The singer who could not quite become a superstar ended up helping launch two artists who changed the direction of country music in consecutive decades, and somewhere between Randy Travis and Alan Jackson, Keith Stegall finally found his own career.
He often thought like a producer instead of a singer.
By the mid 1980s Keith Stegall looked like the person who was supposed to become the star. He had already scored a Top 10 country hit with “Pretty Lady,” earned an Academy of Country Music nomination and held a major label recording contract.
But the farther he went as an artist, the more frustrated he became. Stegall later admitted he cared deeply about how records were built, what microphones were used and how tracks sounded in the studio.
His Own Career Stalled And A Nightclub Singer Appeared
Then his own career stalled. Songwriting dried up and the road was costing more money than it was making. Stegall stepped back and tried to figure out what came next.
That was when a local nightclub singer approached him. The singer was still performing under the name Randy Ray and selling records at the Nashville Palace. He asked Stegall to help produce an independent project and Stegall agreed.
The relationship eventually led to him co producing key tracks including “On the Other Hand” on Randy Travis’s breakthrough debut Storms of Life. The album changed country music and suddenly Nashville had proof that traditional country could sell again.
Alan Jackson Had Been Paying Attention
But another aspiring singer had been paying attention. His name was Alan Jackson.
Jackson knew Stegall had worked on Randy Travis’s records and kept asking questions about how he got that sound. Eventually he asked Stegall to record some demos with him. At the time Jackson was still trying to get a record deal and writing songs for a publishing company connected to Glen Campbell.
The demos worked. Jackson became the first artist signed to Arista Nashville and Stegall became his producer.
Together they built one of the longest running artist producer partnerships in modern country music, creating albums such as Here in the Real World and Don’t Rock the Jukebox.
The Career He Was Best Suited For
Years later Stegall looked back and realized something. The career he had spent years trying to build for himself was not the one he was best suited for.
One singer became Randy Travis and the other became Alan Jackson. Stegall did not disappear when his own spotlight dimmed, he moved behind the glass and helped two defining voices become clear enough to shift Nashville itself.