James Stroud

James Stroud is a legendary music man whose career crosses genres and decades with ease. His legacy includes 133 #1 records, over 52 million albums sold, four Album of the Year and six Producer of the Year awards, and stretches from a Grammy nomination for his work on Dorothy Moore’s pop smash “Misty Blue” to five consecutive #1 singles by country star Chris Young to working with Kelly Clarkson and producing Reba’s number one album, Love Somebody. Along with the success of music Stroud was appointed and served a term as a Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commissioner in 2014-2020. He is happily married to his wife Tamara Stroud and reside outside of Nashville, TM.

Being tapped as one of music’s most successful label executives, from his

years at Capitol Records, Giant Records, DreamWorks Records Nashville and Universal Music Group. Few people have contributed more to the shape and direction of music in recent decades, and few resumes have been so relevant for so long. Behind it all, though, is a simple mind set Stroud is quick to cite.“For me,” he says, “the music has always come first."

It is a philosophy that has given him accomplishments matched by few in the industry, producing a record of achievement that is an ever-growing testament to his wide-ranging talents, his eclectic interests, and his steady work ethic.

He has worked as a musician with Elton John, Isacc Hayes, Dionne Warwick, B. B. King, Sam & Dave, ,Paul Simon, Bob Seger, Gladys Knight and Joe Cocker, among many others. As a publisher, he founded and ran one of the most successful independent companies in country music—The Writer's Group, a Grammy-winning and hit-producing powerhouse. Its writers turned out many of Randy Travis's hits, including “On The Other Hand,” “Diggin' Up Bones,” “Forever And Ever Amen,” as well as songs like the Forester Sisters' chart-topping “I Fell In Love.” In 1987, he sold the company and became co-owner of Hamstein Cumberland Music Group, which went on to win 31 BMI and 16 ASCAP awards. In his days of music James was an architect of sound. He worked with Paul Davis as a session percussionist keyboardist. They started Web IV studios. Where he produced numerous acts had a vast collection of Synthesizers and guitars. James collaborated even with producers Nick Launay, Mike Thorne, Brian Eno, Tony Visconti.        

As a producer, Stroud's highlights include Toby Keith's career-rejuvenating multi-selling million albums with the ACM’s Album of the Year How Do You Like Me Now and Shock’ N’ Yall.. He produced the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill smash “It's Your Love,” which spent six weeks at #1 in Billboard and was 1997's CMA and ACM Single of the Year; McGraw's “Just To See You Smile,” which spent 42 consecutive weeks on the Billboard chart, including six at #1; and Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, the triple-platinum 1994 CMA Album of the Year. How Do You Like Me Now was awarded He produced or co-produced several other McGraw projects, as well as efforts by Clay Walker, whom he discovered, multi-platinum albums by Clint Black and Tracy Lawrence, gold and platinum projects by Lorrie Morgan, John Anderson, Little Texas, The Charlie Daniels Band, and Doug Stone, and projects by Wynonna, Randy Travis, Hank Williams Jr., Merle Haggard, Kenny Rogers, Barbara Mandrell, Collin Raye and Alabama and Kix Brooks.. All told, he has produced 226 singles that have hit the Top 20.

He produced Clint Black’s Killin' Time, a critical and commercial smash that reached #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and went platinum. "A Better Man" topped the singles chart, and Black swept the CMA Awards that year and had the #1 and #2 singles on the year-end country singles chart. Stroud was named the ACM's Producer of the Year. A year later, he was Billboard's Top Country Producer, an award he would win back-to-back while heading the Warner label group Giant Nashville.  His genre as producer would also grow to include Melissa Etheridge, Aaron Neville and The Neville Brothers and currently Aaron Lewis, lead singer of the multi selling rock group Stained.

It is a mark of his broad knowledge of the industry, though, that many of his key accomplishments have come as a label executive. In 1992, after a stint at Capitol, he headed the start-up of Giant Records' Nashville office, which was three years ahead of its original sales projections by 1994, spurred by the Eagles tribute and Clay Walker albums.

He was then tapped to head up Dreamworks Records, the Nashville music arm of the entertainment giant founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen as a multi-media company. For the first half of the '00s, the label, with a roster that included Keith, Randy Travis, Tracy Lawrence, Darryl Worley and others, had one of the genre's most impressive runs.

"I rely on the music first," he says. "I always have. I don't follow trends, which means I have had a tendency to set them. I have a saying: 'You either make dust or eat dust.'"

The breadth of his musical knowledge and his rapport with musicians are exemplified by the TV specials he has overseen, particularly as musical director of Willie Nelson & Friends: Alive & Kickin', in honor of Nelson's 70th birthday. The show featured a wide range of performers including Shania Twain, ZZ Top, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Ray Price, Steven Tyler, Norah Jones, Kid Rock, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards among many others.

"It was challenging to pull all of those different styles and genres of music into a two-hour show with Willie as the anchor," he says, "but it came together and it was one of the most fun things I've ever done."

The latest success speak to the fact that the magic is still happening, and Stroud has never been more active--or more enthusiastic—about the music he is making.

"Good artists and good music still excite me," he says. "It goes back to what I felt as a kid, which is the power of music and what it did to me as I grew up, and what it did for me as a player. It gave me a way out of a pretty tough life, and it also educated me. I travel around the world with it. If it hadn't been for music, I would have been back in Shreveport driving a truck. Every day, I get to do the same thing that got me so excited when I was a kid, Hearing a song for the first time, interpreting it, seeing if it works, and making something great out of it—It's a thrill you can't beat."

The fact that country artists and music fans everywhere get to share that thrill is just one more part of Stroud’s growing legacy.

With Joe Cocker

• Civilized Man (Capitol Records, 1984)

With Dionne Warwick

• No Night So Long (Arista Records, 1980)

With Glen Campbell

• Walkin' in the Sun (Capitol Records, 1990)
• Unconditional Love (Liberty Records, 1991)

With Paul Simon

• There Goes Rhymin' Simon (Columbia Records, 1973)

With Melissa Manchester

• Melissa Manchester (Arista Records, 1979)
• For the Working Girl (Arista Records, 1980)

With Tim McGraw

• Tim McGraw (Curb Records, 1993)

With Carl Wilson

• Carl Wilson (Caribou Records, 1981)

With Joan Baez

• Play Me Backwards (Virgin Records, 1992)

With Nigel Olsson

• Nigel Olsson (Columbia Records, 1978)
• Nigel (Bang Records, 1979)
• Changing Tides (Epic Records, 1980)

With Tanya Tucker

• Changes (Arista Records, 1982)
• Girls Like Me (Capitol Records, 1986)
• Love Me Like You Used To (Capitol Records, 1987)
• Strong Enough to Bend (Capitol Records, 1988)

With Kenny Rogers

• I Prefer the Moonlight (RCA Records, 1987)
• If Only My Heart Had a Voice (Giant, 1993)

With Nicolette Larson

• ...Say When (MCA Records, 1985)