Songwriting In The Quarantine

Photo By Ben Bateson Tim Stafford was named IBMA Songwriter of the Year in 2014 and 2017, tapped for co-writing the IBMA Song of the year in 2008, and in 2020 has been again nominated for Song of the Year as co-writer (with Steve Gulley) of “Both Ends of the Train.” As guitarist for Blue Highway (recipient of more than 30 IBMA awards and once again nominated as IBMA Vocal Group of the Year for 2020), Tim’s credentials as a songwriter stand for themselves.  BU: Let’s start at the beginning, which is songwriting solo. When I first started out that’s all I did, but I slowly got to where I would collaborate more and more. Once you get into collaborating, it’s hard to go back to doing a lot of solo writing. These days I don’t do a lot. I was looking at my list and, as of today, I have written 51 songs during the pandemic, 49 of which are co-writes. That’s the ratio I’m at these days. I went several years where I did not write any solo things, but I have had a