In 2026, the highly-esteemed bluegrass band Blue Highway celebrates 32 years of touring, with four of the original members still intact. The group has earned a collective 32 IBMA Awards, 6 SPBGMA Awards, one Dove Award, plus three Grammy nominations. Their single “Lonesome State of Mind” was named the Most-Played Song in Bluegrass Music of 2023 by Bluegrass Today, and their most recent single “Is Now the Time?” hit #1 on the Bluegrass Today National Radio Survey in December 2025.
Blue Highway was voted the Favorite Bluegrass Artist of All Time by the readers of Bluegrass Today in April 2016. Blue Highway’s Grammy-nominated album Original Traditional (2016) topped the Billboard Bluegrass chart, and their album The Game spent 7 consecutive months at #1 on the Bluegrass Unlimited Album Chart.
The hallmark of the band over its span has been consistency and originality. The band is fiercely dedicated to original material, having recorded nearly 125 original songs since its inception. Their current lineup features Tim Stafford (guitar, vocals), Wayne Taylor (bass, vocals), Shawn Lane (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), Jason Burleson (banjo, vocals), and Gary Hultman (dobro, vocals). Tim Stafford was honored as 2023 IBMA Songwriter of the Year and was Artist in Residence at East Tennessee State University’s Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music program. Wayne Taylor was inducted into the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016. Shawn Lane is also a fan-favorite with the Grammy-winning Earls of Leicester. In 2026, Blue Highway celebrates the release of their first-ever live album, Live at ETSU!, featuring special guests including Barry Bales, Sierra Hull, and Justin Moses.