Rob Ickes with Blue Highway – Big Time

After the jazz excursions of his previous two albums, six-time IBMA Dobro Player of the Year Rob Ickes seems to emphasize a return to his roots by recording most of his new disc — and sharing the billing — with his regular band, Blue Highway.

Still, Big Time is hardly a traditional bluegrass album; indeed, much of it isn’t, strictly speaking, bluegrass at all, and where it is, there’s almost always a twist. The opening “Machine Gun Kelly” for instance — the album’s lone vocal, ably handled by Blue Highway singing partners Wayne Taylor and Shawn Lane — comes from the pen of Danny Kortchmar, while the nearly straight-ahead original “Born In A Barn” has some nifty rhythmic pushes that lift it out of the ordinary.

Several standards get a new workout, and these are among the album’s strongest entries. “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes” is an engaging recap of classic early dobro styles, while “I Am A Pilgrim” becomes a bluesy duet between the dobro and Derek Jones’ funky, slippery upright bass. The melancholy reading of Bill Monroe’s “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz” is soulful enough to make one forget — almost — the Father of Bluegrass’ well-known distaste for the dobro.

In short, Big Time may have the look of pulling back from more adventuresome work, but it ain’t really so. Ickes has simply chosen to take a more subtle approach to innovation this time out, and the set is a satisfying demonstration that his inventiveness works as well in a down-home context as it does in any other.