A.J. Croce pays tribute to his father Jim Croce with 50th anniversary concerts
Singer-songwriter Adrian James “A.J.” Croce doesn’t have a vivid memory of the first time he heard the music of his late father, Jim Croce, an American folk and rock singer who died in a plane crash when he was two years old.
“There was no special moment in that regard because it was like being home,” Croce said in a recent phone interview. “It’s like the moment you first met your mother or your father. It was there from the beginning.”
On Sept. 20, 1973, Jim Croce and five others died in a plane crash in Louisiana. His death came a year after the peak of his success with the albums “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim” and “Life and Times” and just a day before the release of the lead single of his fifth and final studio album, “I Got A Name.”
Now, his son will pay tribute to his father’s music on the Croce Plays Croce 50th Anniversary Tour, celebrating the anniversaries of the three albums. The singer-songwriter will perform at the Troubadour in West Hollywood on Thursday, Sept. 21, Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage on Friday, Sept. 22 and Humphreys Concerts By The Bay in San Diego on Saturday, Sept. 23.
The performance at the Troubadour also marks a special occasion for Croce, whose father performed there July 20-23, 1973.
“Doug Weston, who was the owner and founder of the Troubadour, was one of those guys that could hear good artists before they became big, and he would book them a year in advance for low money, and then they’d be obligated to come back and play for three or four nights at the time when they could get play at an arena by that point, and he was famous for this,” Croce said. “He did that with Elton John, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles and my dad. We’re going to play a 50th anniversary show in Los Angeles next year at the Orpheum downtown, but I really wanted to play at The Troubadour for fun and just for the sake of the 50 years since he played there.”
As for this current Croce Plays Croce tour, he said it’s “energetic and changes every night.”
“I really love letting the audience participate and choosing which songs I’m going to play, whether they’re my father’s or mine or anyone else’s,” he said. “It’s a stage full of Grammy-winning artists in their own right, so it is a wonderful experience for us each night because we keep it fresh, and the audience can get a sense of how much fun we’re having.”
The summer before Croce’s father’s death, he and his family moved to San Diego. At four years old, Croce lost his sight as a result of abuse from his mother’s then-boyfriend and spent the following years of his life slowly regaining his eyesight in his left eye. He started playing music at seven and taught himself to play the piano. He would listen to Elton John, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and whatever else would come on the radio and play along. He also enjoyed his father’s record collection, which would send him down a rabbit hole of musical inspiration.
“I discovered the albums, but couldn’t see well,” Croce said. “I would put the good records over to the left side, and I never knew what I’d be grabbing, but I knew that the stuff on the left side was great. It started with Ray Charles, and he was like my gateway drug, and over the years, that music really resonated with me and made a huge impact on me as an artist.”
As Croce delved into the work of his musical idols that derived from his father’s record collection, he began to hear how his father was also influenced as a musician. He could trace the sounds and style of Jimmy Reed in “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim” and Chuck Berry in “Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy).” While his father’s music didn’t directly influence Croce, he did find an appreciation for his songwriting.
“He had such an amazing gift of being able to make heroes out of everyday people,” Croce said. “He was just an amazing storyteller, and it taught me how to to write a song. He could write the most amazing conversational song and then turn around and write a song built around metaphors. There’s not a lot of songwriters that do both.”
Croce developed a love for soul music and ’60s rock ‘n’ roll. He started singing and writing his own songs when he was 11 and joined his first band at 16. He admired artists such as Little Richard and Charles Brown and was fascinated by 20th-century jazz stride pianists. In addition, he studied the likes of Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Domino and Chuck Berry’s pianist, Johnnie Johnson.
He has since established his own style of music and went on to perform alongside Willie Nelson, B.B. King and his idol, Ray Charles. Croce said it was vital for him to establish his career as a musician to allow himself to embrace his father’s legacy without feeling overshadowed.
“I think had I not built a career for myself before, I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much as I do now,” Croce said. “I was always hesitant to perform his music, but was happy to contribute to his legacy by working behind the scenes. But when I started to throw a song in here and there to see how much it meant to the audience, the reaction was amazing.”
Croce Plays Croce
Where: Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage. 32-250 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage
When: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22.
Tickets: Tickets are $25-$75 at aguacalientecasinos.com.
Also: 8 p.m. Sept. 21 at The Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd. West Hollywood. Sold out, but limited tickets are available at stubhub.com; 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at Humphreys Concerts By The Bay, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego. $55 for general admission; $154 for dinner show package at Ticketmaster.com.