| James Stroud | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 4, 1949 [1] |
| Origin | Shreveport, Louisiana, USA |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupations | Session musician, record producer |
| Instruments | Guitar, synthesizer, drums |
| Years active | 1960s-present |
| Associated acts | Clay Walker, Darryl Worley |
James Stroud (born July 4, 1949 in Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American musician and record producer who works in pop, rock, and country music. In the 1990s he was the president of Giant Records (a subsidiary of Warner Bros. 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.
Stroud was born in Louisiana as one of five children. He began playing drums at local bar bands in Texas and Louisiana, He Worked with bands such as the The Hollies & Paul Davis in the 1960s, Him & Davis also took songwriting duties for Mississippi based Malaco Records which was an R&B Based label, He played produced for many acts throughout the 60's & 70's he also started playing Drums & Synthesizer with Paul Davis, taking influences from rock and R&B artists. In the early 1980s he began playing for Eddie Rabbitt.[2] From there, Stroud went on to 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 was named in 1989 by the Academy of Country Music as Producer of the Year.[2] 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, Tracy Lawrence, Daryle Singletary and Clay Walker.[2] At the same time, he produced acts not signed to the label as well. Between 1993 and 1994, twenty-one singles produced by Stroud reached the top of the country charts.[2]
After Giant Records closed in 2000, Stroud moved to DreamWorks Records Nashville, where he worked as a producer for several artists such as Darryl Worley. After the label was closed in 2005, Stroud joined Universal Music Group (DreamWorks' parent company) and served as co-CEO alongside Luke Lewis until 2007.[3] In July 2008, he founded a new label, Stroudavarious Records, to which he signed Worley as the flagship artist.[4]