Steve Gulley and Tim Stafford to Mountain Home Music

Mountain Home Music Company has announced the signing of Steve Gulley and Tim Stafford for a duo project, with a debut single expected later this month.

The two men are good friends, and songwriting partners of long standing, with better than 70 recorded cuts of songs they have composed as a team. Though both are well established bluegrass titans, they have never performed together on a full time basis. But both have been involved with groundbreaking groups along the way.

Steve cut his grass teeth singing with his father, Don, and his Pinnacle Mountain Boys. As a young man, he sang at the Renfro Valley Park in Kentucky, where he was plucked by Doyle Lawson as tenor singer for Quicksilver. After leaving Doyle, Gulley was a founding member of Mountain Heart with whom he toured for many years, before helping start Grasstowne with Alan Bibey and Phil Leadbetter. These days he performs with his own band, New Pinnacle, and is in demand as a studio lead and harmony vocalist with many artists.

Tim has had a less complex band history, though he has also been involved in countless side projects and studio endeavors. Starting out as a banjo picker, he pitched to guitar when a band he was in required it, and played in a number of east Tennessee groups in his youth. His first widespread exposure came as a member of Alison Krauss & Union Station where he helped record their epic Every Time You Say Goodbye album. Upon his departure he was in on the ground floor during the formation of Blue Highway, with whom he has worked for 25 years.

Their duo album, Dogwood Winter, received high critical praise when it hit in 2010, and it’s a shame that it has taken a decade to see a follow-up. But ten years or ten days, this new Mountain Home project will be gratefully received by bluegrass and acoustic music lovers who appreciate a well written and carefully arranged song.

Stafford is delighted to be working with the label.

“I’m thrilled, and I know Steve is also, to be working with the folks at Mountain Home. Top-notch all the way!”

A single, Still Here, from the record is expect for release on June 26. It is highly-anticipated in this corner.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.