AJ Croce to take the stage at the MACC’s Castle Theater on May 19
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For many years A.J. Croce resisted playing his father's songs. Before his death at the age of 30 in a plane crash in 1973, his late father, Jim Croce, recorded such timeless gems as "Time in a Bottle," "Operator," "You Don't Mess Around with Jim," "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," and "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song."
"I had not played my father's music until a few years ago," A.J. Croce explained. "I had almost 30 years of performing and recording before I came to it very naturally, and it was just so much fun to feel how the audience was moved by his music and just have a wonderful time."
Bringing his "Croce Plays Croce" tour to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on May 19, he will play his father's hits, other covers, and some of his original songs.
"It's focused on his music, but I'll play mine, and I take the requests from the audience," he explained. "It's just been really amazing. And my band is just iconic. I've got these amazing players, like Gary Mallabar on drums, who did all the Van Morrison records like 'Moon Dance' and 'Tupelo Honey.' He was the drummer with Steve Miller Band for 28 years, and was on iconic records by Joe Walsh, Bruce Springsteen and Bonnie Raitt. My bass player David Barard from New Orleans sings amazingly as well, and he was with Dr. John for almost 40 years and with Etta James and B.B. King."
Only two when his dad died, A.J. Croce pursued a music career from an early age. His reluctance to play his father's music came from "a combination of things. Part of it was I didn't think there was any integrity in taking the easy way and doing his stuff, and just accepting the offers to do his music. It wasn't right for me. Also I was really pushing myself to do the most challenging music I could, and I was a piano player until my 30s, when I started playing guitar. It took some time of playing guitar when I got a chance to try his music. I received his guitar that he wrote on, a 1933 Gibson small bodied guitar from my mother in my early 30s, and I felt obligated to learn his music. This is the guitar that he wrote 'Time in a Bottle' and 'Operator' and 'Don't Mess Around with Jim,' and all of these amazing songs."
A.J. Croce's stellar career has encompassed time with many legends including Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and James Brown.
"I was on the road with him (B.B. King) on and off for a while, and it just seemed like one thing after another. The next thing I know, I'm on the road with Ray Charles and Aretha and the Nevells (Brothers) and James Brown. I sat in a number of times with Willie Nelson, playing organ or piano with Willie. It was like getting to work with my favorite artists in the world and sit in and hear stories."
Among his memorable albums, an impressive collection of original soul songs on "Just Like Medicine" included help from legendary Stax Records guitarist Steve Cropper, a song co-composed with Leon Russell and an unreleased song by his father.
The song by his father, "Name of the Game," was incomplete. "I'd known about it for a while, but it wasn't finished and it wasn't arranged," he said. "So this is the one opportunity I really had to be able to collaborate with my father. And it was a really nice thing."
A.J. Croce performs "Croce Plays Croce" in the MACC's Castle Theater on May 19 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25, $35, $45, $75, and a limited number of $125 Gold Circle seats, plus applicable fees. Ticket are available online at MauiArts.org.