photo by Stacie Huckaba

On Oct. 4, Grammy-nominated Americana duo Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley will release their new studio album, World Full of Blues, via Compass Records. Today, we present the video for the record’s title track, which captures Ickes, Hensley and Mahal in the studio along with their backing band.

With an instrumentation complete with percussion, background vocals and a full horn section, though still focused on the dobro and guitar work of Ickes and Hensley, respectively, “World Full of Blues” offers a lush take on the classic blues with lyrical commentary on the state of the nation and beyond.

“This song was originally written by Bill Scholer, but we revamped a lot of the lyrics and the arrangement with the help of our good friend Jason Eady,” Hensley explains to Relix. “The song always spoke to us, but we decided if we were going to do a song of this nature it needed to be personal. We spend a lot of our time on the road talking about some of the bizarre and terrifying things that have been happening throughout the world in recent times, so our contributions to the song really just came naturally. (I remember the bridge of the song coming to me all at once randomly late one night…I could barely write it down fast enough.)

“When we finished working on the song and decided to record it, we knew we wanted a special guest to sing on it,” Hensley continues. “We ended up sending each other our ‘dream list’ of possible guests. At the top of both of our lists was the great Taj Mahal. He dug the song and agreed to fly to Nashville to play and sing on it…and the results are here in the song and the video. We are incredibly proud of this track. More than anything we’ve ever recorded, this is where we wore our hearts on our sleeves. And a huge thank you to Taj Mahal for making a big dream come true for us! It’s a world full of Blues for sure…but we hope you like the track anyhow!”

Watch the video for “World Full of Blues” below and check out Ickes and Hensley’s upcoming tour dates. Pre-order the new album here.

Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley Tour Dates

Oct. 4 – Guthrie, OK – Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival
Oct. 5 -6 – San Francisco, CA – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (w/Buddy Miller’s “Cavalcade of Stars”)
Oct. 10-11 – Ft. Wayne, IN – Sweetwater Recording Master Class
Oct. 12 – Worthington, OH – Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza and Live Music
Oct. 16 – Boise, ID – Arts Northwest Official Showcase
Oct. 17 – Boise, ID – Arts Northwest – Performance at New Frontier Touring Booth
Oct. 19 – Galax, VA – Blue Ridge Music Center
Oct. 24 – Baton Rouge, LA – Red Dragon Listening Room
Oct. 25 – Mobile, AL – The Listening Room of Mobile
Nov. 7-10 – Nashville, TN – ResoSummit
Nov. 13 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere (Roots & Branches Tour w/ The Gibson Brothers & Mockingbird)
Nov. 14 – Baltimore, MD – Union Craft Brewing (Roots & Branches Tour w/ The Gibson Brothers & Mockingbird)
Nov. 15 – Newtown, PA – Zlock Performing Arts Center (Roots & Branches Tour w/ The Gibson Brothers & Mockingbird)
Nov. 18 – New York, NY – Rockwood Music Center
Nov. 20 – Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Iron Works (Roots & Branches Tour w/ The Gibson Brothers & Mockingbird)
Nov. 21 – Syracuse, NY – Westcott Theater (Roots & Branches Tour w/ The Gibson Brothers & Mockingbird)
Nov. 22 – Norfolk, CT – Infinity Hall Norfolk (Roots & Branches Tour w/ The Gibson Brothers & Mockingbird)
Nov. 23 – Brownfield, ME – Stone Mountain Arts Center (Roots & Branches Tour w/ The Gibson Brothers & Mockingbird)
Dec. 4 – Boulder, CO – Chautauqua Community House
Dec. 5 – Denver, CO – Cervantes’ Other Side (w/ Mark Lavengood Band & Special Guests)
Dec. 7 – Carlsbad, CA – Museum of Making Music
Dec. 8 – Santa Monica, CA – McCabe’s Guitar Shop
Dec. 12 – Nashville, TN – Station Inn
Jan. 9, 2020 – Nashville, TN – The Station Inn
Jan. 29, 2020 – Ponte Vedra, FL –  (w/ Taj Mahal Quartet)
Jan. 30 – Atlanta, GA – City Winery (w/Taj Mahal Quartet) FEBRUARY
Feb. 3-10, 2020 – Miami, FL – Cayamo Cruise