Trey Hensley comes back to Raleigh with his first solo record in tow

The Grammy-winning guitarist hasn't played the Triangle since a 2018 Red Hat Amphitheater date; on Jan. 30 he brings Can't Outrun The Blues to the Martin Marietta Center.

The last time Trey Hensley played Raleigh, it was September 2018 at Red Hat Amphitheater. More than eight years later he comes back indoors, a few blocks away, with the record he spent a long time getting to.

Trey Hensley plays the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster, where the show is listed as PineCone presents the Trey Hensley Band. It was announced Oct. 26, and it is his first Raleigh–Durham show since Sept. 28, 2018.

The reason to go is *Can't Outrun The Blues*, his long-awaited solo album, released March 6, 2026, on Pinecastle Records. Hensley signed with the label in August 2025, and the title track came out as the lead single that September. "Tucson" followed in January, with a video, ahead of the album. Pinecastle bills him as a Grammy winner, and the guest list on the record backs up the company he keeps: Molly Tuttle, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Steve Wariner and Vince Gill all appear, and Wariner joined him on one of the singles. Hensley wrote or co-wrote most of the songs himself; Pinecastle counts seven of the ten tracks.

The reviews have been warm. Nashville's WMOT, the listener-supported roots station, said the record finds a bluegrass and country sweet spot, and Take Effect Reviews gave it a 9 out of 10 this summer, calling attention to a songwriter as comfortable in the blues as in the bluegrass he came up in.

A flatpicker's show with a songwriter's album behind it.

That's the pitch for Raleigh: a flatpicker's show with a songwriter's album behind it. Hensley's earlier Triangle date was an outdoor amphitheater night; this one puts him in a seated performing-arts hall, the kind of room where the picking carries and the vocals land. The Martin Marietta Center holds 2,277, and with PineCone, Raleigh's traditional-music presenter, behind the booking, expect an audience that knows exactly what it came to hear.

The genre tags on this one are Folk and Bluegrass, and the record leans country and blues at the edges. If you came to Hensley through the bluegrass festival circuit, the new songs will be the fresh part of the night; if you came through the album, this is the chance to hear the guitar player behind it, in person, in a room built for listening.

January in Raleigh is a slow month for big-name roots shows. This is the one to circle.

Sources: Trey Hensley's Long-Awaited Solo Album 'Can't Outrun The Blues' Out Now via Pinecastle Records (pinecastlemusic.com); GRAMMY Winner Trey Hensley Joins Pinecastle Records With New Single — Pinecastle (pinecastlemusic.com); Trey Hensley Releases New Single "Tucson" — Pinecastle (pinecastlemusic.com); Trey Hensley teams with Steve Wariner on new single — Pinecastle (pinecastlemusic.com); Trey Hensley inks with Pinecastle Records — MusicRow (musicrow.com); Tucson video from Trey Hensley — Bluegrass Today (bluegrasstoday.com); Trey Hensley Finds A Bluegrass/Country Sweet Spot On Solo Debut — WMOT (wmot.org); Trey Hensley — Take Effect Reviews (takeeffectreviews.com); Trey Hensley: Can't Outrun the Blues — The Absolute Sound (theabsolutesound.com); PineCone presents Trey Hensley Band — tickets (Ticketmaster) (ticketmaster.com); PineCone (pinecone.org)