A duo for more than a decade, Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley have accumulated a lion’s share of awards and accolades, but at Nashville’s City Winery on Tuesday, August 5, they let their music speak for itself—and that it did. With plans to take a break from the partnership to give them both time to focus on solo projects and studio work, Ickes and Hensley played in Music City before heading to the northeast to take the Podunk Festival stage. Encouraged to bring a full band, they expanded their sound, enlisting Ron Stewart on banjo and fiddle and Mike Bub on upright bass to join them both at home and for the festival.
Their setlist included a balance of their original material and standards they served up with their own flavor. During the opening set, they showcased their unparalleled picking on such classic favorites as “Been to Georgia on a Fast Train,” “Way Downtown,” and “Tennessee Stud,” often with the audience mouthing the lyrics along with them. They played the title cut from their recent album Living in a Song and “Chasing Both Ends of My Rainbow.”
The powerful dynamics on stage made it clear that the decision to step away from the duo was no reflection on the camaraderie between the pair. Hensley sang lead on most of the songs, with Ickes’ on harmony. Their songs that made room for solo breaks and flat out jamming, leaving little wonder why the pair have achieved the level of success and recognition they have. Ickes’ musicianship affirms his selection as IBMA Dobro Player of the Year fifteen times, making him the most awarded musician in the history of the organization, and Hensley’s picking have led to his being called “the Eddie Van Halen of acoustic guitar.” Stewart and Bub, both at the top of their game, adding texture to the performances.
One highlight of the evening was their rendition of “Working on a Building” opening into a flat-out jam that brought the audience to their feet. They played a Haggard’s “Kern River” and Cash’s “Big River,” along with their own compositions, such as Hensley’s “My Way Is the Highway.” They featured Stewart’s banjo on “Nashville Skyline Rag.”
Ickes introduced their version of “Wayfaring Stranger,” acknowledging all the great musicians who have recorded the classic, then showcasing the dobro, making it their own. By the time they closed out the night, rocking out to “Up on Cripple Creek” and, for Deadheads, “Friend of the Devil,” Hensley and Ickes clearly took their musicianship to a genre-busting level. When they suggested the audience come on up to Connecticut with them, plenty were ready to come along for the ride.
