#rob ickes

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Trey Hensley and Rob Ickes with Tommy Emmanuel - “Ramblin’ Fever” (Live, July 25, 2025)

Merle Haggard surely never imagined “Ramblin’ Fever” the way Trey Hensley, Rob Ickes and Tommy Emmanuel reimagined it. But it’s difficult to imagine the songwriter - or anyone for that matter - being unhappy with their interpretation.

Guitarist Hensley sings it with fellow axeman Emmanuel on harmonies. And while the vocal delivery is exhilarating in the extreme, it’s the locomotion of the music - chugging along without percussion - that puts the “Fever” over the top.

And the solos, goodness, the solos. Hensley kicks off each round with bluegrass-styled picking before sliding things over to Ickes and his Dobro, who then passes off to the singular Emmanuel.

Captured on professional video July 25 in Maine, this audio-visual gem gives viewers the opportunity to see how these masters do what they do, while listeners can groove with eyes open or closed. However one approaches it - eyes wide or shut - his or her jaw will likely be slack by the final round robin.

Grade card: Trey Hensley and Rob Ickes with Tommy Emmanuel - “Ramblin’ Fever” (Live - 7/25/25) - A+

12/10/25

[nelson-riddle-me-this]

COWBOY BEBOP vibes

You won't find Yoko Kanno's (incredible) music for the show here but a mix of bebop, funk, afrobeat, bossa, ska, rock, jazz dobro and anythi

Here's my Cowboy Bebop vibes playlist - music that's (imo) similar to Yoko Kanno's music for the show! Both Spotify and YouTube versions. Enjoy!

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: The Taj Mahal Sextet - “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes” (Live)

Taj Mahal is a bit player on his eponymous Sextet’s live version of “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes.”

Rendered as a country blues set to a reggae rhythm, it features Trey Hensley on lead vocals and Rob Ickes’ Dobro as the solo instrument. This leaves Mahal to play some rhythm and sing out-of-whack harmonies.

But when Mahal steps up for one verse and the audience responds lustily, it confirms what a bad decision it was to cede the song to his bandmates. For a better idea of how Mahal can still catch fire, there’s “Queen Bee,” which preceded “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes” from the TMS’ Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa, out March 8.

Grade card: The Taj Mahal Sextet - “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes” (Live) - C-

2/23/24

[krispyweiss]

A String Band “Sunday” from Darrell Scott

There are no literally words for “Raji’s Romp.”

A fresh recording - captured April 2, 2026, in Georgia - of the instrumental track as performed by Darrell Scott’s String Band feat. Rob Ickes is the latest “It Must be Sunday” video from the namesake bandleader.

With Dobroist Ickes augmenting guitarist Scott, bassist Bryn Davies, fiddler Shad Cobb and mandolinist Matt Flinner on Flinner’s composition, DSSB sounds tentative as they work in their newest member. This results in a slower-than-usual tempo that, purposeful or not, causes “Raji’s Romp” to sound more like a stroll than a romp.

Things will tighten up with more gigs. And when they do, the expanded String Band is virtually certain to grace “Sunday” again.

4/5/26

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: The Taj Mahal Sextet: Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa

Swinging’ for the faithful gathered at the Church in Tulsa, the Taj Mahal Sextet reached the proverbial holy land while traversing a “Mean Old World.”

The nine-minute blues finds Mahal joyfully rasping his way through the depths of his lovelorn sadness while Dobro man Rob Ickes, guitarist and occasional lead vocalist Trey Hensley and Mahal on keys trade solos over 12 bars. This supple and subtle interplay also comes to the fore on the instrumentals “Waiting for My Papa to Come Home” and “Twilight in Hawaii,” two other highlights on Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa.

Ickes and Hensley are the wild cards on the temporary Sextet’s performance at Leon Russell’s former studio, where the pair expand the sound of Mahal’s core band - bassist Bill Rich, drummer Kester Smit and guitarist/Hawaiian lap steel player Bobby Ingano - but also take over such tracks the reggae-infused “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes,” and the shuffling “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” on which Mahal becomes a sideman in his eponymous combo.

This is unnecessary as Mahal, at 82, remains as potent as ever as a multi-instrumentalist and on the mic. While his voice has gotten a bit higher - the bane of baritones - and creaks more often than in the past, Mahal’s continuing effusiveness when spreading his brand of rural country blues remains evident in his animated delivery on such tittles as “Betty and Dupree,” “Mailbox Blues” and “Corrina.”

Grade card: The Taj Mahal Sextet: Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa - B

3/19/24

[musiconspotify]

Ickes & Hensley

Living A Song (2023) … amongst Nashville’s finest …

#RobIckes #TreyHensley

[listening-through-the-lens]

Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley Are Living In A Song

Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley Are Living In A Song

View On WordPress

[krispyweiss]

EP Review: Tommy Emmanuel with Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley - Accomplice Series, Vol. 1

On Accomplice Series, Vol. 1, Tommy Emmanuel is aided and abetted by Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley on a four-pack of six-string excellence and exuberance. 

Wordless, save for Emmanuel’s in-song cheerleading and introductions of Dobro man Ikes and fellow guitarist Hensley, the EP is full of impossibly fast and just-as-precise playing from Certified Guitar Player Emmanuel and his younger charges. 

Two tracks - the traditional “Copper Kettle” and Chet Atkins and Doc Watson’s “Flatt Did It” feature the trio, while Hensley joins Emmanuel on Buck Owens’ “Raz-Ma-Taz Polka” and Ickes stars on a remake of Emmanuel’s “It’s Never Too Late.”

Ickes is a graduate of the Jerry Douglas school of resonator guitar while Hensley descends from Emmanuel’s lineage. String bends, how’d-they-do-that? licks and tricks and call-and-response between the players are the orders of the day on the all-too-short collection, which will leave listeners anxiously anticipating Vol. 2. 

Grade card: Tommy Emmanuel with Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley - Accomplice Series, Vol. 1 - A

5/14/21