ACUTABGuitar transcriptions from Knee Deep in Bluegrass
featuring transcriptions for Kenny Smith & Tim Stafford - tab and standard
Knee Deep In Bluegrass was selected in November of 2001 as the Instrumental Album of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. Small wonder for a recording that features the playing of some of the most celebrated artists in bluegrass music on a single CD
The guitar chores on Knee Deep were handled by the able pair of Kenny Smith and Tim Stafford, and their contributions are documented in this new AcuTab book - in both tab and standard notation. Learn their solos for some new tunes and a couple of great standards. Of special interest is their superb duet version of Angeline The Baker, included here in its entirety. - 13 pages of music for this piece alone!
In addition to all these great solos, AcuTab's Andy Friedman has put together a 10 page section on rhythm guitar playing which includes rhythm/backup transcriptions for 4 examples of Tim's accompaniment on the Knee Deep CD. Andy also presents a great overview of the basic chord forms used in bluegrass rhythm guitar playing.
Ordered together with the Knee Deep CD, this Knee Deep In Guitar book offers
a great, close up examination of the soloing styles of two important and influential
guitarists plus a great look at Tim Stafford's rhythm playing as well.
(Rebel 1759)
Lonesome Wind - Kenny Smith
Angeline The Baker - Kenny Smith and Tim Stafford
Knee Deep In Bluegrass - Tim Stafford
Carter's Blues - Tim Stafford
Pretty Boy Floyd - Tim Stafford
Buffalo Creek - Tim Stafford
Golden Slippers - Tim Stafford
By Stealth - Tim Stafford
Daddy's Dream - Tim Stafford
Kenny Smith started playing the guitar at the age of four
in Nine Mile, Indiana. Kenny comes from a musical family with deep roots in the
line of Tennessee fiddlers. His Grandfather and Father both were fiddlers and
his brother, Sonny was a Winfield banjo champion. Kenny placed three times at
the Winfield Flatpicking Championship. He also won the Merle Watson Guitar championship.
Numerous awards include being voted three time winner of the Society Preservation
of Bluegrass Music in America Guitar player of the year and the Bluegrass Now
Fans Choice Guitar Player of the year. Last but not least, Kenny won the prestigious
IBMA guitar player of the year for two years. Kenny has played in two prominent
Bluegrass bands: Claire Lynch and the Front Porch String Band and the Award winning
Lonesome River Band. His stint with LRB lasted from 1995-2001. Kenny’s solo CD
project, Studebaker gained him recognition as not only a guitarist but a singer/songwriter
as well. 
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 “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; Rockygrass Academy of Lyons, CO; CBA Music Camp at Grass Valley, CA.; 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