Several years in the making, Trey Hensley’s new album Can’t Outrun the Blues showcases his triple threat as a singer, songwriter, and guitar player. His intricate rhythms and lead runs provide the foundations for his expressive vocals, and he is as comfortable delivering a fast-paced bluegrass scamper as he is shuffling through a country ballad. On this album he ranges over country, blues, folk, and bluegrass, with seven of the ten tracks being writes or co-writes.
Hensley slides slowly into the title track, which opens the album, with a string-bending instrumental mélange, setting the stage for his lickety-split bluegrass rambler, featuring John Cowan on harmonies. Hensley’s rapid-fire arpeggios drive the instrumental bridge, and the song closes with a fiery note-for-note conversation between Hensley’s runs and Stuart Duncan’s and Andy Leftwich’s rousing fiddling. Jaelee Roberts’ and Cowan’s high harmonies cast Hensley’s warm baritone vocals into high relief as they evoke the mournful loss of love and regret on the high and lonesome ballad “High Cost of Goodbye.”
