J. D. Foster


JD Foster is an American record producer, bassist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter.

Producer, performer and recording artist

JD Foster has produced albums and songs for a wide variety of artists and contributed as a bassist and multi-instrumentalist on many alternative, rock, and country albums. His list of collaborations includes Marc Ribot, Patty Griffin, Calexico, Ronnie Lane, Richard Buckner, Lucinda Williams, Vinicio Capossela, Anna Coogan, 17 Hippies, :it:Il Pan del Diavolo|Il Pan Del Diavolo, Eszter Balint and many more. As well as being a producer, JD Foster is also a songwriter, musician, and recording artist.

From Florida to L.A.

He started his career in Central Florida, playing bass with numerous Orlando, Gainesville, and Saint Augustine musicians. Foster lived in Los Angeles throughout most of the 1980s playing with Dwight Yoakam, Jim Lauderdale, Rosie Flores, Pete Anderson and many other country artists. He started his major label recording career as bassist in L.A. with Dwight Yoakam in 1986. His work with Yoakam earned 3 platinum albums, saw tours all across America and Europe, as well as appearances on Austin City Limits, Solid Gold, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Grammys, and various music videos.
During these years Foster also appeared "sidelining" in several TV shows and feature films. In this capacity he worked with artists including: T. G. Sheppard, Ben Vereen, Janie Fricke, Robert Blake, Drew Barrymore, and Madonna in the film .

Texas

Foster relocated to Austin Texas in 1988. There he joined with Alejandro Escovedo. He also worked with Escovedo & Jon Dee Graham in the Make Believers. Foster played with Ronnie Lane in his Texas version of Slim Chance and appeared in documentary The Passing Show: The Life and Music of Ronnie Lane where he is interviewed about this association
During his Austin tenure Foster also started a band with Danny Barnes and , The Barnburners, releasing one recording. He and Brotherton also played regularly with songwriter .Foster & Halley also performed together in different productions of the musical play by .During this time he worked on recordings with The Silos and tour dates with Lucinda Williams among many others.

New York

Foster moved to New York City in 1991 and began working with artists in the improvisational scene and has worked closely with Marc Ribot on many projects through the years. He toured the US, Europe, and Japan with Ribot's noise combo Shrek appearing at events such as the .
Foster again toured Europe and Japan with Green on Red in the early 1990s. They performed on European television, at major venues and rock festivals, including the London Fleadh, Glastonbury Festival, and Roskilde Festival.
In 2004–2005 Foster toured and recorded with Patty Griffin joining her on the "Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue" tour alongside Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch, and David Rawlings. He also performed with Griffin on Austin City Limits and Late Night with David Letterman.
Foster worked on Laura Cantrells 2005 release before he joined Calexico in the following year.
2006 he produced the Calexico album Garden Ruin. On this album his choices for production were "very adventurous in details - using unusual percussion, or wanting to bring in instruments like banjo ukuleles, bass melodica, electric mandolin, and tenor guitar."
He played bass on T-Bone Burnett's album Tooth of Crime as well as appearing in the Signature Theatre production of the play in the 1996 – 97 season at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
Foster formed in 2010, with Dan Stuart, Antonio Gramentieri, and Diego Sapignoli. They released their debut album and toured Europe a year later.
In the autumn of 2013 Foster worked with the Ithaca based songwriter Anna Coogan, to record a co-written collection of songs for a new album.
Foster produced Coogan's first solo album The Nocturnal Among Us in 2009. The duo performed dates in Germany, Netherlands, London, and NYC in 2014. They were joined by drummer aka Willie B. on several dates. In October 2014 Foster and Coogan released their album "Birth of the Stars" on Elevate Records.
JD also often performs in the house band of the Radio Free Song Club with David Mansfield & Dave Schramm

Other international collaborations

JD Foster joined the 17 Hippies in Berlin to take part in the production of Phantom Songs.
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In recent years Foster has been working extensively with Italian musicians and is strongly associated with the up-and-coming "Palermo Sound."
A recent Italian record review states:
"Tra l'altro Storia Di Una Corsa denota chiaramente un sound moderno ma non per questo in linea con quello prevedibile e gettonato dai progetti musicali più pacchiani e quotati del momento. Determinanti, in tal senso, sono stati i gusti, le scelte, di chi questo disco l'ha prodotto a livello artistico senza tralasciare alcunché: JD Foster, appunto. "

Awards

Foster won the Austin Chronicle Music Awards for Producer & Bassist of the year 1989–90

Quotes

Describing his role as a producer, Foster says:
The Australian Songwriter Simon Bonney said about Foster in an interview from 1993 :
Joey Burns :

Partial discography