Tim Stafford To Sign New CD At BCMA Museum

Blue Highway' co-founder, guitarist and vocalist Tim Stafford will be on-hand to sign copies of his new solo CD entitled 'Endless Line' at the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance Museum & Gift Shop on Wednesday, August 17 at 7:00 pm. The Birthplace of Country Music Alliance Museum Gift Shop is located on the lower level of the Bristol Mall, 500 Gate City Highway in Bristol, Virginia.

Tim's new CD features John Cowan, Adam Steffey, Steve Gulley, Rob Ickes, Jimmy van Cleve, Ron Stewart, Jason Moore, Keith Williams, Robert Hale, Darrell Webb, Kevin Jackson, Glenn Harlowe, Tommy Starnes, Rushad Eggleston and Bobby Starnes.

There are fourteen cuts-- seven instrumental and seven vocal -- and nine original songs. Tracks include: Cold Harbor; Rider On An Endless Line; The Kid; Methodist Preacher; Bad Reputation; Mamma Llama; Danville Girl; Obsession; Rain; Indigo Blue; Holiday on Mission Street; If Only For A Day; If I Had the Money I Would Ride That Train; and, The Reason.

Tony Rice says, "Tim Stafford was one of my favorite guitar players before he was anyone else's favorite. If you can wear out a CD, I would have worn this one out already. The album is amazing."

"Tim sounds great. It's rare these days to hear a musician that writes, arranges, sings and plays his own music. Tim does all four with a quality and perspective that is unsurpassed. I'm proud to call a guy like Tim Stafford a friend. Congratulations on a great solo record, Tim!," comments Bryan Sutton.

"Tim Stafford has been a immensely talented guitarist, songwriter, arranger, singer, producer and band member/leader for many years. I have gotten to know Tim in the past few years and his stature as a person is also a benefit to anyone meeting him. His new recording, "Endless Line" can only be further testament to Tim's talents and compassion for music. The songs, variety and quality of this set of music allow an insight to parts of his music that some of us have never seen, and I am glad to get the chance to finally see. For starters. the first three songs "Cold Harbor", "Rider on an Endless Line" and "The Kid" are nothing short of pure musical art. Within these three original compostions (there are 9 that Tim wrote or co-wrote here), I feel as if I can hear the influences of Tony Rice, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Marty Robbins (or Zane Grey), and more, and that's just for starters. He allows his expanse of other influences to give him cause for more artwork throughout the recording. I think Tim brought a wonderful team of musicians and vocalists to illustrate his work here. The groove and pocket created by all, especially Tim, Adam Steffey and Jason Moore make you feel -to use an anecdote- like you're "riding in a Cadillac", and that feel comes through to the listener. You put the driving banjo of Ron Stewart and the fiddle voice of Jim Van Cleve in the mix and the result is a 'must have' CD for any music lover. Bluegrass... and beyond", enthuses Jim Hurst.

A native of Kingsport, Tennessee, Tim began playing guitar seriously at the age of 18 after starting out on the banjo four years earlier. He played with various groups in the Tri-Cities area of East Tennessee as a teenager, including Mountain Memories. As a member of Kingsport's Boys in the Band, he was a judge at the 1980 National Flatpicking Championship in Winfield Kansas. Later, he helped found the band Dusty Miller, which was named SPBGMA International Bluegrass Band champions in 1990.

A few months later he joined Alison Krauss and Union Station, along with Adam Steffey and Barry Bales. The band was named "IBMA Entertainer of the Year" in 1991. He left Krauss's band in May 1992 in order to spend more time with his son Daniel, who was born in January of that year. Tim won a Grammy in January 1993 for his work on Krauss' “Every Time You Say Goodbye” (Rounder, 1992).

In 1994, he organized the group Blue Highway, whose first project, “ It’s a Long, Long Road,” spent six months at the top of the Bluegrass Unlimited charts and went on to win IBMA’s "Album of the Year" Award (1996). The band has also been awarded "Emerging Artist of the Year" (1996) and "Gospel Recording of the Year" (1997).

The band’s project on Ricky Skaggs's Ceili Music label, “ Blue Highway,” spent two months at #1 on the Bluegrass Now charts. Blue Highway's gospel recording "Wondrous Love" (2003) was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album" category. "Wondrous Love" won the Dove Award in 2004 for "Best Bluegrass Recording".

Before playing music full-time, Tim was involved in higher education. He finished PhD coursework in History at Miami University in 1986 and has taught courses for seven years at four different Colleges and Universities, including both
Western Civilization and American History surveys and one upper-division course on Mass Communications and Popular Culture. He was a research associate/instructor at the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services at East Tennessee State University for over three years.

The documentary record "Down Around Bowmantown," which Tim co-produced there, was placed on the Library of Congress American Folklife Center's "Selected List of American Folk Music Recordings" for 1989. He also taught guitar and banjo at ETSU’s famed Bluegrass and Country Music Program. Tim has taught guitar and bluegrass at Augusta Heritage in Elkins, WV; Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, TX; Steve Kaufman’s Flatpicking Camp in Maryville, TN; Bluegrass at the Beach at Nehalem, OR; Sore Fingers UK; Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend in Roanoke, VA; Wintergrass in Tacoma, WA, and Nashcamp in Nashville, TN plus numerous festival and event workshops across the country.

Acutab Publications published a transcription book of his solos on Blue Highway recordings in 1998, while Flatpicking guitar magazine released his first instructional video, “ Acoustic Guitar Fundamentals,” in 2001. In January 2001, Tim was voted the guitar performer of the year in bluegrass music at the 27th Annual Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America Awards Show in Nashville.

In addition, he’s a former Vice Chair of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Board of Directors as well as a member of the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance based in Bristol.

Tim’s songs have been recorded by Ronnie Bowman, Claire Lynch, Mountain Heart, Dan Tyminski, Jim Hurst, Mark Newton, Scottie Sparks and the Lonesome River Band, in addition to Blue Highway. " Born With A Hammer in my Hand" by Tim and Shawn Lane, was nominated for song of the year at the 2000 IBMA Awards. At the 2001 IBMA Awards, Tim was honored as producer and performer on “Knee Deep in Bluegrass: The Acutab Sessions,” which won "Instrumental Recording of the Year".

He is also co-chair of the Music Group of the 2003 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Curatorial Committee. Tim has earned numerous awards and honors including the Ketron Ruritan Scholarship, 1978 Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Gamma Mu and Phi Alpha Theta honor societies 1980 Brown Scholar Award in History Outstanding Student in History, ETSU, 1981-82 Colonial Dames Award, 1981-82 President, Tennessee Eta Chapter of Pi Gamma Mu, 1981-82 Pi Gamma Mu International Scholarship Award, 1984 Judge, 1980 National Flatpicking Championship, Winfield, Kansas Graduate prize, Carolinas Symposium on British Studies, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, October, 1986. Member of Dusty Miller, 1990 SPBGMA International Bluegrass Band Champions Member of Alison Krauss and Union Station, 1991 IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) Entertainers of the Year Grammy Award Winner, 1992 Judge, 1993 Pizza Hut International Bluegrass Showdown IBMA Board of Directors, 1993-98 Vice-Chair, IBMA Board of Directors, 1995-98 Best Bluegrass Album, National Association of Independent Record Distributors, 1993 IBMA Album of the Year, 1993 "Every Time You Say Goodbye", AKUS) Business Journal/Sheraton Plaza "40 Under 40," 1993 IBMA "Emerging Artist of the Year" 1996 (Blue Highway), IBMA "Album of the Year", 1996 (It's a Long, Long Road, Blue Highway) Member, Ruritan National, 1997-2000. IBMA "Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year", "God Moves in a Windstorm," 1997 Bluegrass Now "Emerging Artists of the Year", 1998 Kentucky Colonel, 1998 Member, BCMA (Birthplace of Country Music Alliance) Board of Directors, 1996-2000. Blue Highway, "Blue Highway" #1 on Bluegrass Now Sales chart, October 1999 Guitar Player of the Year, SPBGMA Awards, 2001 IBMA "Instrumental Recording of the Year," Knee Deep in Bluegrass: The Acutab Sessions, 2001