A reader posted a question a few weeks back on The B, asking about the publication date for the Tony Rice biography currently being compiled by Tim Stafford and Caroline Wright.

Our readers surely know Tim as a member of Blue Highway, and as the writer of some of the most artful and intelligent songs to be recorded in bluegrass music this past few years. Fewer may know Caroline, who is a writer living in Hawaii, and also the founder and president of Bluegrass Hawai`i, an organization dedicated to popularizing bluegrass music in the islands community.

Tim and Caroline are tag-teaming this effort, with Tim covering the musical side of Tony’s life, and Caroline the personal. The book grew from a lengthy article Wright wrote about Tony for Listener magazine (now defunct). The article, A Day In The Life Of The World’s Best Guitarist, followed Tony for a 24 hour period, and offered a mix of narrative and interview along with quotes from his friends and peers. The new book is expected to follow a similar format.

When I caught up with Tim recently, he had this to say about their progress on the book:

“Caroline and I are hoping to have all the interviews together, and Tony’s narrative edited together, for him to review at Merlefest next spring. That’s the goal anyway. I just did a three-day long interview with him down here in Bristol, and have been working on transcribing it. There is still a lot of work ahead, but we’re shooting for an ‘07 release.”

Tim is forming his own imprint to publish the Tony Rice book, along with Bobby Starnes and Johnny Burton, and they have plans for a series of music biographies after this one is completed.