Hard Times (Rounder CD 0402, 1997) is the debut solo album of dobro player Rob Ickes, featuring a core band drawn largely from Blue Highway — Wayne Taylor, Shawn Lane, and Tim Stafford — alongside Jason Burleson on banjo and Rene Camacho on bass. The album's most celebrated moment is a guest appearance by Ry Cooder, whose own mastery of the instrument lends the session a cross-generational authority. Ickes's playing synthesizes bluegrass technique with blues and jazz influences in a way that extended what was possible on the instrument; he went on to win IBMA Dobro Player of the Year honors twelve consecutive times. Hard Times remains his most widely cited solo recording and the document that established his standing in the contemporary bluegrass world.
Tracklist
- 1 No More My Land 0:51
- 2 Down In The Hole 2:32
- 3 Tom Dooley alt version 3:33
- 4 Flatt Lonesome 3:40
- 5 Reuben alt version 2:53
- 6 A Song For Jennifer 2:33
- 7 Look-Ka Py Py 2:42
- 8 Hard Times Source Recording 2:47
- 9 Ashland Breakdown alt version 2:15
- 10 One Bad Case Of The Blues 2:42
- 11 How Great Thou Art alt version 3:12
- 12 Uptown Blues 2:25
