Jim Stafford
on the Springfield Little Theatre stage and ran for a season in Branson.
Born in Winterhaven, Florida, Jim Stafford grew up with notable musicians from Florida, Bobby Braddock, Kent LaVoie and Gram Parsons (of the Byrds) played together in a band, each member of this little “garage band” going on to national success in the music business. Jim was introduced to comedy while playing with Jumpin’ Bill Carlisle in Nashville as a guitarist.
Jim Stafford wrote and recorded his first chart making song, The Swamp Witch, produced by his boyhood friend Kent LaVoie a/k/a Lobo in 1974. He followed with a gold single, Spiders and Snakes, which stayed on the American pop charts for 26 weeks. The hits just kept coming and included My Girl Bill, Wildwood Weed, and the wonderfully satirical Cow Patti, written for the Clint Eastwood movie, Any Which Way You Can, in which Jim appeared.
National Television Star
Jim launched his television career with The Jim Stafford Show on ABC in 1975. His numerous television appearances included music specials, variety shows, and talk shows. He co-hosted the popular prime-time show Those Amazing Animals with Burgess Meredith and Pricilla Presley. Jim also hosted 56 episodes of Nashville on the Road and made 26 appearances on the Tonight Show. In 1987 & 1988, Jim was a regular performer and head write/producer for the Emmy-nominated Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. He has also worked with Joan Rivers, Tina Turner, Sammy Davis Jr., Bruce Springsteen, Glenn Campbell, Gallagher and many others.
Songwriter
Jim wrote many of the songs for which he is famous and has brought his inimitable style to several movie soundtracks. He received a gold record for his work in the Disney movie The Fox and The Hound and writes for other popular artists such as his Can’t Get The Hell Out of Texas recorded by George Jones and Jerry Reed. Recently Jim has written and recorded such songs as Layenda Pipeline, Don’t Be Chicken When It’s Time To Crow, Talk That Guitar and more. He has released his second classical guitar album Somewhere In Time and recently released another album Don’t Tell Mama I’m A Guitar Picker.
