Jonder wrote a few weeks ago: "This is a concept that Stinky and I have been kicking back and forth for quite awhile. There are musicians (like T Bone Burnett, Don Was and Joe Henry) who are probably better known as producers, and not everyone they produced would be considered an idol or influence."
First artist that came to mind was Tom Waits, due to my Chuck E. Weiss collection, but he also produced John Hammond’s Wicked Grin, a collection of great Waits covers.
J.J. Cale is pretty well known, but I guess not many people were aware of his production work… Surprise, surprise, he was responsible for (again!) John Hammond’s blues album Got Love If You Want It.
My first post here was about Robert Palmer, who had a big hit with Moon Martin’s Bad Case Of Loving You. He produced Moon’s Mystery Ticket, trying to update his sound with mixed results. Palmer apparently was a fan of The Comsat Angels, even helped them get on Island Records and produced their Chasing Shadows album.
Scottish indie rock band The Bluebells were close to a much more famous artist. B-side track All I Ever Said was (according to the liner notes) "a song full of words and chords produced by our old bonhomie, Elvis ‘King’ Costello".
Dave Edmunds liked Del Shannon and was responsible for the gorgeous And The Music Plays On, a 1974 single. Shakin’ Stevens started as the lead singer of The Sunsets and their first album A Legend was another Edmunds production. The final Edmunds track here is a classic: Flamin' Groovies’ Slow Death.
Joan Osborne was (& is) a big fan of The Holmes Brothers and in her liner notes of their Speaking in Tongues (produced by Osborne), she explains how she first met them in a New York Bar where they were playing.
Steely Dan’s Walter Becker did a great production job on Rickie Lee Jones’ Flying Cowboys. It even gave her a minor hit song, Satellites.
David Byrne tried his best with The B-52's Mesopotamia, but unfortunately the band members weren’t that impressed with the results…
John Cale got quite a name as a producer with Nico and The Stooges, but I selected The Modern Lovers’ Roadrunner.
David Baerwald (from David + David as well as solo) produced a few tracks from Susanna Hoffs' 1996 self-titled album.
I’ve posted about Bennie Wallace here before and like his first album, the follow-up Bordertown was produced by Dr. John as well.
Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) did a good roots production job on Tish Hinojosa’s Homeland.
Don Dixon is probably best known for his work with R.E.M., but this Guadalcanal Diary track is excellent too.
[Thanks, Koen! Stinky came up with the title of this series, Get A Leg Up! His set of songs produced by famous artists for their musical heroes is coming soon.]