Our Yamaha Sessions continue, highlighting the top-notch Yamaha FG series of acoustic guitars and the killer musicians who utilize them. This time, we’re back with guitarist, singer-songwriter, GRAMMY nominee, and reigning IBMA Guitar Player of the Year Trey Hensley. For his second session in the series, he performs a growling original, “Can’t Outrun the Blues,” that highlights the grit and attack of his custom Yamaha FG9 R, resonant and bold in open E.
Hensley’s techniques are bluegrass through and through, with clarity and athleticism to his flatpicking that stand out even among his incredibly talented contemporaries. The ‘grassy skeletal structure behind his approach to the instrument is merely a springboard into other textures and styles. Here, in a modal and bluesy number, you can certainly hear the influence rock and roll, down home and contemporary blues, Southern rock, and country chicken pickin’ have on Hensley’s own writing and composition.
The full-throated, warm, and flush sound of his Yamaha guitar follows Hensley as he toggles seamlessly between Tony Rice vocabularies, modern blues licks, and even a fiddle tune melody interpolated toward the end of the performance. Just like his voice on the six-string, Hensley’s vocals β like a combo of Merle Haggard, Larry Sparks, and Randy Travis β are just as comfortable shapeshifting between genres and styles in realtime. It’s melting pot Americana at its best, even with just one voice, one instrument, and one original song.
Our Yamaha Sessions will continue with a final installment, featuring Jack Schneider, coming soon to BGS!
Discover more about Yamaha Guitars and their FG series here.
Video Credit: Steve Voss,Β Solar Cabin Creative
