James Stroud


James Stroud is an American musician and record producer who works in pop, rock, R&B, soul, disco, and country music. He played with the Malaco Rhythm Section for Malaco Records. In the 1990s, he was the president of Giant Records and held several credits as a session drummer. He later worked for DreamWorks Records Nashville and in 2008 founded his own label, Stroudavarious Records.

Biography

Stroud began playing drums at local bar bands in Texas and Louisiana. Stroud worked with musicians such as Paul Davis in the 1960s. He and Davis also took on songwriting duties for Jackson, Mississippi-based Malaco Records. He played with and produced many acts throughout the 1960s and 1970s. While involved at Malaco, he worked with R&B artists, including Dorothy Moore, King Floyd, Frederick Knight, Jackie Moore, The Controllers, Fern Kinney, and Anita Ward. He co-produced and played on Dorothy Moore's "Misty Blue", which was a major US and UK hit, going on to sell over four million copies.
He was also a session musician working with the band, Sparks which he provided guitar, drums and keyboards. He also started playing drums and synthesizer with Paul Davis, taking influences from rock and R&B artists. In the early-1980s, he began playing for Eddie Rabbitt. From there, Stroud had become a prolific session drummer in Nashville, Tennessee, backing Ronnie Milsap, K.T. Oslin and others. He was also a member of the Marshall Tucker Band.
In the late-1980s, Stroud founded The Writers' Group, a publishing company. He also took up producing, and in 1989 was named by the Academy of Country Music as Producer of the Year. When Warner Bros. Records founded the Giant Records branch, Stroud became president of the new label and produced several of its acts, including Carlene Carter, Dennis Robbins, Tracy Lawrence, Daryle Singletary, Daron Norwood and Clay Walker. At the same time, he produced acts not signed to the label. Between 1993 and 1994, twenty-one singles produced by Stroud reached the top of the country charts.
After Giant Records closed in 2000, Stroud moved to DreamWorks Records Nashville, where he worked as a producer for several artists including Darryl Worley. After the label closed down in 2005, Stroud joined Universal Music Group and served as co-CEO alongside Luke Lewis until 2007. In July 2008 he founded a new label, Stroudavarious Records, to which he signed Worley as the flagship artist.

Collaborations

With AlabamaThe Touch When It All Goes South
With Joan BaezPlay Me Backwards
With Glen CampbellWalkin' in the Sun Unconditional Love
With Joe CockerCivilized Man
With Mark CollieTennessee Plates
With Crystal GayleTrue Love Straight to the Heart
With Patrick HernandezBorn to Be Alive
With High InergyHigh Inergy
With Nick KamenNick Kamen
With Toby KeithShock'n Y'all
With Gladys Knight & the PipsVisions
With Jean KnightMr. Big Stuff
With Nicolette Larson...Say When
With Tracy LawrenceSticks and Stones Alibis I See It Now
With Melissa ManchesterMelissa Manchester For the Working Girl
With Dean MartinThe Nashville Sessions
With Mac McAnallyNothing But the Truth
With Neal McCoyWhere Forever Begin
With Tim McGrawTim McGraw
With Bill MedleyStill Hung Up for You
With Ronnie MilsapKeyed Up One More Try for Love
With Jackie MooreSweet Charlie Babe
With Michael Martin MurpheyRiver of Time
With Anne MurrayHeart Over Mind
With Wayne NewtonComing Home
With The Oak Ridge BoysSeasons Christmas Again
With Nigel OlssonNigel Olsson Nigel Changing Tides
With Eddie RabbittHorizon Step by Step Radio Romance I Wanna Dance with You
With Lou RawlsWhen the Night Comes
With Dennis RobbinsMan With a Plan Born Ready
With Bruce RobertsCool Fool
With Kenny RogersI Prefer the Moonlight If Only My Heart Had a Voice
With Dan SealsStones Harbinger Rebel Heart On the Front Line
With Paul SimonThere Goes Rhymin' Simon
With Tanya TuckerChanges Girls Like Me Love Me Like You Used To Strong Enough to Bend
With Dionne WarwickNo Night So Long
With Carl Wilson