Hi Folks, Its been a great year here in Dobro-land. Some highlights we'd like to tell you about:

-Merle Haggard acoustic CD-Merle is my favorite artist of all time and I was honored to be invited to play on a CD with him this Fall. It is a beautiful project featuring some of his hits, and some amazing new songs he's written. Other players on the CD were Aubrey Haynie, Marty Stuart, Carl Jackson, Ben Isaccs, Charlie Cushman, Scott Joss. We sat in a circle and recorded the whole thing live. An amazing experience for all of us! This CD should be out by the early summer.

-Guitar Player magazine, Feb. '07-Rob is listed in the feature article, "101 Forgotten Greats and Unsung Heroes"

-Jorma Kaukonen-We were tickled to find out that Jorma is a big Blue Highway fan! We were honored to be invited to play on his latest CD this Fall! For those of you who aren't familiar with Jorma, he is an incredible guitarist, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and founder of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. -David Lee Roth-In June I was invited to do a some TV work with David Lee Roth (Lead singer from "Van Halen"). We had a great time doing The Jay Leno Show, The Craig Ferguson Show, Conan O'brien and others. We were promoting the release of a new CD called, "Strummin' With the Devil." This is a collection of Van Halen songs done in the Acoustic/bluegrass style. "Blue Highway" is featured on one cut and I also played on cuts by David Lee Roth and John Cowan. Other featured artists inclued David Grisman, Mountain Heart, John Cowan Band, Larry Cordle...(This CD is available on my website).

-Earl Scruggs-I did some more shows with the Earl Scruggs Band. Highlights would be Rockygrass, E-town, and the "Hardly Strictly Festival" in San Francisco.

-Toby Keith-In May I played on a Christmas CD for Toby, should be out Fall '07. I also recently played another session for Toby for his next Country release. Toby is a really great guy, fun to work with.

-Three Ring Circle was honored to be invited to perform on The Grand Ol' Opry in September. I think its safe to say this was the first time a Dobro-Mando-Bass trio has been featured on the Opry!

-Three Ring Circle was also honored with 2 IBMA nominations this year at the IBMA awards. We will start recording another project this Winter. Look for us this year at the Strawberry Festival in CA, and also at Rockygrass in CO.

-Blue Highway is celebrating 13 years together! We will be working on our 8th CD this Winter. Look for us this year at Wintergrass, a CA tour in February, Merlefest in April and also in England in September. We are also performing on an Alaskan Cruise in July. Please join us for that one! More info at www.bluehighwayband.com.

-Thank you for the incredible response to the "Rob Ickes Model" Wechter Scheerhorn Resonator Guitar. I have been very pleased with the sound and look of these guitars, and I'm glad folks are enjoying them also. The first run sold out pretty quickly, but we had another batch delivered in November and we are happy to have more available right now. (BTW, reso-guitars make great Christmas presents!) For pics and more info, go to www.wechterguitars.com/models/model-6535-R.htm . These guitars, and other models, can be purchased on my website, just click on the "Store" page.

-I also wanted to let you know about a teaching website I am involved in. It can be found at www.BluegrassCollege.org. It has some of the best players and teachers in bluegrass music today. You can download the tablature, the music (performed at slow, medium and fast tempos so you can learn every note!), video, and play along with the band. We worked hard on getting the tabs very accurate and the songs are played exactly as written. If you do purchase instructional material at this website, please be sure and register with my "Instructor Code" number RI 001. For more info, just visit the website, www.BluegrassCollege.org. I hope you enjoy this great new teaching tool.

-We've greatly expanded the CD's for sale in the RobIckes.com Store. We now have all the Blue Highway CD's, along with a new CD by Bradley Walker, "Highway of Dreams". Bradley is one of the best singers to come along in Bluegrass/Country music lately. His CD has been getting rave reviews and was recently featured on NPR's "Fresh Air." (This is the only time I've ever heard a review of a "bluegrass" CD on this show! Way to go Bradley!)

-I also want to mention a CD I produced (and played on) for a great band from Ohio called, "New Found Road." This is there first release on Rounder Records, "Life in a Song." These guys are great players, singers and writers and I highly recommend this new CD! We also have have some other CD's I've been featured on lately: Alecia Nugent-"Little Girl and a Big Four Lane", Jimmy Van Cleve-"No Apologies", "Strummin' With the Devil"-This is a collection of Van Halen songs done in the Acoustic/grass style. Blue Highway is featured on one cut and I also played on cuts by David Lee Roth and John Cowan. Other featured artists include David Grisman, Mountain Heart, John Cowan Band, Larry Cordle...

"Tone Poets" CD-Joe Craven and I were invited to perform on this great CD by David Grisman. It is a double CD and features a vintage Pre-war Martin D-45 and David's famous "Lloyd Loar" Gibson mandolin being played, in solos and duets, by many different artists (Tony Rice, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Del and Ronnie McCoury, Martin Taylor, etc.). Very cool CD!

We've also added the Grammy-Winning "Great Dobro Sessions," a great recording from the mid-90's featuring all the top reso-players. Look for more releases to be added in the near future.

Thanks for all the support; it's been a really fun year. Thanks also my family. Janelle is almost 7 years old and has recently started playing the fiddle. Neal is 4 and is really into sharks, anything involving the "Cars" movie, and he is reading up a storm! We'll see ya soon! Thanks again for all the visits here at the website. Looking forward to more fun in '07!

R-

RESOSUMMIT!! There's no other phrase that does justice to the remarkable events that will take place in Nashville from November 8-11, 2007 . It's going to be a full-immersion experience, with a wide range of workshops, performances and lots of reso-fun. Our mission for the weekend: education and inspiration! I've gathered a critical mass of dobro legends, great players and teachers, gurus, raconteurs and curmudgeons to lead the Summit, including Mike Auldridge, Phil Leadbetter, Randy Kohrs, Michael Witcher , and Andy Hall, luthiers extraordinaire Tim Scheerhorn and Paul Beard, and other special reso-guests. Personally, I wouldn't miss a minute of it, so I'll be there from Thursday night until the last twang fades, teaching, performing, and making sure you're having a blast. For more information, email resosummit@gmail.com.

'05 Recording Highlights: -Patty Loveless CD- "Dreaming My Dreams" -Willie Nelson session for a Kris Christopherson tribute CD. This was a very fun session, Willie played and sang great, and was a great guy to work with. -Jon Randall-"Walking Among the Living"-This is one of my favorite CD's I've had the pleasure of working on. Jon is an amazing singer, writer and guitarist. I highly recommend y'all get this one. -Toby Keith-Worked with Toby on a movie soundtrack , "Angel from Montgomery." -Michael Cleveland-Amazing young fiddler from Kentucky! -Sara Evans-Beautiful and talented country artist -Tracy Byrd-Great sessions! -Ashley Monroe-new artist on Sony, incredible singer songwriter, this is also one of the better projects I've been involved in this year -Harley Allen-Harley is one of my favorite songwriters. This is a great b-grass CD with Sam Bush, Scott Vestal and others -"Pickin on Van Halen"-this one turned out really well. I played on some tracks that David Lee Roth is singing on and they also invited Blue Highway to contribute a song. We did "I'll Wait." This CD also features cut by other well known B-grass bands such as Nashville Bluegrass Band, Del McCoury, etc. Should be out soon on CMH records.

Thanks again for all the visits here at the website. Looking forward to more fun in '06!

R-

"Marbletown" Reviews Amazon.com-   "Blue Highway hit the ground running about ten years ago, and "Marbletown" is reason for Bluegrass fans to rejoice. Guitarist Tim Stafford is a terrific singer and songwriter, as well as ridiculously gifted flatpicker and rhythm guitarist. Mr. Stafford filled that role with Alison Krauss before departing that band to help form Blue Highway, and he helped Alison choose successor Dan Tyminski in Union Station. Shawn Lane plays fiddle, mandolin and guitar that is hot and tasty. He also writes great tunes and lends his angelic tenor voice to Blue Highway's electrifying performances. Rob Ickes is IBMA Dobro Player of the year for about a zillion years in a row. His lead playing is exciting and fresh, and his backup lines are tasty and "just right". Jason Burleson is the banjo-master in Blue Highway, and his playing could be mistaken for the best of Scruggs, Crowe, etc. Mr. Burleson is also a wickedly good mandolinist, guitarist, etc. Wayne Taylor anchors the band with rock-solid bass playing and the most consistently pleasing lead voice in the band. Wayne sings like he's BEEN there, not like he just heard about it, and his pitch and delivery is as smooth as a belt of smooth mountain moonshine.

Marbletown continues Blue Highway's previous efforts in recording predominantly original songs - 10 of the 12 tunes here were written by band members. The opening "Marbletown" also continues the Blue Highway theme of chronicling the often hazardous lifestyle around coal mining communities - Marbletown refers to a tombstone studded graveyard. The song shifts through several themes with haunting lyrics and instrumentation with a recurrent coda: "We've got a man down here, we've got a man down..." "Lazarus" is a crackling good gospel quartet number that includes fluorishes like harmonized humming during an instrumental break. "Nothing But a Whippoorwill" is another stunner - maybe the strongest tune of the collection - and adding another great entry to the cannon of songs about quarrelling and murdering lovers. "Tears Fell On Missouri" is a song of sad misery that would perhaps be maudlin if not for the plaintive vocals of Shawn Lane's tenor and Highway's trademark harmony and chord progressions.

A short digression: Although all of Blue Highway's members are born and bred Bluegrassers - overflowing with the canon of Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs and Stanley - they bring this music to another level. The harmonies are layered and beautiful. The instrumental work is thrilling and interesting. The arrangements don't just plot along.

There are only a handful of Bluegrass Bands that deserve to be mentioned in the same phrase as "Blue Highway". Gentlemen - you have done well. Again."

Rob Ickes: Kind of Bluegrass

Bluegrass musician Rob Ickes turns his distinctive Dobro sound toward jazz, with unexpected, exciting results.

By Drew Wheeler CDNOW Senior Editor, Jazz

Dobro guitar player Rob Ickes, who had grown up in the thrall of bluegrass music, was introduced to jazz the same way as many before him.

"When I went to college, somebody gave me Kind of Blue. And I said, 'This is boring,'" he recalls with a slightly embarrassed laugh. "And then, for some reason, I went back to it a few months later and put it back on, and it just blew me away. And I obviously still love that record, and so it kind of started with that."

Ickes (which rhymes with "likes"), a Nashville-based bluegrass musician who leads the band Blue Highway, started to temper his sound with jazzy elements for his first solo album, 1997's Hard Times. Yet Ickes truly joined fellow string players Dave Grisman, Bela Fleck, and Alison Brown in straddling the worlds of jazz and bluegrass with his 1999 sophomore solo set, Slide City, which features a languidly grooving reimagining of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" as well as tangy, twangy translations of such melodies as Miles Davis' "New Blues," Earl Klugh's "Central Park," and Larry Carlton's "Don't Give It Up."

For Ickes, jazz and bluegrass are both heavily improvised forms that have a great deal in common, despite popular perceptions that the two never meet. "Culturally, some people are going to assume they're way far apart," he says. "I think they are very related, because if you go back to the '40s and '30s, when Bill Monroe was putting his music together, bluegrass was the only stringband in country music that really featured these hot solos. Instead of everybody playing at once, kind of like old-time music, there's definitely a verse, chorus, and then a solo -- and I mean a really good instrumental solo, like Earl Scruggs or Bill Monroe. Masters of the instrument."

There's no small level of technical mastery in evidence on Ickes' third, and jazziest, album, What It Is. The release features bassist Derek Jones (who has performed with noted bluegrass act Nickel Creek); reed player Paul Hanson (who's blown for Fleck as well as world-jazzman Peter Apfelbaum); pianist John R. Burr; and drummer Kendrick Freeman (the last two being Alison Brown associates).

"When it came time to do this record, I just wanted to go full-bore," says Ickes. "I wanted to have a really focused sound -- have the same guys on every cut, no special guests, no vocals -- which is different from my previous records. To just do a jazz-sounding album. I don't consider myself a jazz player, but I like the sound of the Dobro in a jazz band."

The bluesy buzz of Ickes' Dobro energizes the propulsive syncopation of "Mr. Goodbar," and it traces the angular contours of cleverly wrought, country-swing-styled "Scheerhorn Shuffle." Burr's skittering organ licks embellish "Stanford and Son," a soulful groove number that suggests country-funk after breathing helium. (That specific tune, says Ickes, "could have gone either way. I could have played it as a bluegrass tune, and I thought, well, it might work with these guys -- and it ended up working fine.")

The repertoire of What It Is also includes memorable melodies by such fusion-oriented jazz artists as John Scofield (the smoothly swinging "I'll Take Les") and Mike Manieri (the soaring, enchanting Steps Ahead theme "Self Portrait"). Any listeners who might question the adaptability of jazz to bluegrass -- or vice-versa -- will have their questions answered by the Rob Ickes' rootsy, raucous crossover music.

"In bluegrass, there's some people that do acoustic stuff, sort of with a jazz feel, but it's with a bluegrass band," says Ickes. "And I always thought, 'Why not just go all the way?' Instead of trying to change a bluegrass band to make it sound like a jazz band, just go ahead and work with these jazz instruments, and see what happens."

Review of What It Is from The Tennessean, Monday April 15, 2002 by Craig Havighurst, Staff Writer

Rob Ickes What It Is 3 1/2 STARS

Nashville's Rob Ickes recently told me that playing tricky melodies on the dobro is sort of like playing the guitar with one fretting finger. You've got to be fast and creative to overcome the natural limits of the instrument, an acoustic slide guitar played horizontally with finger picks on one hand and a steel bar in the other.

Few people transcend those limits like Ickes (rhymes with bikes). The award-winning instrumentalist, who plays regularly with bluegrass band Blue Highway, has joined pioneer Jerry Douglas at the top tier of players of this wonderful and bluesy instrument. With this new album, he's pushing the dobro as far as it's ever gone into traditional jazz.

The tunes are mostly Ickes' own, so they are written for dobro, which means lots of repeated figures and slurry, funky slides. The opening Mr. Goodbar may well become a standard for future dobro jazzers. Blues for Sammy is an inventive jump, 50 Years Ago is more old-fashioned and lyrical. When We Were Leaving, a stately ballad with delicious chord changes, may be the most exquisite cut of all.

Joining the dobro leader is an interesting cast that includes Nickel Creek bassist Derek Jones, along with drummer Kendrick Freeman and pianist John R. Burr from Allison Brown's banjo-driven jazz group. As another lead instrumentalist, Ickes tapped Bay Area reed man Paul Hanson, who is equally adept on the traditional saxophone or the more progressive and curious bassoon. Hanson contributes the splendid Juke Joint. His lead playing is enthralling, and his ability to be a bit more freewheeling melodically than Ickes enhances the project.

But it's Ickes' vision that brought the album to pass, and it's one that finds him cracking through musical boundaries and crafting a sound that's both adventuresome and accessible, even to the non-jazz schooled. How very Music City of him.

The following review ran recently on RollingStone.com.... Rob Ickes What It Is (Rounder Records) That Rob Ickes' third album is a pure jazz effort should come as no great surprise. The Blue Highway dobro wizard kept it trad on 1997's Hard Times, but two years later offered up a randy mix with Slide City, which found a common language between the likes of Jimmie Rodgers, Steve Winwood and Herbie Hancock. After 2001, in which he kept it bluegrass with a Blue Highway record and sporadic backing stints for Dolly Parton, Ickes and his instrument have committed to swinging and shuffling through eleven tracks, backed by reeds and pianos and organs, drums and bass. Bluegrass purists may pass, but the truth is bluegrass and jazz have held hands since their respective inceptions. Ickes is equally comfortable bringing the funk ("Sheerhorn Shuffle," "Stanford and Son"), slowing it down for a ballad (a cover of Mike Manieri's "Self-Portrait," "When We Were Leaving") or using the fluxy swing of his unorthodox six-string to bop away ("Blues for Sammy"). This is jazz, by a terrific acoustic instrumentalist disinterested in borders. (ANDREW DANSBY)

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=15351

I'm now selling Scheerhorn bars and capos at the store. I've been using both for many years. The bars are a must for any aspiring Dobro player. They just make it easier to play, which is always a good thing! The capos sounds great and go on the guitar very easily, which is not something I can say about all Dobro capo designs.

I've been asked to list some of the sessions of been working on lately, so here goes:

Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time, Chris LeDoux, Third Tyme Out, Shawn Lane, Chely Tennyson, Country Gentlemen, Tom Adams, Jesse Brock, Lynn Morris, Jim Hurst, Ernie Thacker, Dale Ann Bradley, Rhonda Vincent, Kenny Rogers, Darryl Worley, Mountain Heart, Patty Loveless, Marty Raybon, Randy Travis, Steve Wariner, The Oak Ridge Boys, Natalie McMaster, Jeannie Kendall, Anita Cochran, Sherry Austin, Mila Mason, The Schankmans, Earl Scruggs, Reba Macentire, Mary Chapin Carpenter