Tim Stafford is a guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of Blue Highway. He played in Alison Krauss and Union Station from 1990 to 1992, then started Blue Highway in 1994. He has won IBMA Songwriter of the Year three times, and more than 400 of his songs have been recorded. He also co-wrote the authorized biography of Tony Rice.
Why Stafford matters
Stafford proves that a bluegrass guitarist can lead from the rhythm chair and the writing desk at the same time. Blue Highway has kept its core lineup for three decades, and Stafford’s guitar sets the pace. His songs give jammers new material that sounds old. If your jam has called Through the Window of a Train, you have played a Stafford song.
Life and career
Stafford was born in 1960 and grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee. He found bluegrass as a high school freshman in the mid 1970s. He started on drums, moved to banjo, then took up guitar in the late 1970s. In the late 1980s he played in Dusty Miller with Adam Steffey, Tammy Rogers, and Barry Bales. In 1990 he took his first full-time job in music with Alison Krauss and Union Station, and he stayed until 1992.
Stafford co-founded Blue Highway in 1994 with Wayne Taylor, Shawn Lane, Jason Burleson, and Rob Ickes. Their first album, It’s a Long, Long Road, came out on Rebel in 1995. The IBMA named it Album of the Year in 1996 and named Blue Highway New Artist of the Year the same night. The band moved to Rounder for Wondrous Love (2003) and Marbletown (2005). Ickes left in 2015. The band released Original Traditional on Rounder in 2016 and has earned three Grammy nominations.
Stafford made his first solo record, Endless Line, in 2004. He has since released solo guitar albums and duet records with Steve Gulley, Bobby Starnes, and Thomm Jutz. He studied history at East Tennessee State University and Miami University and has taught at both. He served as artist in residence at ETSU from 2023 to 2025.
Playing style
Stafford calls himself a songwriter and guitarist first, in that order. His guitar work serves the song. In Blue Highway he plays lead breaks that stay close to the melody and rhythm that stays out of the way of the vocal.
He plays with a flatpick most of the time, but he also fingerpicks. Some of his solo pieces use DADGAD tuning. His solo albums Acoustic Guitar (2017), Tunes & Ballads (2020), and Guitar Melodies (2023) put those two approaches side by side. Listen for clean tone, even timing, and no wasted notes.
Influences and legacy
Stafford names the original Blue Grass Boys, Jimmie Rodgers, Robert Johnson, and Tony Rice as his heroes. He calls the 1975 J.D. Crowe and the New South album, Rounder 0044, the high-water mark of bluegrass. He co-wrote Still Inside: The Tony Rice Story (2010), the authorized Rice biography.
He has taught at Rockygrass Academy, Camp Bluegrass, Augusta Heritage, Wintergrass Academy, Sore Fingers in the UK, and Kaufman’s Flatpicking Camp. He has had more than 400 songs recorded and has served four terms on the IBMA board.
Signature tunes and songs
Through the Window of a Train Lonesome State of Mind Both Ends of the Train Someday Shoulda Took a Train.
Essential recordings
It’s a Long, Long Road, with Blue Highway (Rebel, 1995) Wondrous Love, with Blue Highway (Rounder, 2003) Endless Line (FGM, 2004) Original Traditional, with Blue Highway (Rounder, 2016) Tunes & Ballads (Hedge Drive, 2020)
Awards and honors
IBMA New Artist of the Year, with Blue Highway (1996) IBMA Album of the Year, with Blue Highway, It’s a Long, Long Road (1996) IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year, with Blue Highway, God Moves in a Windstorm (1997) SPBGMA Guitar Performer of the Year (2000, 2001, 2015) IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year, Knee-Deep in Bluegrass: The AcuTab Sessions (2001) IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year, with Blue Highway, Wondrous Love (2004) IBMA Album of the Year, Fork in the Road (2007) IBMA Song of the Year, Through the Window of a Train, co-written with Steve Gulley (2008) IBMA Songwriter of the Year (2014, 2017, 2023) Distinguished Alumnus in the Arts, East Tennessee State University (2015) IBMA Liner Notes of the Year (2021) IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year, In the Resurrection Morning (2021)
Watch and listen
Stafford plays and sings his song Shoulda Took a Train alone with his guitar. Watch how his rhythm hand keeps the pulse under the vocal.
Stafford plays Both Ends of the Train on his own channel. Listen for the melody-first solo lines.
What to learn from Stafford
Learn Through the Window of a Train from the Blue Highway record. It is a mid-tempo song with a chorus everyone can sing. The technique to steal is his restraint. Play a break that follows the melody for the first half before you add anything. Then work on rhythm that leaves room for the singer. Stafford has kept a band working for thirty years by playing what the song needs.
Sources
Tim Stafford, Bio Tim Stafford, IBMA award recipients Blue Highway, IBMA award recipients Steve Gulley, IBMA award recipients Tim Stafford Honored as 2017 IBMA Songwriter of the Year, Blue Highway 20:20 with Tim Stafford, NoteWorthy Music Blue Highway, Wikipedia
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more flatpickers. Stafford learned from Tony Rice and wrote his biography. He has picked with Jim Hurst on stage. Bryan Sutton and Kenny Smith are two other band guitarists who play for the song first.