"Blessed with an exquisite ear, superlative-creating touch and technique, and a nuanced sense of taste, no one in bluegrass has ever made the guitar sound better than Tim Stafford..." David J. McCarty, Bluegrass Unlimited, February 2018
This is the official website for guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and author Tim Stafford. You can find merch, including downloads and physical copies of all my solo and duet projects, plus instructional material, as well as the critically-acclaimed biography of Tony Rice: Still Inside, the Tony Rice Story. Also lyrics, news, schedule, photos, Blog and much more. Blue Highway dates and information here.
"STILL HERE," the first single on Mountain Home from Steve Gulley & Tim released June 26, 2020!
Arden, North Carolina (June 26, 2020) — For their first Mountain Home Music Company single, ace songwriting colleagues Steve Gulley and Tim Stafford have chosen “Still Here,” a bleak yet ultimately poignant portrait of a man trapped in a life away from the only place he feels at home.
“I love the money but I hate this town / Every day I’m here just wears me down,” Gulley sings in weary tones, as the song shifts from its hushed, moody opening feel into the solid bluegrass rhythms of the first chorus and its downcast conclusion: “Costs me more than this place will ever give me / But here I am...still here.”
With a searing fiddle solo by ace studio musician Ron Stewart (who also contributes banjo) that perfectly captures the narrator’s mingled bitterness and resignation over Stafford’s muscular, mournful guitar rhythms, bassist Barry Bales’ steady pulse and the brisk groove of mandolinist Thomas Cassell (Circus No.9), “Still Here” offers a polished, musically sophisticated yet viscerally emotional reading that serves to reintroduce the duo in their first joint project in a decade. Both men are renowned performers in their own rights — Gulley as an esteemed singer and hitmaker with his own Steve Gulley & New Pinnacle, Stafford as a founding member of Blue Highway and an influential guitarist — but have only one previous recording together to their credit, 2010’s Dogwood Winter.
"This is one man's regret at living so long somewhere he didn't want to be,” says Stafford of “Still Here.” “And despite everything he's endured, including his homesickness for Appalachia. But I think it can be generalized to anyone who feels out of place.”
“I think a lot of people can relate to the story in the song,” adds Gulley. “Most all of us have had times when we've felt out of place and missed home. I know I have.”
And circling back to the title, Stafford concludes, “Despite it all, he's still here."
"BOTH ENDS OF THE TRAIN" NOMINATED FOR IBMA SONG OF THE YEAR!! The first song from Somewhere Far Away was written by Tim and Steve Gulley. The IBMA Awards will be held virtually on Oct. 1 2020!
NEWS FLASH! TIM WINS SECOND IBMA SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD!!
"BOTH ENDS OF THE TRAIN" #1 ON ROOTS MUSIC REPORT'S TOP 50 TRADITIONAL BLUEGRASS CHART FOR THE WEEK OF JAN. 4, 2020!
"A modern classic of great tone, tunes, and technique, this album is not to be missed..." David J. McCarty, Bluegrass Unlimited, February 2018
The Acoustic Music Workshop occurs over three days and offers six 60 minute workshops, a Mini Festival, performance opportunities and lots of jamming. The workshop campus is situated at Camp He Ho Ha 45 minutes west of Edmonton. Stay in comfortable dorms, enjoy home cooked meals and play as much music as you can fit into a weekend.
Workshop leaders with solid backgrounds in teaching and performance are assembled to provide the best possible musical weekend.
The Northern Bluegrass Circle Music Society sponsors the Acoustic Music Workshop in order to promote, preserve and present bluegrass music. Knowledge of bluegrass is not required, it is our hope that musicians, already comfortable in their playing ability, will want to experience the user friendly nature of bluegrass music.
"STILL HERE," the first single on Mountain Home from Steve Gulley & Tim was released June 26, 2020!
Arden, North Carolina (June 26, 2020) — For their first Mountain Home Music Company single, ace songwriting colleagues Steve Gulley and Tim Stafford have chosen “Still Here,” a bleak yet ultimately poignant portrait of a man trapped in a life away from the only place he feels at home.
“I love the money but I hate this town / Every day I’m here just wears me down,” Gulley sings in weary tones, as the song…
"BOTH ENDS OF THE TRAIN" NOMINATED FOR IBMA SONG OF THE YEAR!! The first song from Somewhere Far Away was written by Tim and Steve Gulley. The IBMA Awards will be held virtually on Oct. 1!
What We Leave Behind: A Songwriters' Collection is a showcase for 14 songs written in the Bluegrass, Country and Americana styles by Tim Stafford and Bobby Starnes, featuring guest vocals from Trey Hensley, Tim Shelton, Beth Snapp and Keith Williams and also featuring special guests Dave Eggar, John Gardner, Ron Stewart, Jacob Burleson, Kam Kellar, Daniel Salyer, Jim Price, Jason Lloyd, Tony Dingus, Kevin Jackson, Tommy Starnes, Eddie Trent, Chris Simmons, Gina Salyer, and Jonathan Presnell.
Tim's new record, "Acoustic Guitar," IS NOW AVAILABLE!! 18 cuts, 13 original instrumentals, 10 solo guitar, 5 duets, 2 trios, 1 vocal (featuring Tim Shelton)... FEATURING: Stuart Duncan, Dave Eggar, Adam Steffey, Tim Shelton, John Gardner, Gaven Largent, Daniel Salyer... And the new Youtube sensation from Bobby Starnes and Tim, "I Am America."
Very proud of our guys! Blue Highway's Original Traditionalwas nominated for a Grammy on Dec. 6, 2016 in the "Best Bluegrass Album" category! This is our 11th studio album and first with Dobro ace Gaven Largent. It's the band's third Grammy nomination, with previous nods for Wondrous Love in 2005 and Marbletown in 2006. The focus for this album was to make a traditionally-oriented record with original material. The album is nominated along with releases by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Claire Lynch…
Original Traditional, Blue Highway's 11th studio album, was released Sept. 9 on Rounder records. The band is very excited about this, our first recording with dobro ace Gaven Largent. Is it a concept record? Kinda. We decided we wanted to do a traditional bluegrass record, and after we checked out everyone's writing, we decided we had enough original tunes to comprise the entire record, minus an a cappella version of the Sacred Harp song, "Hallelujah." By doing an all-original traditional bluegrass…
Ralph Stanley's passing truly marks the end of an era. He was the last man standing from the "big three" acts of the early years of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers, a link to the very beginning of the genre. It was the Stanleys' 1948 recording of "Molly and Tenbrooks" that represented the first recorded evidence of a group emulating the sound of the seminal 1945-48 Bill Monroe band (featuring Flatt and Scruggs as well as Chubby Wise and Howard Watts). In essence, it…Read more
Tim was featured in a cover story by Dan Miller in Flatpicking Guitar magazine's March-April 2016 issue (Volume 20, No. 3). Sadly, FGM is in its final year of publication, and has decided to "catch up" with artists profiled earlier in the magazine's history, including Tim, Jim Hurst, Bryan Sutton and Kenny Smith. Tim was originally featured in the January/February 2001 issue of the magazine (Volume 5, No. 2). Both issues are available on the FGM website (click photo).
Welcome to my newly-designed website. I'll be updating all my activities here, and sharing various musings. I recently had a couple good conversations with friends of mine on far-ranging topics on their podcasts, including the formation of Blue Highway, streaming, the future of bluegrass and other more fun stuff... Tim Shelton and Justin Moses are amazing musicians and singers, and it was good to talk with them at length recently about what's going on in my world. Here are their links:
