Gary James' Interview With
Jim Stafford



He's probably best known for his songs "Spiders And Snakes" and "My Girl Bill". He had his own summer variety show on ABC in 1975. He appeared numerous times on The Tonight Show. He had his own theatre in Branson, Missouri. And now Time-Life had digitally released nine of his albums. The gentleman we are talking about is Mr. Jim Stafford.

Q - Jim, since Time-Life is digitally re-releasing nine of your albums, you could say, or someone could say you've gone from being a singer/songwriter/musician to a legend. Is that how you see it, or feel about it?

A - Whether or not I've reached legendary status?

Q - Yeah.

A - Well, I'm gonna say personally I don't feel any different. I wonder if you cross some sort of line when you become legendary. If you have, I might not have been paying attention that day.

Q - Time-Life doesn't do that for very many people. You have to be in a very special category I would think.

A - I don't think they do it either. It's a good point to bring that up though. It makes me feel special.

Q - That's right. You say, "Over the years I have discovered that my work is fun or maybe I should say fun is my work. I'll never understand how you can make a living having fun, but it is possible." That's probably because you really liked what you were doing, or as Charlie Daniels' father once said to him, "Find something you love to do and you'll never work a day in your life." And not many fathers tell that to their kids.

A - Well, that's true. It doesn't matter what you do. If you're lucky enough to do something you like, you're ahead of the crowd.

Q - Where did this talent come from to write songs like "Spiders And Snakes" and "My Girl Bill"?

A - Well, I'm not really sure where that deep little hole is and I don't know why I write songs like that. I just do. However, some of my songs, I'm kind of a fan of my own stuff. I like "Spiders And Snakes" and I like "Swamp Witch". Those songs are kind of different. They were certainly challenging to write. So, I'm glad that they kind of caught on and did okay. I have a grateful heart about that.

Q - I was surprised to learn that "Spiders And Snakes" did better than "My Girl Bill". There's some pretty creative writing in "My Girl Bill". That's what's missing in today's songs. A songwriter will take a phrase and keep repeating it. In "My Girl Bill" you told a story and there were twists and turns and it was funny.

A - Right. Yeah. That was the idea. Trying to put the elements together. To me, the hard part of that stuff is it's not too hard to figure something like that out, but the tricky part is how many times can they listen to it before they get tired of it? (laughs)

Q - That song got a lot of radio air play!

A - Yeah. I gotta tell you I felt very fortunate about those songs because they were a specific kind of song, you might say comedy.

Q - I'd say quirky.

A - Let's go with quirky. That's good.

Q - I wanted to use quirky earlier in the interview, but I thought you might take offense to that term.

A - (laughs)

Q - You're laughing, so you must like it.

A - I do like it. I came up in a situation where this type of comedy appealed to me where you head people in one direction. They may not quite realize they're headed in another direction. Those types of things. I like stories like that myself. Also, I was raised around the swampy areas of Florida. I could be in a swamp in just a few minutes from my house, (laughs) these strange little swamps that sound like you're in the darkest Africa sometimes with all the little sounds of the night. You go out into a swamp at night and it's beautiful in its own way, but it also can be a little scary.

Q - You're from Winter Haven, Florida aren't you?

A - I was raised in a little town adjacent to Winter Haven called Eloise, which is right beside Winter Haven.

Q - I've been through Winter Haven. Isn't that a retreat for circus people? I was told that after 10 PM the whole town shuts down. Is that true?

A - I don't know about that. If I'm not mistaken the circus town is closer to Sarasota. The area around Sarasota is where the circus is located. That's really a circus town.

Q - When you were growing up you were in a band with Kent La Voie, who the world knows as Lobo. You also had Gram Parsons in the band. That's an all star cast. All you guys went on to have success in the music business.

A - Yeah, and we were in a band in high school. We were all in the same band. Then everybody sort of went their separate ways. Graham and Kent La Voie I think focused more on recording. I focused on live entertainment. I liked to play in clubs, restaurants and lounges with my guitar. I would do background music early on. I would do kind of a show. That type of thing. I liked playing as often as possible anywhere near beaches because I liked the mood beaches put people in. (laughs) People are at their best at beaches I think. They really are ready to have a good time.

Q - Sand. Sun. Girls in bikinis. Who wouldn't be in a good mood?

A - Yeah. You're exactly right. It's a comfortable, laid back atmosphere and it's just ideal for a guy like me. It was just right for me.

Q - Was there a lot of work in Florida for a band when you were growing up?

A - Well, when I was in high school there were quite a few high school bands just floating around the state. There might have been high school bands across the country for all I know. Jut kids that listened to Rock 'n' Roll music and said. "Hey! Maybe I can do that." As a matter of fact, I've been in bands where there were maybe four or five of us and everybody seemed to be on a different plateau. Somebody had been playing for awhile. Somebody else it was brand new for 'em. You hand one guy a bass and say, "You play the bass 'cause we don't have a bass." That kind of stuff. It's not necessarily smooth. (laughs) It's just a bunch of kids trying to make music.

Q - If you're in the basement, that's where everybody starts anyway.

A - Yeah. (laughs)

Q - But if you get onstage, that's another story.

A - Well, you gotta shoot for that because that's how you make a living doing it. You try to get good enough to attract people. If people get good enough at it and get successful, and of course I'm telling you something you already know, you can be pretty successful doing this stuff without necessarily having the whole country know about you. There's people that do pretty good. They might have a little joint they work. Everybody comes to see 'em and they have a good reputation, they do very well. They don't have records, but they wind up making a very comfortable living. I say that because I know a lot of people like that.

Q - For you, a guy who had hit records and his own TV show and was touring the country, you enjoyed a different level of success.

A - I was playing a club when Kent La Voie, who recorded under the name of Lobo, came by and asked if I had anything I'd like to record. Now you know that would be a yes either way, wouldn't it? That's an automatic yes. It's like, "Do you want to get the part?" It's a yes, but I did have some songs I'd written. That's the good news. Songs that he liked. Songs that we recorded that were successful. Absolutely we did the same things a lot of people do. We got lucky. That's the difference.

Q - You also had the talent and timing behind you.

A - Isn't that the truth? The timing is something that's important, but you can't control it. (laughs)

Q - That's where luck comes in.

A - You ain't kiddin' brother. I was doing the stuff that Kent La Voie was interested in anyhow. I was already doing this material. So when he heard it, he liked it. We recorded it. It was much more what you might say cut and dry than I thought it would have been. They put the guys together. They had the session they wanted. They recorded the song and then I came in and laid down the vocal. All of that stuff. The whole time that stuff is happening you have to say, "Do I deserve this?" Good gracious, it fell in my lap here. I'm very grateful for people like Kent La Voie and Gram Parsons for being in my life. I'm fortunate about that.

Q - You released an album, "Don't Tell Mama I'm A Guitar Player. She Thinks I'm Just In Jail". I'll bet guitar players just love that album!

A - Oh, yeah. (laughs)

Q - It's funny alright, but is it possible someone might get mad at you?

A - (laughs) Well, it says, "I could cuss, drink, rob a bank, raise all kinds of hell, but don't tell Mama I'm a guitar picker. She thinks I'm just in jail." It says something about being a guitar player. (laughs)

Q - Or as Vernon Presley told Elvis, "I've never yet seen a guitar player worth a damn."

A - (laughs) I'll tell you what. Elvis was worth a dang, wasn't he?

Q - I guess so.

A - He was a good one.

Q - Elvis wasn't a guitar player, but for his father to say that to Elvis early on wasn't exactly a positive thing.

A - Yeah. That's a good point.

Q - For thirty years you had your own theatre in Branson (Missouri) and now it's demolished? What happened?

A - Well, I had my time in Branson and I was ready to do something else. I was at an age where whatever else there was, was gonna be fun. And so I just moved back to my home state. I'm playing some dates. I guess I'm semi-retired. I'm playing some dates, but I'm also having some pretty nice days where I don't have to do a thing. I'm a tennis player. I love to play tennis. I play tennis almost every day.

Q - That's how you keep in shape.

A - Yeah. I need to do that. I recommend it because it's another one of things that you can do where you're not paying attention that you're getting exercise, you're too busy trying to win the game. (laughs) And so that gets you out there and gives you that motivation to make yourself a little healthier. So, that's what I do. I recommend it.

Q - Six million people a year would come to your show in Branson. How did you know that you would go over in Branson, that people would come out to see you?

A - To tell you the truth, here's the thing with me, and it all started a long, long time ago. When I was about 16 or 17, I knew I could drive a car. My dad had a dry cleaning business. I took my guitar and put it in the back of that dry cleaning truck and drove out to a Holiday Inn and auditioned with my guitar. I could play songs on my guitar. I auditioned to make music in the lounge at the Holiday Inn and I got the job. And from there on out, for a pretty good while as you can imagine, I just played my guitar. Just made music in the background. And it's kind of a pleasant thing, just listening to a piano player or a guitar player. It tends to elevate the quality of the evening. So, I learned how to talk. I watched some of these piano bar comics, a guy who played piano and had fun with the audience and sing-a-longs, all kinds of crazy stuff. So I kept my eye on people who were trying to be entertaining. They didn't just sit there like a bump on a log and play one song after another, kind of in the background. They had strategies. They knew what they were doing. Like for example, at the end of the first set and you've just played background music 'cause you're waiting for enough of an audience to come in and work with. So I would say something like, "I'm about to take an intermission and before I do that I want to play a song for you. I've been working on and I'm kind of proud of. I'd like to see what you think about it." And so I closed the show, the first set, with a song like "Malaguena", something big. What happened was I invited myself to every table in the room. So, on the intermission I never took an intermission where you go somewhere and smoke a cigarette or something. My intermissions were spent in the audience, shaking hands, talking to people. "Did you like that song? I got another one just like it. I'll do it for you." I would make sure if anyone was celebrating anything, you're kind of the entertainment director in a bar or a lounge or a restaurant. But I got pretty good at it. I came up with good lines. I came up with good ideas. It became a vocation for me, a way to make a living. And one day my old friend Kent La Voie came by and said, "Do you have anything you'd like to record?" And that's always a yes, whether you do or not. So, I said yes! (laughs) As you can imagine, making those records was a tremendous help to me because all of a sudden, out of the blue, I was a national artist. That was something boy, for a kid from Winter Haven. I was absolutely thrilled.

Q - You were so enthusiastic about what you were doing, it's almost like something was going to happen, and it did.

A - I was trying all the time to be good at it, to try a little comedy song that would make 'em laugh. I did all kinds of crazy things just trying to be entertaining. I remember I said, "Here's a great song we can all sing together. It's called 'House Of The Rising Sun'." So, I would get my guitar out and play that little part, "There is a House. If you don't know the words, don't worry about it. I'll tell you the words as we go." So, I'd go, "There is a house in New Orleans," and then I'd day, "There is a house in New Orleans they call the rising sun, the rising sun." So, I'm giving 'em the information backwards. It's not helping 'em. I should be saying, "They call the rising sun." But it'd take my audience a few minutes to realize that I was messin' with 'em. And they liked it. They enjoyed that. And so, I had little things like that, that I was always kind of playing with the audience. They appreciated that. That's what people who do those type of things do, the piano bar comics and the different people that perform that can talk and draw you into what they're saying and do a song for you that's colorful or funny or whatever. To me it's just something you work on all the time. I got into a situation where I was working six nights a week most of the time. I had Sundays off and that was it. And that's exactly how I wanted it. So, I worked a lot at it and frankly I got pretty good at it.

Q - In those days you could work six nights a week because there were venues that were open to entertainment six nights a week.

A - That's right. I'm a Florida guy and it was easy for me to seek out places to perform on the beach. I can't over emphasize that. If you want to try some of this type of stuff that sounds interesting to somebody out there, you're gonna have a better chance doing it at the beach because people have a great mindset when they get to the beach. They made it. The fun, the sun, the whole thing. So you're always going to have a happier audience at a beach.

Q - You had your own TV show on ABC, The Jim Stafford Show. Did ABC ask you to do the show? Did they ask you to continue on with that show?

A - No, they actually didn't. That was just a little summer series. I had a couple of things like that. I had another thing called Those Amazing Animals. People would take an interest and say, "We think Jim could host the show." So I wound up doing a few little shows like that, which by the way were a lot of fun. Occasionally I would get myself on a special and that was a lot of fun too. You just never know. I opened for Joan Rivers quite a bit in Las Vegas. That was just one of those things that made people get in touch with you. I've done these tours with The Beach Boys and Olivia Newton-John and Charlie Rich. I was touring with him when "The Most Beautiful Girl" was a hit. Let me tell you, that guy could hardly make it out of a car and get into a hotel room. Throngs of women were literally chasing that guy around. We had to have lookouts so we could get from his room to his car, from the car to the venue. They had a car running a lot of times at the back door of a venue. When he finished his deal, he got in that car and he was gone. People don't realize this, but that guy was the Silver Fox. Ladies really seemed to like this guy a lot. What can happen is if it's not a great big group of girls and ladies, that's just fine. But if it's a whole bunch of 'em, sometimes they get excited, okay? I was with Charlie Rich when we were chased out of a shopping mall by a group of women. It just kept getting bigger and bigger. We were looking behind us and we were running for the car and one guy ran ahead. He parked the limo outside and we just got in the car in the nick of time and drove off just as they were getting though the doors. They didn't mean any harm. They were just excited by Charlie Rich being there.

Q - What is it they wanted had they caught up with you two guys? Did they want your autographs? Did they want to tear your hair off? Did they want to tear your clothes off? What do you think they would have done?

A - Well, I don't know. For some reason at that particular time at that particular mall, the way that whole thing happened, it was one of those things where we're literally running through the mall and a group of ladies are running after us. And you know, I think it's a point well made, they could have been fine. They could have just said, "Could we have your autographs?" to Charlie or whoever it was. For what it's worth, and maybe we made it up in our own minds, it seemed to be a little bit aggressive and a little bit out of control. So, we made a run for the limo and hopped in the limo and took off. Looking back on it I really couldn't tell you what those ladies would have done. Probably nothing. They might have wanted Charlie's autograph or some kind of deal. I don't know.

Q - You appeared on The Tonight Show. I'm assuming that's when Johnny Carson was hosting. Did you get to speak with Johnny Carson?

A - Yes.

Q - How did you find him to be?

A - I did twenty-six Tonight Shows. I found Johnny Carson to be a really excellent interviewer and just a good guy. He had a job to do and he knew what it was and he did it. He was very nice to me. They had a thing they wanted me to do every time and I did. They wanted me to open with a song and then they wanted to plant my guitar behind the couch and have a chat with Johnny, and Johnny would say, "Have you got a song for us?" and I would play a song with a guitar because I knew a number of clever little pieces that are kind of cute. There's a song about kids that goes, "They piddle in the puddle in the middle of the drive-in, pick their nose and throw their food and fall out of bed in the middle of the night 'cause something in their dreams went boo!" It's a sweet little song. So, I would do things like that. I had a regular kind of deal. They knew what they wanted from me and I would have a nice chat on the phone with Jim McCawley, who was the talent co-ordinator, and I was ready to go. I did that twenty-six times and let me assure you that when you're standing behind that curtain and they're getting ready to introduce you, I really don't care how big of a star anybody might be standing there behind that curtain. That curtain swings open and you go to sit beside Johnny Carson, that's gonna have your full attention, believe me. Every single time I did that I was terrified, but you gotta shake that off and do your job. There's a side of you that's going, "Oh my God! If I make a mistake here tonight, people will be talking about it tomorrow." (laughs) I wasn't one of the ones who would go on there and say, "I'll just wing it." I couldn't do that. So, I worked on my pieces that I did. I'm glad I did 'cause I think that's one of the reasons I got to do the show twenty-six times.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

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