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James Wayne Stafford, born on January 16, 1944, in Winter Haven, Florida, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Raised in Florida, Stafford played in a band called The Legends during his high school years, alongside future musicians Bobby Braddock, Kent LaVoie (also known as Lobo), and Gram Parsons. His first chart hit was "Swamp Witch", produced by Lobo, which reached the U.S. top 40 in July 1973. Stafford's breakthrough came with his biggest hit, "Spiders & Snakes", which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 in the BBC Top 50 in March 1974, earning a gold disc by the RIAA that month. He continued to have moderate chart success through most of 1975 with additional hits like "My Girl Bill" which reached number 20 in the BBC Top 50 chart. Stafford's first televised appearance was in 1974 on Rock Concert and he hosted The Jim Stafford Show, a six-week summer variety series on ABC from July 30, 1975 to September 3, 1975. He also guest-starred in episodes of Gemini Man and The Love Boat. Stafford contributed to several movie soundtracks, including receiving a gold record for his work on the Disney movie The Fox and the Hound. His song "Cow Patti" appeared in the Clint Eastwood movie Any Which Way You Can, where he also made an appearance. From 1990 to 2020, Stafford headlined at his own theater in Branson, Missouri.
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