival), a Hazel Dickens Songwriting Competition Honorable Mention, and a past nominee for Songwriter of the Year in the Arkansas Country Music Awards. In 2023 and 2024, Penn was a final nominee in the ACMA's for Bluegrass Artist of the Year. Penn has had her songs cut by bluegrass artists Tim Raybon and Jim Hurst.

"I'd love to hear from you! If you're unsure if I'm a fit based on my profile, please reach out with any questions! I'll help you if I can, and if I can't, I know some great musicians and don't mind referring!" - Casey Penn