Tim Stafford to headline IBMA's 2026 business conference with 'From AI to G-Runs'
The Blue Highway guitarist will revisit three decades of change in bluegrass at IBMA's Chattanooga conference, with AI explicitly part of the keynote theme.
Sep 3, 2026
Credit: IBMA
The International Bluegrass Music Association has named Tim Stafford as the keynote speaker for its 2026 Business Conference in Chattanooga. Stafford, a Grammy-winning guitarist, songwriter, educator and founding member of Blue Highway, will speak on October 20 under the title “From AI to G-Runs,” looking back at how bluegrass has changed since his previous IBMA keynote in 1994.
The session will open with a performance by Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen before Stafford's address. IBMA's announcement frames the keynote around major shifts in the business and culture of bluegrass while keeping the music's core identity in view, giving a veteran player and educator a platform to connect tradition, technology and the modern scene.
Why it matters
A high-profile bluegrass guitarist addressing AI, industry change and musical tradition at the genre's main professional conference is an unusually direct intersection of guitar culture, education and technology.
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