This week, another special road trip episode featuring world renowned dobro and guitar Jedi duo Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley recorded live at the 2024 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas.

The annual Walnut Valley Festival, now in it’s 53rd season, is one of the oldest and most respected acoustic music festivals in the world. Held at the Winfield, Kansas fairgrounds, more than 30 musical acts will perform on four separate stages, presenting over 200 hours of live music. Also, there is a dedicated contest stage where contestants vie for national and international championships in Finger Style Guitar, Flat Pick Guitar, Bluegrass Banjo, Old Time Fiddle, Mandolin, Mountain Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer, and Autoharp. There is a juried arts and crafts fair, exhibits by renowned instrument makers and music shops, family activities, a bevy of food vendors, a farmer’s market and even a pub! An unusual aspect of Walnut Valley is its campground tradition. Campsites are not reserved and campers line up to claim a choice campsite during the "Land Rush.” Walnut Valley Festival goers often bring their own musical instruments to participate in the sometimes all night campground jam sessions. Bands like Old Sound and Sally & The Hurts that began as "Jam Bands" in the campgrounds, have even been invited to perform at the festival.

Take a 15-time IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Dobro Player of the Year and a Tennessee-born guitar prodigy who made his Grand Ole Opry debut at the age of 11 and you have Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, a powerhouse acoustic duo that has electrified the acoustic music scene. Known for their white-hot picking, stone country vocals with soul and world class live musicianship, Ickes and Hensley meld together blues, bluegrass, country, rock and other string band music of all kinds to form a signature blend of music that defies restrictions of genre.  They are equally at home on stages of prestigious performing arts centers, theatres and the Grand Ole Opry as they are on Americana, jamgrass, bluegrass and jam band festivals. Ickes co-founded the highly influential bluegrass group Blue Highway and has been a sought-after Nashville session player and live performing musician for decades. Hensley has been called “Nashville’s hottest young player” by Acoustic Guitar magazine and his soulful baritone vocals have received acclaim as well. - https://www.robandtrey.com/about-the-band/

In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, OHR producer Jeff Glover offers a 2016 archival recording of Ozark originals Bobby Glendy & Ruthie Haney performing the classic A.P. Carter song “You are my Flower,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.

In his segment “Back in the Hills,” writer, professor and historian Dr. Brooks Blevins presents the final episode of his series recounting the history of the ill-fated Ozarkland Jamboree, a 1960’s country music variety show based in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas that never made it on the air.