I spent a lot of the two weeks off from ninebullets.net just listening to older and more familiar music. I was starting to get a little burnt out, a touch quick to judge, and I think my ears needed to just relax with some familiar tunes. A palate cleanser of sorts. It wasn’t intended to turn into any blog posts, but one day while driving the hour and a half to and from my parents’ house I threw in my Jim Croce disc and got to thinking. While being best know for his ballads (”Operator”, “Time in A Bottle”, etc.), has anyone created more memorable characters than Jim Croce? and in such a short period? Leroy Brown, the fat roller derby girl, the very definition of cool: Rapid Roy (fuck Steve McQueen)…

In 1968, Jim and his wife, Ingrid, moved to New York and recorded Jim & Ingrid for Capitol Records. Despite relentless touring, the cd never gained a foothold on the radio. Disillusioned with the music industry, the Croce’s sold everything but one guitar and moved back to their home state of Pennsylvania. Jim picked up jobs doing construction and driving trucks and during this time he also began to pen songs about the folks he was meeting at the local watering holes and truck stops. Jim referred to this as his character development period.

Jim died in a plane crash in 1973 after releasing 3 albums. The day after his death, his final album, I Got A Name, was released. Based on the strength of those 4 albums, I’d venture a guess that if Jim were alive today he would be revered as one of the better song writers of our time. Hell, you could still make that argument if you wanted to. Today I am just gonna feature some of Jim’s best character songs.

Jim Croce - Rapid Roy (the stock car boy)
Jim Croce - Speedball Trucker
Jim Croce - You Don’t Mess Around With Jim
Jim Croce - Bad Bad Leroy Brown
Jim Croce - Roller Derby Queen