Song:Wildwood Weed
Album:Jim Stafford
Wildwood Weed was one of two 1974 top ten hits for Jim Stafford. Stafford specialized in humorous novelty songs similar to Ray Stevens. He was born Jan. 16, 1944 in Eloise, FL. which is near Winter Haven. His dad taught him to play guitar. As a teen, he was in the band The Legends with country rock legend Gram Parsons and Kent "Lobo" Lavoie. Stafford moved to Nashville and worked on his songs and recorded demos while playing in bands. One day he ran into Lavoie who had just scored a big hit with You and Me and a Dog Named Boo. Stafford asked him to record a song he wrote called The Swamp Witch. Lavoie suggested that Stafford should record it himself. Stafford was reluctant because he didn't like his own singing voice. He got Stafford a deal with MGM Records. When The Swamp Witch was a top 40 hit, Stafford recorded a full album with Lavoie producing with Phil Gernhard. Gernhard was the man behind the 1967 hit Snoopy vs The Red Baron by The Royal Guardsmen. So the 1974 album Jim Stafford was all novelty songs. Spiders & Snakes which Stafford wrote with David Bellamy of The Bellamy Brothers reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. And then Wildwood Weed reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. That wasn't a new song. It was written by country comedian and radio personality Don Bowman. He had a few hits in the 60s. By the time Stafford recorded his 1975 album Not Just Another Pretty Foot, PolyGram closed MGM and moved Stafford to Polydor. He got lost in the shuffle over there. Stafford turned to TV. He had his own variety show in 1975 and he made many TV appearances. He also wrote songs for the Disney film The Fox and the Hound and the 1980 film Any Which Way You Can. He also hosted the TV shows Those Amazing Animals and Nashville On The Road. And he was a staff writer when The Smothers Brothers returned to TV. Stafford has had his own theater in Branson, MO since 1990. And he tours when he isn't appearing there. Here's Jim Stafford performing Wildwood Weed on Nashville Now.
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