Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley – “Leave My Woman Alone” (audio) (premiere)

Country duo Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley found great success with their debut album, Before the Sun Goes Down, which earned a best bluegrass album nomination and showcased Ickes and Hensley’s enviable virtuosic musical skills. Now, they are back with a country blues album, fittingly entitled The Country Blues, that’s chock full of amazing country blues tracks, including takes on Hank Williams’ “May You Never Be Alone, Sonny Boy Williamson’s “One Way Out”, and Merle Haggard’s “I Won’t Give Up My Train”.

As a tempting taste of things to come, we’ve got a track to share with you called “Leave My Woman Alone” from the late great Ray Charles and this one is a real country smoker with licks traded so fast your head might get dizzy. Ickes and Hensley can seriously burn up the fretboard with some of the most amazing country playing you’ll hear anywhere. In fact, they are so good that they could almost take on Ricky Skaggs with their passion and precision. Both of these fellows have been in the music business for a long time, but like Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen, they are at their best performing together as they charm musical brilliance out of their instruments.

Ickes says of “Leave My Woman Alone”, “this is an early Ray Charles number that I always thought would make a great uptempo song. I sent it to Trey and he sang the heck out of it the first time we worked it up. I like how our version sounds like an early Sun Records recording, and it also give all of the instrumentalists a chance to shine. Really amazing guitar and fiddle solos in this number!” File this song next to Skagg’s “Country Boy” on your country playlist.

Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley‘s The Country Blues releases July 8 via Compass Records.