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| Mock Up - Not Actual Cover |
Many " Firsts"
Eleven-Time Dobro Player of the Year - Rob Ickes
Now to be First-Ever Dobro Player on the cover of
Guitar Player Magazine
Check out the August 2011 Issue when it's available.
We spoke with Matt Blackett, Associate Editor -Guitar Player Magazine who is writing the feature story for the August issue of the magazine. "The guy just earned it," Blackett said, when asked how Rob came to be chosen for the cover and feature story.
Guitar Player magazine is maintaining a decision to try and surprise the readers with guitar players they may not be aware of. Blackett said that the decision to feature Rob Ickes is definitely in keeping with that tradition.
"Absolutely Amazing"; "Blown Away with his Tone, Taste, Chops"; "Mind Boggling"; "Uncanny Accuracy"; "Effortless Playing at such a High Level" are all phrases that appeared in one single sentence when Blackett was describing his impressions of Ickes. Blackett, a musician himself, said Ickes is breaking down musical barriers and going where no resonator guitar player has ever gone before, like playing Jazz and being taken seriously by hard-core Jazzers.
Blackett said that Ickes was just simply the best in the world at what he does. We asked Blackett if he thought that Jerry Douglas fans might take issue with that statement and he was quick to point out that he personally is also a Jerry Douglas fan and also respects Mike Aldridge's playing as well as dozens of others who were not mentioned, "but it's like baseball," he said, "if it's the MVP (Most Valuable Player), in spite of the fact that others have won it before, this is Rob Ickes year for MVP."
Ickes' work with Three Ring Circle was cited as "Really bold in terms of how they experiment with what genres (they) can cover, the instrumentation is very unique."
Ickes was asked in the interview for the feature story if he played any other instruments like lap steel, pedal steel or even just regular guitar. Blackett said Ickes was quick to point out that the chops don't translate well to pedal steel and he was just completely lost when he was trying to play pedal steel indicating string spacing and tunings didn't agree with him.
About Rob Ickes:Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, Rob Ickes (rhymes with "bikes") comes from a musical family. His grandparents played old-time fiddle music, and Rob trained his young musical ear at their weekly jam sessions. Although his family wanted Rob to play fiddle, the instrument didn't interest him. Then, at the age of thirteen, Rob was exposed to the Dobro playing of Mike Auldridge, and the sound immediately caught his attention. Soon after, Rob got his first Dobro, and he has been playing music ever since.
Rob moved to Nashville in 1992 and joined Blue Highway, the highly esteemed bluegrass band, as a founding member in 1994. He is recognized as one of the most innovative Dobro players on the scene today, contributing signature technique and greatly expanding the boundaries of the instrument's sonic and stylistic territory. He won the International Bluegrass Music Association's Dobro Player of the Year award for a record-setting eleventh time in 2009; IBMA notes that he is the most awarded instrumentalist in the history of the IBMA awards.
As an active session player and touring musician, he has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including Charlie Haden, Merle Haggard, Earl Scruggs, Tony Rice, David Grisman, Alison Krauss, Willie Nelson, David Lee Roth, Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless, Peter Rowan, Claire Lynch, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
The youngest dobro player on The Great Dobro Sessions (Jerry Douglas & Tut Taylor, producers), which won the 1994 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, he was also on the Alison Krauss & The Cox Family album, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, which won the 1994 Grammy for Best Southern Gospel. His most recent release is a dobro-piano jazz album, Road Song (ResoRevolution 2009); he has also released four acclaimed solo albums on Rounder, eight albums with Blue Highway (Rounder, Ceili, Rebel) and a self-titled CD with Three Ring Circle, comprising Rob, Andy Leftwich and Dave Pomeroy (Earwave).
Rob is also a gifted resonator guitar teacher; in 2007, he founded ResoSummit, a three-day annual instructional event in Nashville, featuring leading Dobro players and luthiers as faculty.
About Rob Ickes:
Rob moved to Nashville in 1992 and joined Blue Highway, the highly esteemed bluegrass band, as a founding member in 1994. He is recognized as one of the most innovative Dobro players on the scene today, contributing signature technique and greatly expanding the boundaries of the instrument's sonic and stylistic territory. He won the International Bluegrass Music Association's Dobro Player of the Year award for a record-setting eleventh time in 2009; IBMA notes that he is the most awarded instrumentalist in the history of the IBMA awards.
As an active session player and touring musician, he has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including Charlie Haden, Merle Haggard, Earl Scruggs, Tony Rice, David Grisman, Alison Krauss, Willie Nelson, David Lee Roth, Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless, Peter Rowan, Claire Lynch, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
The youngest dobro player on The Great Dobro Sessions (Jerry Douglas & Tut Taylor, producers), which won the 1994 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, he was also on the Alison Krauss & The Cox Family album, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, which won the 1994 Grammy for Best Southern Gospel. His most recent release is a dobro-piano jazz album, Road Song (ResoRevolution 2009); he has also released four acclaimed solo albums on Rounder, eight albums with Blue Highway (Rounder, Ceili, Rebel) and a self-titled CD with Three Ring Circle, comprising Rob, Andy Leftwich and Dave Pomeroy (Earwave).
Rob is also a gifted resonator guitar teacher; in 2007, he founded ResoSummit, a three-day annual instructional event in Nashville, featuring leading Dobro players and luthiers as faculty.
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