THE PRODUCER'S CHAIR: KEITH STEGALL

Keith Stegall

When 20 year old Keith Stegall arrived in Nashville in 1975 he'd already been performing on stage and in the studio since he was 8 yrs old and had been writing songs and producing records since he was 15. Thirty-eight years later, his accomplishments in the country music industry are no less than astounding. As a songwriter and producer, Keith Stegall has had fifty-five number one hits, over forty million airplays and his production discography boasts twenty-five platinum and multi-platinum albums plus nine gold albums. Stegall's body of work has resulted in sales of over 70 million records and he has "so far" been the recipient of four CMA awards, ten ACM awards and six Grammy nominations, including this year's 2012 Grammy nomination for Country Album of the Year, with Zac Brown.

Growing up in a family of industry pros in Wichita Falls, Texas, Keith attended the Louisiana hayride before he was even in school and at age eight, he made his stage debut at a regional show in Tyler, Texas. His father, Bob, played steel guitar for country legend Johnny Horton and his uncle had a recording studio in Dallas.

"My uncle would take me there while he was working. One night he heard me playing the piano, and brought a mic down and cranked up the tape. So I rattled off four or five tunes for him including ‘It Keeps Right On Hurtin', and ‘Six Days OnThe Road'. I was eight years old and that was my first experience in the studio."

A few years later Keith took up the guitar and joined a rock/soul band called the Pacesetters and later in high school, he toured internationally with a folk group called The Cheerful Givers. By the time he was fifteen, Keith began to write songs and as God would have it, in a chance meeting with the legendary Kris Kristofferson, Stegall was able to play three songs for him.

"I was a freshman in college and one of my friends who had been involved with the group also, worked at the college and he called me and told me to get my guitar and get over there as quickly as I could. I played three songs for Kris and Billy Swan was also in the room. By the time I got to the second chorus of one of the songs, Kris started harmonizing with me, which was really weird. It was really crazy. Afterwards, Kristofferson shook my hand and said, ‘You're pretty good. You really ought to move to Nashville.' so I did."

Three months after his arrival in 1975, Keith co-wrote his first hit, Dr. Hooks' 1980 smash "Sexy Eyes" and the flood gates opened. Helen Reddy, The Commodores, Johnny Mathis, and others rushed to record Stegall's songs in L.A. and in Nashville, Conway Twitty, Charley Pride, Jerry Reed, Eddy Arnold, Moe Bandy, George Strait, and Steve Wariner were also recording Stegall compositions. By 1985, Mickey Gilley and Glen Campbell had taken Keith's tunes to the top of the country charts with "Lonely Nights" and "A Lady Like You". Most notable among the subsequent recordings was the Al Jarreau classic "We're In This Love Together".

"I was intrigued by the craft that I had observed from people like Kristofferson and Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard. I got my first pub deal when I was 24, so I was bangin' on doors for about 3 or 4 years just trying to meet people. Judy Harris at April Blackwood Music had hooked me up with some of the writers there. One afternoon I got a call from April Blackwood offering me a job as their tape copy person, a songwriting deal and $200 per week. Back in those days everything was reel-to-reel, so that first year I did an apprenticeship back in the tape copy room and I learnt how to edit and slice and wrote songs at night. I remember my publishers were really nervous on my first demos. They said "We'll make sure somebody is there to help you" and I said "It's OK, I got It". So I went in there and knocked out 5 songs, boom, boom, boom and I remember them going "Wow". Once I started doing my demos, then I started getting record offers.

God rest his soul, Len Shultz ran Capital in those days and Dr. Hook was signed to Capital, so when I gave him my first demo, Len heard Sexy Eyes and said "I've gotta get this to Ron Haffkine, this is a smash for Dr. Hook and by the way, I want to sign you to a record deal."

In 1980 Keith debuted as an artist on the country charts, with Capital Records. A subsequent stint with Epic Records yielded hits "Pretty Lady" and "California" and one of the industry's first country music videos.

In 1985, Keith was nominated by the Academy of Country Music for Top New Male Vocalist, but by then Keith knew that being on the road as an artist wouldn't allow him to spend enough time to concentrate exclusively on his first love- songwriting, so he quit performing.

"Then my career really went into a slump," he laughs. "The songwriting dried up. Everything went away. It was a tough time for me. So I went home and licked my wounds, but it was the best thing that ever happened. It forced me to get my nose back to the grindstone."

Randy Travis, then a struggling nightclub singer, and friend asked Keith to produce an independent album to sell at his local gigs. The project led to Keith producing a pair of standout songs on Travis' epochal debut, Storms of Life. Then in 1990, Ronnie Milsap took Stegall's "Stranger Things Have Happened" up the charts and Stegall regained his songwriting feet.

Meanwhile, another friend and songwriting partner kept asking Stegall to produce a tape to play for record companies.

"Alan Jackson knew that I'd done some of the tracks on Randy. He was writing for Glen Campbell's company at the time and he was being managed by Marty Gamblin, a good friend of mine. Gary Overton was my manager and Marty and Gary put Alan and I together. Every time I had a demo I'd drop by and play it for Alan and he was always curious as to how I got that kind of sound and what mics I used and began a process of asking me about producing him. The only reason I didn't was because he was working with a guy who was a friend of mine. I said, when you guys settle your business up, please call me. He called me one night at the house and said "Ok it's over with. Can we do some demos now?" … and that was kind of the beginning."

Jackson eventually employed Keith's production talents on every album from that point on, which led to sales of over 30 million units. Stegall continued collaborations with Jackson, co-writing "Don't Rock The Jukebox" and "Dallas," two of Alan's biggest hits and in 1992, after taking Jackson's advice, Keith received an offer to head Mercury Nashville's A&R department and a chance to release another album as an artist.

"I thought this is not my gig. I've spent half my life fighting with record labels," recalled Keith. But Jackson said, ‘Half the reason I wanted to work with you is that you are an artist and you understand.' Reminiscent of Chet Atkins years earlier at RCA, Keith Stegall became an artist and an executive at Mercury Records.

1996 saw the release of Passages, Keith's critically acclaimed Mercury debut and the same year, even more success on the charts with two more of Keith's compositions, when Clay Walker cut "If I Could Make A Living" and Travis Tritt cut "Between An Old Memory And Me"

In 1997, Keith teamed up with legendary songwriter Dan Hill ("Sometimes When We Touch"). The collaboration quickly yielded two number one records for Sammy Kershaw "Love Of My Life" and Mark Wills "I Do (Cherish You)." Shortly after Wills recorded "I Do", the platinum selling pop act 98 Degrees heard the song and included it on their sophomore album 98 Degrees And Rising, as well as on the soundtrack to the 1999 Julia Roberts film Notting Hill. The song became one of the group's biggest hits reaching the top 5 on the CHR and AC charts.

The new millennium began with Stegall producing Jamie O'Neal's gold-selling debut album Shiver for Mercury Records which included two number one songs. Stegall also produced O'Neal's version of "All By Myself" which appeared prominently in the film "Bridget Jones' Diary".

Although Keith did part ways with Mercury Records after nearly a decade of service, 2002 turned out to be another outstanding year for him. The Stegall produced album Drive by Alan Jackson was released and featured the number one songs "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning" and "Drive." The album went on to sell over four million copies and garnered Keith two CMA Awards, an ACM Award and a Grammy nomination. Keith was also named Music Row Magazine's "Producer of The Year".

In late summer of 2003, Keith produced, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett, which spent a staggering eight weeks at number one, making it the biggest hit of Alan Jackson's career and Buffett's first number one record. The song propelled Jackson's Greatest Hits Volume 2 album to go platinum in less than three weeks and earned Keith two ACM Awards in 2004. The follow-up single, "Remember When," went number one as well in 2004 and that same year, Keith penned George Strait's number one smash "I Hate Everything".

In 2006, Keith took a position as Chief Creative Officer at Broken Bow Records, whose roster, at that time included Jason Aldean, Craig Morgan, Lila McCann, Sherrie Austin and Megan Mullins among others.

"That was a short-lived venture for me. I was only there about ten months. Benny Brown has done pretty well for himself and looking back in retrospect, he runs his show the way he wants and he has good enough relationships with his artists and good enough song sense that, A&R is kind of redundant for him."

2007 was another busy year for Stegall. Alan Jackson's platinum selling gospel cd Precious Memories, produced by Keith, won both a Dove award and ICM award for Country Album of the Year. In the spring of 2007, Clay Walker released Fall. Produced by Stegall, the album featured a top 5 title cut

2008 saw the release of Alan Jackson's cd Good Time, Produced by Keith, which featured the two Number One Singles "Small Town Southern Man" and "Good Time,"

In late 2008, Zac Brown Band's The Foundation was released which was co-produced by Keith. The act's debut single "Chicken Fried" spent two weeks at Number One on the country charts, giving Keith his third number one for the year. In 2010, Keith was back in the studio with Zac Brown Band, producing the follow up album, You Get What You Give. The Keith Stegall/Zac Brown Band partnership has resulted in a record breaking 9 straight #1's.

In 2009, Keith and partners opened the doors on Bigger Picture Group, a "Next Generation" music business company that has quickly made a name for itself in the music community, working with artists Chris Cagle, Craig Campbell, Chris Janson, Rachel Bradshaw and Ryan Kinder.

The Producer's Chair: Nashville does things differently than anywhere else. Did anyone surface as a producing mentor?
Keith Stegall: Early on, I discovered a David Houston album produced by Billy Sherrill. That was around 1967 and Sherrill was coming into being the czar and I was intrigued by what a record producer did. It took me years of self discovery to figure out that a record producer is a lot like a movie director. So I was very familiar with Sherrill and then I became a huge student of Larry Butler's records. I would sit for hours and study the way a track was constructed, because Butler was very big on building a track as it went along. It was very sparse and very open on the front end and then as it progressed, it got bigger and bigger until it finally climaxed. And then I was just fascinated with the Nashville number system. I didn't know what that was when I got to town. I was going "What is this, I hate math."

Why, after being nominated for ACM Top Male Vocalist did you walked away from your record deal?
I had a great producer, Kyle Lehning. The problem for me was that I had the head of a record producer instead of the head of an artist. I knew the way I wanted to track the sound and I knew what I wanted someone to play and that wasn't always in agreement with my producer. I think in those days, artists were expected to be heard only behind the microphone and to let the producer do his thing and it just didn't work for me. I couldn't find any peace in that. I finally realized that I was wasting Kyle's time and mine so I called Rick Blackburn and said "Can you please just let me go?"

How did you wind up producing a couple of songs on Randy Travis?
That was actually my brush with the big time as a record producer. I'd already done a live record on Randy that he was selling out at the Palace. That's where the relationship got started. Kyle was my producer, so when I took Martha Sharp out to see Randy and she wanted to sign him, I just said, I don't feel comfortable doing this. Kyle is a real record producer and that's how it was put together with me and Kyle doing it. I was still an artist at the time and when I got my first royalty check I was losing money as an artist. I went wow … I think I need to re-visit producing records.

In 1992 you became head of A&R and an artist on Mercury. How did that happen?
That was a weird deal. Luke Lewis wanted me to come over there and I was so dead set against working for a record label, I just kept throwing barriers down and I was in the process of making a record on myself in my studio. So Luke just came over and said: "Hey man, Chet Atkins did it, you can do it."

Who did you sign at Mercury?
The first act was Terry Clark, then I signed Mark Wills, Shane Minor, Jamie O'Neal and ended up producing Sammy Kershaw and Billy Ray Cyrus. That was fun time.

When did you start producing Alan Jackson?
In 87, I produced the first two albums with Scott Hendricks and on the third album, Alan made the decision that he wanted me to do the records by myself. That was a scary time for me, but that was the album that had Chattahoochee on it.

Did you already have a vision for Bigger Picture when you left Broken Bow in 2006?
I was thinking probably more a long the lines of a production company because we had Big Picture, our publishing company and I was still doing three or four outside acts, so I really wanted to have an umbrella that these acts could rest under. The actual Bigger Picture Company came together around that first Zac Brown record. Zac and I paid for that record out of our own pockets. I think we spent about $20 grand on The Foundation. I had some connections with the people at Live Nation, so I was able to help put that together, for Zac to get signed to Live Nation. After they signed Zac, they contacted me and said, we've got the record and we want to go to radio with a single, could you put a company together, to help us promote it. So I made a few calls and put it together. The basic company at that point was promotion and I turned over my office to Michael Powers and that was the beginning of the Zac Brown Story.
In the middle of having what looked like a hit record, the whole Live Nation thing blew apart and all of a sudden we had a hit record and no label. I got a call from the Craig Calvin, Chairman of Atlantic because he realized we didn't have a record label. So, I flew up to New York, sat down with Craig and in a few hours, we hatched out a plan. They ended up signing Zac and we became joint venture partners with Atlantic on the first two records. That was killer, that's the way it happens, in the midst of chaos, there's always something going on that makes sense.

Are you producing all of the artists on Bigger Picture?
Yes but I didn't do this by design. From an economic standpoint, because I own a piece of this company, it was easier for me to do these acts and incur some of the costs myself and save us a shit load of money and be effective. In Rachel Bradshaw's case, I felt like Rachel needed somebody that was used to making music with women and Frank Liddell has done that magnificently from his wife Leann Womack, right through to Miranda Lambert, so I said to Rachel, let me talk to Frank. Frank and I began spending Friday afternoons drinking beer together and talking about it and I said, you've got to meet Rachel. So I took it to the next step and they met and as they began to hang out together and get closer, it's just beginning to blossom. They're in the middle of making her 5 or 6 song EP and I'm just excited as I could be about it. With a guy like Frank, you know it's going to be stellar, when it's done.

When you sign a new artist to your label, does it matter if they write?
Yes and they're all involved in the community with their groups of people that they write with. I'm such a junkie for singer/songwriters. My biggest influences were the Dan Foglebergs, the Dan Hills and the James Taylors of the world. The case can always be made for Frank Sinatra because he didn't write his own songs, he was a great interpreter. But I like hearing the story from the person that lived it and wrote it down after he or she lived it.

I understand your daughter Jen Ketner is signed to Big Picture.
Yes, I told her that her job was to attach herself to Ryan Kinder. He's a Birmingham boy, who hasn't spent a lot of time in Nashville and I wanted Jen to start writing with him and connect him with some other people and become part of his creative sub-set. And that's what she did and she's actually co-producing the Ryan Kinder record.
I've got three daughters, Jen is the oldest and she's the only one who was crazy enough to follow me into the fire.

Who else is signed to your publishing company?
D Vincent Williams, Brice Long, Luke Sheets, Michael White and Lance Carpenter.

How does Bigger Picture's new label model differ from Major Labels?
The difference between what we're doing and what major labels are doing...Everybody, even major labels have had to adapt to the present economics of how they do things. Most of the record labels are offering 360 deals … a little piece of this and a little piece of that. We're not really in the 360 business. We're in what we call joint-venture partnerships with all of our artists, so with the things that we participate in, we're not just trying to take something, without being accountable and contributing. We try to participate in the things that we make happen within the career, instead of just taking something because we need it. We're very much involved in the publishing, in the production, in the marketing, in the promotion and management. Maintaining the integrity of great artists is the most important thing to me. For the next 5 years of my career, the most important thing that I can do is help mentor these up-n-coming artists and help them develop into truly great talents.
I have a fear that some of our music has evolved into fast food music and that no-bodies going to remember songs a year from now that are hits right now. Great artists know that they're being commercial but they're also creating a piece of art, that should live and have a life of it's own beyond the radio. At my age I hope to be more of a guiding parenting figure for these kids, to help them stay and hold true to their dreams and never feel that they have to sacrifice, or give up anything to fit in. Great artists don't care about that. They just do their thing and the world chases them.

Do you have any new goals, on the horizon?
To stay relevant … and, I'd love to write a book about making music in this town.

Keith Stegall
Production Credits

Alan Jackson:
  Here In The Real World - (2x) Platinum (co-produced with Scott Hendricks)
  Don't Rock The Jukebox - (4x) Platinum (co-produced with Scott Hendricks)
  A Lot About Livin' (And A Little ‘Bout Love) - (6x) Platinum
  Honky Tonk Christmas - Platinum
  Who I Am - (4x) Platinum
  The Greatest Hits Collection - (5x) Platinum
  Everything I Love - (3x) Platinum
  Common Thread: The Songs Of The Eagles - "Tequila Sunrise" - (3x) Platinum
  High Mileage - Platinum
  Under The Influence - Platinum
  When Somebody Loves You - Platinum
  Drive - Released 1/15/02 (4x) Platinum
  Let It Be Christmas - Released 11/5/02 Platinum
  Greatest Hits Volume II - Released 8/12/03 (6x) Platinum
  What I Do - Released 9/7/04 Platinum
  Precious Memories - Released 2/28/06 Platinum
  Live At Texas Stadium - Released 3/27/07 (produced Alan Jackson portion)
  Good Time - released 3/4/08 Platinum
  Freight Train - released 3/30/10
  Thirty Miles West - released 6/1/12
Aaron Neville:
  Tattooed Heart - "Why Should I Fall In Love," "For The Good Times,"
    "I Can See It In Your Eyes" Gold
Billy Ray Cyrus:
  The Best Of Billy Ray Cyrus: Cover To Cover - "It's All The Same To Me,"
    "Bluegrass State Of Mind," "Cover To Cover"
  Shot Full Of Love - (co-produced with John Kelton)
Brent Mason:
  Hot Wired - (Executive Producer)
Chris Cagle:
  Back In The Saddle - released 6/26/12
Chris Janson:
  Currently working on new project
Clay Walker:
  Fall - released 4/17/07
  She Won't Be Lonely Long - released 6/8/10
Craig Campbell:
  Craig Campbell - released 4/5/11
Craig Morgan:
  A Little Bit Of Life - released 10/31/06 (co-produced with Craig Morgan & Phil O'Donnell)
D. Vincent Williams:
  Currently working on new project
Eric Heatherly:
  Swimming In Champagne - Gold
George Jones:
  Cold Hard Truth - Gold
  The Rock: Stone Cold Country 2001 - "Beer Run (duet with Garth Brooks),"
    "Wood And Wire," "I Got Everything," "What I Didn't Do"
  Hits I Missed - released 9/13/05
George Jones & Merle Haggard:
  Kickin' Out The Footlights Again - released 10/24/06
Jamie O'Neal:
  Shiver - Gold
  Brave - released 3/1/05
John Anderson:
  Takin' The Country Back
Kathy Mattea:
  The Innocent Years - "Trouble With Angels," "Calling My Name,"
    "I Have Always Loved You," "Trust Me," "That's The Deal"
Keith Stegall:
  Passages - (co-produced with Carson Chamberlain & John Kelton)
Kenny Rogers:
  42 Ultimate Hits - Gold "My World Is Over"
Lorrie Morgan:
  My Heart - "Maybe Not Tonight" (Duet with Sammy Kershaw)
Mark Wills:
  Mark Wills - (co-produced with Carson Chamberlain)
  Wish You Were Here - Platinum (Executive Producer)
Meredith Edwards:
  Reach - "In Any Given Moment," "A Rose Is A Rose," "A Beautiful Mess,"
    "Slow Learner," "Reach," "Places In Your Heart"
Neil Coty:
  Chance And Circumstance
Randy Travis:
  Storms Of Life - (3x) Platinum - "On The Other Hand," "Reasons I Cheat"
Reba McEntire:
  So Good Together - Platinum - "Back Before The War," "I'm Not Your Girl,"
    "She Wasn't Good Enough For Him"
Ronnie Milsap:
  My Life - released 6/27/06
Sammy Kershaw:
  Politics, Religion, And Her - Gold (produced 7 sides)
  Labor Of Love - Platinum
  Maybe Not Tonight
Shenandoah:
  Long Time Comin'
Terri Clark:
  Terri Clark - Platinum (co-produced with Chris Waters)
  Just The Same - Platinum (co-produced with Chris Waters & Terri Clark)
  How I Feel - Platinum
  Fearless - "No Fear," "A Little Gasoline" (co-produced with Terri Clark and Stewart Smith)
  Pain To Kill - "I Just Called To Say Goodbye," "Almost Gone," "Better Than You,"
    "Not A Bad Thing," "The First To Fall," "God And Me"
  Greatest Hits 1994-2004 - Gold
The Wrights:
  Down This Road - released 5/3/05
Tracy Byrd:
  Tracy Byrd - Gold
Soundtrack:
  Music From The Motion Picture Bridget Jones's Diary - "All By Myself" (Jamie O'Neal)
  Billy: The Early Years of Billy Graham (Soundtrack) - "Look At Me" (Alan Jackson)
    Released 10/7/08
Wesley Dennis:
  Wesley Dennis - (co-produced with John Kelton)
Zac Brown Band:
  The Foundation - (3x) Platinum
  You Get What You Give - Platinum
  Uncaged - Gold

Keith Stegall
Number One Records

Keith Stegall
Songwriting Credits

(All Chart numbers according to Billboard magazine, unless noted * = Radio & Records)

Other songs recorded by: George Jones. Conway Twitty, The Commodores, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Lorrie Morgan, Keith Whitley, The Oak Ridge Boys, Gene Watson, Barbara Mandrell, Lacy J. Dalton, Steve Wariner, Larry Gatlin, McBride & The Ride, Helen Reddy, Eddy Arnold, Juice Newton, Jerry Reed, Charley Pride, Tracy Byrd, Tanya Tucker, Ty England, Shane Minor, Michael White, Jamie O'Neal, Meredith Edwards, John Tesh, Craig Campbell and Doug Supernaw.

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