Blue Highway Fest in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, named IBMA Bluegrass Event of the Year in 2023, is holding an on-site guitar raffle October 8-12 to benefit the IBMA Foundation. Built by luthier Rufus Thames of Bristol, Virginia, the prize guitar known as “Ole Rufus” dreadnought guitar #54 is patterned after Tim Stafford’s 1934 Martin D-18. The strikingly beautiful instrument has a mahogany back and sides with an Appalachian red spruce sunburst top, and it comes with the D’Addario Humidipak humidity control system and a deluxe Crossrock case. The guitar is valued at $8,000
Raffle tickets will be sold at the festival, where the drawing will also be held. Half of the proceeds will go to the East Tennessee State University Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies program, and the other half will go to the IBMA Foundation.
“I know first-hand what great work the IBMA Foundation does because I was a board member for a number of years,” said Tim Stafford. “There’s not an organization anywhere that makes a bigger investment in the future of bluegrass music by supporting educational programs. That’s why I wanted to take the opportunity to offer this guitar for raffle to benefit the Foundation at Blue Highway Fest 2025 in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Rufus Thames’s beautiful, handcrafted guitars are among the best modern guitars available.”
More info on Rufus Thames guitars HERE.
RETURN to the October 2025 issue of The Cornerstone.
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