Bill Lloyd

Bill Lloyd progressed from a power pop devotee into a country songwriter and performer before embracing rock & roll as a live act. His standing on Music Row rested first on penning successes for other artists and then on his work within the Foster & Lloyd duo. After the partnership dissolved in 1990, he launched a solo path while maintaining regular work as a sideman guitarist.

Kentucky provided the setting for his 1955 birth, yet constant relocations followed his military father around the globe during childhood. Song composition drew his attention from an early age. Attendance at Western Kentucky University ended when he left school and settled in Nashville in 1982. Teamed with Radney Foster for songwriting assignments, the pair delivered the hit “Since I Found You” to Sweethearts of the Rodeo. An RCA contract led Foster & Lloyd to record and issue their self-titled debut album in 1987. The LP generated three country hits—“Crazy over You,” “Sure Thing,” and “What Do You Want from Me This Time?”—and sustained the duo’s performances through 1990. Foster then began a solo career. Lloyd, who had already released Feeling the Elephant in 1987 containing decidedly rock-oriented mid-’80s demos, supplied guitar on albums by Ricky Van Shelton, Al Kooper, Kim Richey, Marshall Crenshaw, and Steve Earle. His first proper solo album, Set to Pop, appeared in 1994. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants followed five years later.