James Stroud is an American musician and record producer who works inpop,rock,R&B, soul, disco, andcountry music. He played with the Malaco Rhythm Section forMalaco Records.^[1] In the 1990s, he was the president ofGiant Records (a subsidiary ofWarner Bros. Records) and held several credits as a session drummer. He later worked forDreamWorks Records Nashville and in 2008 founded his own label,Stroudavarious Records.

Stroud began playing drums at local bar bands inTexas and Louisiana. Stroud worked with musicians such asPaul Davis in the 1960s. He and Davis also took on songwriting duties for Jackson, Mississippi-basedMalaco Records. He played with and produced many acts throughout the 1960s and 1970s. While involved at Malaco, he worked with R&B artists, includingDorothy Moore,King Floyd,Frederick Knight,Jackie Moore,The Controllers,Fern Kinney, andAnita Ward.^[1] He co-produced and played onDorothy Moore's "Misty Blue", which was a major US and UK hit, going on to sell over four million copies.

He was also asession musician working with the band,Sparks which he provided guitar, drums and keyboards. He also started playing drums and synthesizer withPaul Davis,^[2] taking influences from rock and R&B artists. In the early-1980s, he began playing forEddie Rabbitt.^[3] From there, Stroud had become a prolific session drummer inNashville, Tennessee, backingRonnie Milsap,K.T. Oslin and others. He was also a member of theMarshall Tucker Band. He is noted for discoveringTaylor Swift.

In the late-1980s, Stroud founded The Writers' Group, a publishing company. He also took up producing, and in 1989 was named by theAcademy of Country Music as Producer of the Year.^[3] WhenWarner Bros. Records founded theGiant Records branch, Stroud became president of the new label and produced several of its acts, includingCarlene Carter,Dennis Robbins,Tracy Lawrence,Daryle Singletary,Daron Norwood andClay Walker.^[3] At the same time, he produced acts not signed to the label. Between 1993 and 1994, twenty-one singles produced by Stroud reached the top of the country charts.^[3]

After Giant Records closed in 2000, Stroud moved toDreamWorks Records Nashville, where he worked as a producer for several artists includingDarryl Worley. After the label closed down in 2005, Stroud joinedUniversal Music Group (DreamWorks' parent company) and served as co-CEO alongside Luke Lewis until 2007.^[4] In July 2008 he founded a new label,Stroudavarious Records, to which he signed Worley as the flagship artist.^[5]

• Living people
• Musicians from Shreveport, Louisiana
• American country drummers
• American country record producers
• 20th-century American drummers
• American male drummers
• Country musicians from Louisiana
• 20th-century American male musicians
• The Marshall Tucker Band members

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Year of birth missing (living people)