jmjiloveyou

<h1>Jim Stafford</h1><h2><br></h2><h2>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</h2><p><br></p><p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Jim_Stafford_1975.JPG" alt="Stafford in 1975" height="811" width="684"></p><h2><br></h2><p><strong>James Wayne Stafford</strong> (born January 16, 1944)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a> is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and comedian. While prominent in the 1970s for his recordings "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiders_%26_Snakes_(song)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spiders &amp; Snakes</a>", "Swamp Witch", "Under the Scotsman's Kilt", "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Girl_Bill" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">My Girl Bill</a>", and "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildwood_Weed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wildwood Weed</a>",<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a> Stafford headlined at his own theater in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branson,_Missouri" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Branson, Missouri</a>, from 1990 to 2020.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-theatre-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[4]</a> Stafford is self-taught on guitar, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddle" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fiddle</a>, piano, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">banjo</a>, organ, and harmonica.</p><p><br></p><h2>Early years</h2><p>Stafford was raised in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Haven,_Florida" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Winter Haven, Florida</a>. In high school, he played in a band called the Legends, along with friends <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Braddock" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bobby Braddock</a>, Kent LaVoie (also known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobo_(musician)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lobo</a>) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_Parsons" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gram Parsons</a> (of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byrds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Byrds</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Burrito_Brothers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Flying Burrito Brothers</a>).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-Larkin-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[5]</a></p><h2>Career</h2><h3>Recording history</h3><p>Stafford's first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_chart" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">chart</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hit_record" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hit</a> was "Swamp Witch", produced by Lobo,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-The_Book_of_Golden_Discs-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[6]</a> which cracked the U.S. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_40" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">top 40</a> in July 1973. On March 2, 1974, his biggest hit, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiders_%26_Snakes_(song)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spiders &amp; Snakes</a>", peaked at number three on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Billboard</em></a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hot 100</a> and number 14 in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BBC</a> Top 50 in the UK, selling over two million copies, earning a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_recording_sales_certification" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">gold disc</a> by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RIAA</a> that month.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-The_Book_of_Golden_Discs-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[6]</a> Stafford continued to have moderate chart success through most of 1975 with an additional minor hit called "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Girl_Bill" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">My Girl Bill</a>" which reached number 20 in the BBC Top 50 chart a year earlier in 1974.</p><h3>Television work</h3><p>Stafford's first televised appearance was in 1974 on a show called <em>Rock Concert</em> that aired in the United Kingdom.</p><p><em>The Jim Stafford Show</em> was a six-week summer variety series shown on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Broadcasting_Company" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC</a> from July&nbsp;30,&nbsp;1975 to September&nbsp;3,&nbsp;1975. It featured <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Curtin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Valerie Curtin</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stahl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Richard Stahl</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Allen" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Deborah Allen</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyndi_Wood" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cyndi Wood</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallagher_(comedian)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gallagher</a>, and was co-produced by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Scotti" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tony Scotti</a>. Stafford, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Warren" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rod Warren</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Kelly" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">April Kelly</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Proft" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pat Proft</a> were among the writers on the series.</p><p>In 1976, Stafford guest-starred in two episodes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_Man_(TV_series)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Gemini Man</em></a>, which were later combined into a TV movie titled <em>Riding with Death</em>. He also guest-starred in the episode "The Understudy" on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Love_Boat" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Love Boat</em></a>.</p><p>Stafford appeared numerous times on music specials, variety shows, and talk shows. He was a frequent guest on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tonight_Show" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Tonight Show</em></a>. He co-hosted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Those_Amazing_Animals" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Those Amazing Animals</em></a> with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgess_Meredith" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Burgess Meredith</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscilla_Presley" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Priscilla Presley</a>, from 1980 to 1981, and also hosted 56 episodes of <em>Nashville on the Road</em>.</p><p>Stafford was credited with being the supervising writer for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smothers_Brothers_Comedy_Hour#Revival" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour</em></a> revival show, which aired on CBS in 1988.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[7]</a></p><h3>Songwriting</h3><p>Stafford contributed to several movie soundtracks. He received a gold record for his work on the Disney movie <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Hound" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Fox and the Hound</em></a>. He wrote "Cow Patti" for the Clint Eastwood movie <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Any_Which_Way_You_Can" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Any Which Way You Can</em></a> and appeared in the movie. His work has been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_version" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">covered</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jones" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">George Jones</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Reed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jerry Reed</a>. His second classical guitar album, <em>Somewhere in Time</em>, appeared in March 2002. His most recent comedy album was <em>Don't Tell Mama I'm a Guitar Picker, She Thinks I'm Just in Jail</em>. In 2010, he produced and recorded his first Christmas album, <em>A Guitar for Christmas</em>.</p><h3>Live performances</h3><p>Stafford operated and performed at the Jim Stafford Theatre in Branson, Missouri, beginning in 1990.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-theatre-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a> His children, Sheaffer and GG, would accompany him on stage.</p><p>The theatre ceased performances in spring 2020, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, with plans to re-open within weeks. However, it was announced in 2021 that the theatre would be razed, and in October 2021 a "pre-demolition auction" of theatre items and personal memorabilia was held and it was expected then that the demolition would take place within 60 days.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[8]</a> The famous "guitar neck" in front of the theater, regarded as a beloved Branson landmark, was saved in an effort by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preservationists" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">preservationists</a> and fans.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[9]</a></p><h2>Personal life</h2><p>In the late 1970s, Stafford was married briefly to singer-songwriter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbie_Gentry" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bobbie Gentry</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-Larkin-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[5]</a> and they have a son, Tyler Gentry Stafford.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Stafford#cite_note-10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[10]</a> Stafford was also married to Ann Britt Stafford for 24 years. She co-owned the Jim Stafford Theatre in Branson until December 2013.</p>