-
Mamma Llama 3:490:00/3:49
-
Whiskey Island 2:590:00/2:59
Welcome
"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.
Grammy Award-winning guitarist, songwriter, author and singer, two-time IBMA Songwriter of the Year, former member of Alison Krauss and Union Station, and founding member of celebrated Bluegrass group Blue Highway. Co-author of Tony Rice's authorized biography, "Still Inside," winner of over 30 IBMA and SPBGMA awards as well as a Dove Award.

NEW SINGLE!!! Blue Highway is proud to announce its new single, "Lonesome State of Mind" is now available everywhere music is streamed. The song, written by Tim Stafford and Bobby Starnes, is a classic banjo-driven bluegrass heartache number featuring Wayne Taylor on lead vocal, great solos from Jason Burleson, Gary Hultman and Shawn Lane and a classic Wayne/Shawn duet! #1 Nationwide on Bluegrass Today's Monthly Airplay Chart for February 2023!! Have a listen here.
Tim Stafford & Thomm Jutz are proud to announce a new single from their 2023 release "Lost Voices" on Mountain Fever Records! "No Witness in the Laurel but the Leaves" is a tale of mountain feuding featuring Ron Block on banjo, Tammy Rogers on fiddle, Mark Fain on acoustic bass and Shaun Richardson on mandolin. This single follows their highly successful premiere release from the record, "Take That Shot," which is still in rotation on Sirius radio's Bluegrass Junction. You can download "No Witness" here.
Blue Highway and the town of Big Stone Gap, VA are proud to announce The first annual BLUE HIGHWAY FEST, October 6-8, 2022 at Bullitt Park in Big Stone Gap, VA. CHECK OUT THIS LINEUP: Blue Highway, Sam Bush Band, Tommy Emmanuel, The Earls of Leicester Featuring Jerry Douglas, Dan Tyminski Band, Darrell Scott, Travelin' McCourys, Scythian, Sierra Hull Band, Seldom Scene, Balsam Range, Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers, Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Ed Snodderly, Carson Peters and Iron Mountain, Beth Snapp. More info: https://bluehighwayfest.com/
On-site camping (RVs and tents), On-site food vendors, Craft brews... Children under 12 FREE!
Come join us this Fall in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia on the Trail of the Lonesome Pine, to celebrate the rich heritage of Bluegrass and Roots music, food and culture, with Blue Highway and their friends!
Words really can't express the gratitude I feel for these two honors at the 2021 IBMA awards: Liner Notes of the Year for the reissue of Tony Rice's great California Autumn record on Rebel, and co-winner of Gospel Recorded Performance for In the Resurrection Morning by Sacred Réunion, featuring me, Doyle Lawson, Vince Gill, Mark Wheeler, Barry Abernathy, Jim Van Cleve, and the late Phil Leadbetter and Jason Moore. The first was, of course, an honor for me to do since I literally cut my teeth on Tony's record and in light of his passing last year... The second was a tribute to my late co-writer and brotherman Steve Gulley. The influence of these two guys will live on for a long, long time, and I dedicate the awards in their memory. Thanks so much to everyone who voted. Tim

STILL HERE, TIM AND STEVE GULLEY'S FINAL DUET RECORDING, AVAILABLE NOW... STILL HERE is the second and final duet record by Tim and the late, great Steve Gulley, who passed away just a few months after this, his last recording, was completed. Steve Gulley and Tim have enjoyed special acclaim as one of the most creative and successful songwriting teams in bluegrass music, with scores of recorded co-writes to their credit. They co-wrote the 2008 IBMA song of the year, "Through the Window of a Train," as well as a 2020 nominated song, "Both Ends of the Train," both recorded by Blue Highway. Their previous record, "Dogwood Winter," (2010) was critically-acclaimed. The title cut of this record, "Still Here," was #1 on the Bluegrass Today Top 30 Airplay chart on September 11, 2020. This collection of Tim and Steve's songs features Ron Stewart, Barry Bales, Dale Ann Bradley and Thomas Cassell. We hope it is a fitting legacy to Steve, because he is definitely "still here" through his music. Available now in my store

December 14, 2020—
GRAMMY, DOVE, IBMA and SPBGMA AWARD-winning guitarist, singer and songwriter TIM STAFFORD is proud to release his fourth solo record, TUNES & BALLADS on December 14, 2020. Stafford, a former member of Alison Krauss’s Union Station and a founding member of perennial Bluegrass powerhouse Blue Highway, was named IBMA’s Songwriter of the year in 2014 and 2017 and co-wrote IBMA’s 2008 Song of the Year, “Through the Window of a Train.”
TUNES & BALLADS features 15 of Tim’s compositions, 10 instrumental and 7 vocals, along with a cover of Bobby’s Hebb’s 1960s anthem “Sunny.” Like the title says, the record is a mix of solo, duet and trio instrumentals—much like those featured on Tim’s critically-acclaimed 2017 release Acoustic Guitar—and story songs, four of which were co-written with Tim’s friends and collaborators Craig Market, Joe Newberry, Jon Weisberger, and the late, great Steve Gulley. There are stories about great ships like the Titanic and Arizona, historical figures as disparate as Buffalo Bill Cody and Jack the Ripper, and tales of the loss of ways of life and old guitars. There are both flatpicked and fingerpicked originals—Tim was named the SPBGMA guitar player of the year in 2001 and 2015.
"An exquisite collection of original songs... So subtle and elegant throughout, Tim performs well balanced melodies. He makes it all sound so simple and effortless."
SEVERIN THEINERT for Uncut Grass, December 2020
"lonesome beauty... stylistic perfection and superb pacing... Tunes & Ballads will carry you away into nostalgias, perhaps for a place and time you have only imagined and can never experience for yourself. Such is the power of music... So it seems Tim has harnessed the power of nostalgia for not only places and distant times, but ones within ourselves as well."
BAMBI GRINDER, Writer and Editor, Noteworthymusic.com, February 5, 2021
"Stafford’s work and talents need no words of praise. His accomplishments would put three of him in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in Owensboro...a bravura display of storytelling and musicianship that opens the mind as much as the ear..."
DAVID MCCARTY, Bluegrass Unlimited, March 1, 2021
TUNES & BALLADS is available now at https://www.timstaffordguitar.com/store.

NOTE: NO LONGER AVAILABLE FOR INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING. The entire Bluegrass community is still mourning the loss of one of the giants in the genre's history, the legendary flapicker/singer Tony Rice in Reidsville, NC on Dec. 25, 2020. Tony's legacy is staggering in this corner of the music world, and his impact was broad, deep and will continue for years to come. Tim was privileged to co-write with Caroline Wright Tony's authorized biography, "Still Inside: The Tony Rice Story" (Word of Mouth Press, Kingsport, TN 2010) and it is available autographed by Tim in the store--https://www.timstaffordguitar.com/store.
He will be greatly missed by all his fans, devotees and admirers, and especially by his legion of friends. Rest well, Tony.
Online remembrances and articles:
Alec Wilkinson, "The Master Guitar Playing of Tony Rice," New Yorker magazine, Jan. 8, 2021 https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/the-master-guitar-playing-of-tony-rice?fbclid=IwAR1Yl4grRzjN9cGZikY7BtloDhFm4zSY0r-dXcHbzz-u_LlA9ykmz33DQJo
Molly Tuttle, Tony Rice Was My Guitar Hero, NPR, December 29, 2020 https://www.npr.org/2020/12/29/951149547/tony-rice-was-my-guitar-hero
Tony Russell, "Tony Rice obituary Guitarist and singer who took bluegrass in new directions by experimenting with its traditional repertoire" The Guardian, Mon 4 Jan 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/04/tony-rice-obituary
Chris Eldridge, "Tony Rice In Memoriam: Punch Brothers’ Chris Eldridge Salutes the Greatest Guitar Hero of Bluegrass," Variety, December 30, 2020. https://variety.com/2020/music/news/tony-rice-chris-eldridge-punch-brothers-bluegrass-guitarist-appreciation-1234877008/
Brian Mansfield, "Tony Rice: 1951 – 2020 Béla Fleck on the influence and inspiration of the bluegrass legend and guitar giant," December 29, 2020. Tidal.com, December 29, 2020. https://tidal.com/magazine/article/tony-rice-1951-2020/1-76154
Bill Friskics-Warren, "Tony Rice, Bluegrass Innovator With a Guitar Pick, Dies at 69," New York Times, Dec. 28, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/28/arts/music/tony-rice-dead.html