The Jensen Sisters win the Midwest CMA’s “New Artist of the Year”

Written by Kari Sundberg, Eagle Editor

“It’s beautiful and it’s meaningful, yes, but above all, this award just represents something for us,” Kendra began. 

“It’s like all the work we’ve done for the last couple of years has meant something,” she expressed.

The Jensen Sisters, from small-town Goodridge, have hit the road running the last few years and we’ve all enjoyed watching their journey. The road has led them to doors that continue to open, including being named ‘New Artist of the Year” by the Midwest CMA’s! Kendra and Kansas have been members of the Midwest Country Music Association since October 2018. They first attended the Midwest CMA’s Awards show last winter, which was the first of its kind, but were not eligible to be nominated for any awards due to not having any music released at the time. However, the experience was still unforgettable as the duo collaborated with other female artists to perform a ‘Women in Country Music through the Decades” segment. It was a personal and professional highlight for the sisters, but it wouldn’t end there.

They’ve just continued to give and get.

From then until now, they released an EP titled “Highway Hippie” that featured six original songs. It was released in May of 2019 and climbed to Number 10 on the iTunes country music chart.

That music, those lyrics, that hard work…it made them eligible to join other nominees in the new artist category at the 2020 Midwest CMA Award Ceremony that was held in Medina, MN, on Sunday, February 16th. 

The Midwest CMA is made up of music artists from six states, including Minnesota. Members vote on the winners and they chose The Jensen Sisters to receive “New Artist of the Year.”

“It’s funny,” Kendra laughed. “Because awards are nice, but we’ve always joked that we’ve never been winners,” she admitted. “We just never expect it. We used to sing in talent shows at county fairs and we’d never win. But we’d always get back up there and just find joy in performing.”

And that joy radiated out to the large crowd in Medina. The Jensen Sisters once again performed live on stage at the awards show. They sang a song titled “River Song”, which will be one of several on a full-length album that is coming out later this year.

Kendra said a lot of great connections were in the audience that night and they look forward to seeing what doors will open with this award under their belt. 

The event itself is growing so much in only its second year. The max capacity in the Medina Entertainment Center is 750 people. Not only did they hit that number, about 200 people were turned away at the door. The live show lasts about 2-3 hours and is streamed live online via camera and sound crews. 

What comes next for the sisters?

Well, they’ve got a lot cookin’. They are busy working with their producers (based out of Minneapolis) on a full-length album that will come out later this year. The album features more songs, more inspiration, more musicians and will showcase just how much the young ladies have grown. Kendra described it as not “different” necessarily, but rather growing their sound and finding that instrumentation in their music. All of the songs, with the exception of one, are written by Kendra and Kansas, or by them and a co-writer.

With Kendra, age 20, taking online college courses through Northland Community & Technical College, and Kansas, age 16, busy with classes at Goodridge High School, it’s amazing just how much these two driven sisters go after.

Along with their music, they’ve got a radio show that they host every Thursday night from 7-9pm on Pioneer 90.1. (It re-airs every Monday morning from 10am-12pm.) They’ve also teamed up with the retail boutique Simply and have their own collection of clothing. The sisters have about 25 hand-selected pieces in the collection with a few even completely selling out. They love fashion and love expressing who they are as people through their clothing. 

This summer, The Jensen Sisters will hit the road again going on tour to many places. Their 2019 tour took them across North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin with 40 dates marked onto their summer calendar. They dangled a teaser by saying this summer’s stops includes some bigger venues that are a bit farther away. Although, you can catch them performing around home still, too.

“We have places we want to go and dreams we look forward to chasing,” they said. “But the home support we get is insane. The feeling can’t be put into words. No matter where the road takes us, this is always where our home is and we cherish that.”