Bluegrass Luminaries Trey Hensley & Rob Ickes Are Putting Their Duo on Hiatus: ‘This Isn’t the End’

Grammy and International Bluegrass Music Awards winners Trey Hensley and Rob Ickes, who have performed together as an acoustic duo for more than a decade, are taking a hiatus from their musical partnership at the end of 2025.

After honoring their touring commitments through the end of the year, Hensley will pivot to focusing on his solo career in 2026, with plans to release new solo music and launch a solo tour in 2026. Ickes will focus on session playing and touring with other artists.

“We are starting to wind down ‘Rob and Trey’ and beginning to wind up ‘Trey Hensley solo,’” Ickes said in a statement. “I’m ready to pull back a little bit in terms of touring, and Trey’s career is really taking off, so we both think it’s time for him to focus on that. I’d like to thank Trey for being such a solid musical/business partner and friend for the past decade. I can’t imagine working with anyone more talented and more fun. I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished together, and I’m very excited to see what comes his way with his career — I know it’s going to be incredible!” 

“Rob and I have covered a lot of ground together over 10 years, winning a Grammy Award this year, earning a Grammy nomination for our first duo record, collaborating with so many of our musical heroes and touring all over the United States, Europe and Australia — it’s truly been an amazing ride!” Hensley added. “As I step out of the duo to focus on my solo career, I want to say a big thank you to Rob, who has been a great mentor and friend to me and my family over the years, and although it sounds cliché, this isn’t the end, but a new chapter. I know we will make more music together in the future. This change is simply going to allow me to focus on some other projects that I am excited to share with everyone.”

As a duo, Ickes and Hensley earned a best bluegrass album Grammy nomination for their 2014 debut collaborative project Before The Sun Goes Down. They followed with albums including 2016’s The Country Blues, 2019’s World Full of Blues and 2023’s Living in a Song. Between them, Ickes and Hensley have collaborated with artists including Tommy Emmanuel, Taj Mahal, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Little Feat, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Rodney Crowell and Jorma Kaukonen.

Dobro player Ickes previously became a founding member of the band Blue Highway in 1994. He’s won the IBMA’s dobro player of the year honor 15 times, in addition to other IBMA Awards wins. Hensley was named the IBMA’s 2023 guitar player of the year.

Ickes and Hensley have also been part of other IBMA Award-winning projects, including earning the instrumental recorded performance of the year honor for their work as part of Special Consensus on the song “Fireball,” along with Alison Brown.