Blue Highway

For other uses, see Blue Highway (disambiguation).

Blue Highway
Dobro player Rob Ickes performs with Blue Highway. June 21, 2010
Background information
Origin	Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Genres	bluegrass, country, southern gospel
Years active	1994 - present
Members	Jason Burleson Rob Ickes Shawn Lane Tim Stafford Wayne Taylor
Website	http://www.bluehighwayband.com

Blue Highway is an American contemporary bluegrass band, based in Tennessee, formed in 1994. They have released nine CDs, their sixth and seventh – Wondrous Love (2003), and Marbletown (2005) – received Grammy Award nominations.

Background

After helping "found the band Dusty Miller," which was the 1990 SPBGMA International Bluegrass Band champion, and "a key player in Alison Krauss & Union Station when it was named IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 1991," Kingsport, Tennessee native Tim Stafford "organized" Blue Highway in 1994. The group's first project, It's a Long, Long Road, "spent six months at the top of the Bluegrass Unlimited charts and won IBMA's Album of the Year Award (1996)." Jason Burleson, the original banjo player with the group and a multi-instrumentalist, is a native of Newland, North Carolina., Rob Ickes, a Northern California native, moved to Nashville in 1992 and joined as a founding member in 1994. Ickes has won numerous awards for his playing. Vocalist, fiddler, and mandolin player Shawn Lane joined the group as a founding member after cutting "his musical teeth" in the bands of Ricky Skaggs and Doyle Lawson. Lane's songs have also been recorded by Ricky Skaggs, Ronnie Bowman, Mountain Heart, Blue Ridge, and other groups. Lead singer Wayne Taylor, who also plays bass, hails from Southwest Virginia and is also a founding member of the group.

Personnel

• Jason Burleson — banjo, guitar, mandolin
• Rob Ickes — dobro
• Shawn Lane — mandolin, fiddle, vocals
• Tim Stafford — guitar, vocals
• Wayne Taylor — bass, vocals

Honors, awards, distinctions

Grammy Nominations

• Best Bluegrass Album (2005): Marbletown
• Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album (2004): Wondrous Love

International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards

• Song of the Year (2008): "Through the Window of a Train"
• Gospel Recording of the Year (1997): "God Moves in a Windstorm"
• Gospel Recording of the Year (2004): "Wondrous Love"
• Emerging Artist of the Year (1996)
• Album of the Year Award (1996): It's a Long, Long Road
• Album of the Year Award (2006): Celebration of Life: Musicians Against Childhood Cancer
• Dobro Player of the Year (2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996): Rob Ickes

Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) Awards

• Gospel Group of the Year (Overall) (2005)
• Instrumental Group of the Year (2003)
• Dobro Performer of the Year (2003): Rob Ickes
• Bass Performer of the Year (2001): Wayne Taylor
• Guitar Performer of the Year (2001): Tim Stafford

Dove Award

• Best Bluegrass Album (2004): Wondrous Love

Touring

Blue Highway has toured extensively, including the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival in 2005.

Discography

Albums

Title	Album details	Peak positions
		US Bluegrass
It's a Long Long Road	Release date: July 4, 1995 Label: Rebel Records	—
Wind to the West	Release date: July 16, 1996 Label: Rebel Records	—
Midnight Storm	Release date: January 27, 1998 Label: Rebel Records	—
Blue Highway	Release date: July 13, 1999 Label: Skaggs Family Records	—
Still Climbing Mountains	Release date: September 11, 2001 Label: Rounder Records	—
Wondrous Love	Release date: June 24, 2003 Label: Rounder Records	10
Marbletown	Release date: June 7, 2005 Label: Rounder Records	4
Lonesome Pine	Release date: April 25, 2006 Label: Rebel Records	—
Through the Window of a Train	Release date: February 12, 2008 Label: Rounder Records	2
Some Day: The Fifteenth Anniversary Collection	Release date: January 19, 2010 Label: Rounder Records	5
Sounds of Home	Release date: August 23, 2011 Label: Rounder Records	8
The Game	Release date: January 21, 2014 Label: Rounder Records	4
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

External links

• Official website
• Template:Myspace
• "Blue Highway - Biography". Country Music Television.
• Leaver, Jack. Biography of Blue Highway at AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
• Tim Stafford
• "Blue Highway's Red-Hot Bluegrass". All Things Considered. NPR Music. December 25, 2005.