JIM STAFFORD
Jim Stafford (born January 16, 1944) is an American comedian, musician, and singer-songwriter. While prominent in the 1970s for his records “Spiders and Snakes”, “Swamp Witch”, “Under The Scotsman’s Kilt”, “My Girl Bill”, and “Wildwood Weed”, Stafford has headlined at his own theater in Branson, Missouri since 1990. Stafford is self-taught on guitar, fiddle, piano, banjo, organ, and harmonica. (More from Wikipedia)
Shel Silverstein had a long series as well, but mostly as a songwriter, not a performer (he was also a fine cartoonist). He wrote most of the music for the rock band Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, including their hits “The Cover of the Rolling Stone”, “Sylvia’s Mother”, and “Freakin’ at the Freakers Ball”; he is also the author of a famous novelty hit by Johnny Cash, “A Boy Named Sue”, and “I Got Stoned and I Missed It” for Jim Stafford.
(March 2013)
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One of the songs, “Wildwood Flower” has perhaps the loveliest melody in all of country music. At the time, I knew the song only by reputation, and mainly because of “Wildwood Weed” (1974) – which is basically about marijuana – a #7 hit song by Jim Stafford that mentions the song: “The name of this song is ‘The Wildwood Flower’ / Now ‘The Wildwood Flower’ is an old country classic / It gained a whole new popularity / The song isn’t any more popular / But the flower is doin’ real good”. The song “Wildwood Weed” was written and originally recorded way back in 1964 by country singer and comedian Don Bowman.
(February 2015)
