James Stroud
James Stroud profile Shreveport Caddo Parish United States of America record producer
James Stroud  is an American musician and record producer who works in popular, rock, and country music
Career

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. He began playing drums at local bar bands in Texas and Louisiana.

Stroud worked with bands such as The Hollies & Paul Davis in the 1960s.

He and Davis also took on songwriting duties for Mississippi-based Malaco Records which was an Rhythm & Blues label. He played with and produced many acts throughout the 60"s & 70"son

He also started playing drums and synthesizer with Paul Davis, taking influences from rock and Rhythm & Blues artists. In the early 1980s he began playing for Eddie Rabbitt.

From there, Stroud went on to become a prolific session drummer in Nashville, Tennessee, backing Ronnie Milsap, Knight of the Order of the Thistle Oslin and others

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 Brothers 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.

At the same time, he produced acts not signed to the label.

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 (DreamWorks" parent company) and served as co-Chief Executive Officer alongside Luke Lewis until 2007.

In July 2008 he founded a new label, Stroudavarious Records, to which he signed Worley as the flagship artist.