Jim Stafford

• Artist: Jim Stafford
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1974
• Total Time: 36:15
• Genre: Country

Review

Jim Stafford's self-titled debut album gave him four Top 40 chart singles, with the schoolboyish charm of "Spiders and Snakes" reaching the highest at number three in July of 1973. His friendly voice and novelty style of songwriting actually carried some well-deserved weight, especially throughout the lesson-teaching lightheartedness of "Swamp Witch," a well-crafted story song, and again on the laughable "My Girl Bill." "Wildwood Weed" sticks with Stafford's love of playing with words, and non-hits like "I Ain't Sharin' Sharon" and "16 Little Red Noses and a Horse That Sweats" carry on with the same type of innocent jocularity that ran amuck throughout the mid-'70s, bolstered by artists like Ray Stevens and CW McCall. Either this album or any of his hits packages will satisfy any interest. ~ Mike DeGagne, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
L.A. Mamma	Jim Stafford	Jim Stafford	(2:24)
I Ain't Sharin' Sharon	Jim Stafford	Jim Stafford	(2:14)
Medley: Mr. Bojangles/A Visit With an Old Friend	Jim Stafford, Jerry Jeff Walker	Jim Stafford	(5:10)
Wildwood Weed	Jim Stafford, Don Bowman	Jim Stafford	(2:41)
16 Little Red Noses and a Horse That Sweats	Jim Stafford	Jim Stafford	(3:54)
Spiders and Snakes (Lyrics)	Jim Stafford, David Bellamy	Jim Stafford	(3:07)
The Last Chant	Jim Stafford	Jim Stafford	(3:19)
My Girl Bill (Lyrics)	Jim Stafford	Jim Stafford	(3:13)
Nifty Fifties Blues	Jim Stafford	Jim Stafford	(3:03)
A Real Good Time	Jim Stafford, Martin Cooper	Jim Stafford	(3:33)
Swamp Witch (Lyrics)	Jim Stafford	Jim Stafford	(3:48)

Credits

Jim Stafford (Guitar (Acoustic)), Jim Stafford (Banjo), Jim Stafford (Guitar), Jim Stafford (Harmonica), Jim Stafford (Main Performer), Lobo (Producer), Gallagher (?), Richard Rodney Bennett (Guitar (Acoustic)), Richard Rodney Bennett (Guitar (Electric)), John Abbott (Arranger), John Abbott (String Arrangements), Richard Bennett (Guitar (Acoustic)), Richard Bennett (Guitar), Richard Bennett (Guitar (Electric)), Ed Caraeff (Original Photography), Alan Estes (Conga), Phil Gernhard (Arranger), Phil Gernhard (Producer), Phil Gernhard (String Arrangements), Emory Gordy (Bass), Emory Gordy (Arranger), Emory Gordy (String Arrangements), Richard Hyde (Trombone), Michael Lietz (Engineer), Alan Lindgren (Synthesizer), Alan Lindgren (Keyboards), Tony Scotti (Production Service), Dennis St. John (Drums), Slyde Hyde (Trombone), Paul Bevoir (Package Redesign), Gary N. Mayo (Remixing), Gary N. Mayo (Mastering), David Larkham (Design)

See Jim Stafford Lyrics

• Born: January 16, 1944, Eloise, FL
• Active: '70s
• Genres: Country
• Instrument: Vocals
• Representative Albums: "Greatest Hits," "Jim Stafford," "Spiders & Snakes"
• Representative Songs: "Spiders and Snakes," "Wildwood Weed," "My Girl Bill"

Biography

Best known for his humorous country novelty songs of the mid-'70s, multi-instrumentalist Jim Stafford also enjoyed a lengthy career as a television personality and live entertainer. Stafford was born in 1944 in the Florida town of Eloise, near Winter Haven, and learned guitar from his father. He started playing in local bands as a teenager, including one, the Legends, that included future country-rock legend Gram Parsons, as well as Kent LaVoie, who would later become singer/songwriter Lobo. After high school, Stafford moved to Nashville and joined Jumpin' Bill Carlisle's backing band. He also worked on his songwriting and recorded some demos of his tunes, despite his distaste for his own singing voice. During one session, he developed the one-man band act that would later become part of his live performances, thanks to a drummer who abruptly walked out.

Stafford was performing in Clearwater, FL, when he ran into Lobo and asked if he would consider recording Stafford's original "The Swamp Witch." Lobo suggested that Stafford record it himself, and helped him land a contract with MGM; he would later produce many of Stafford's singles as well. "The Swamp Witch" scraped the bottom of the Top 40 in 1973, but it was the following year's "Spiders and Snakes" -- a song co-written with David Bellamy of the Bellamy Brothers -- that brought Stafford into the big time. The song peaked at number three on the pop charts, went gold, and helped make Stafford a household name. His sense of humor was also showcased on the follow-up hits "My Girl Bill" and "Wildwood Weed," the latter another Top Ten pop hit, and he charted in the Top 40 again in 1975 with "Your Bulldog Drinks Champagne" and "I Got Stoned and I Missed It."

By that time, Stafford was enough of a celebrity to get his own short-lived prime-time variety show, which ran during the summer of 1975. It was there that he met singer Bobbie Gentry, whom he married and later, in 1980, divorced. In 1981, Stafford appeared in the Clint Eastwood movie Any Which Way but Loose and contributed his last chart single, "Cow Patti," to the soundtrack. The following year, he wrote three songs for Disney's animated feature The Fox and the Hound. He hosted two television programs, Those Amazing Animals and Nashville on the Road, in the early '80s and later in the decade served as a writer for the Smothers Brothers' return to prime-time television. In the meantime, he continued to tour and recorded a few one-off singles for various labels. In 1990, he settled in Branson, MO, which has since become a mecca for country music and family entertainment; he currently owns his own theater there and plays over 350 shows a year. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Greatest Hits Buy this CD

Best of Jim Stafford Buy this CD

Jim Stafford Buy this CD

Jim Stafford Buy this CD

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jim stafford