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.
