Photo by Miller James on Unsplash
A little over fifty years ago, one of our nation’s greatest songwriters died in a plane crash, along with five other people, on September 20, 1973 in Natchitoches, Louisiana, after finishing a concert at Northwestern State University. The songwriter: Jim Croce.
About eleven years after Jim Croce’s death, I was serving Hopewell United Methodist Church outside of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, located in Guthriesville. After a worship service that I led with singing and playing my Washburn Dreadnought guitar, an elderly parishioner by the name of Frank approached me and told me that he once knew a songwriter. Frank shared that this songwriter came to his campground and country store to sell an old propane tank just to get some extra cash. I asked who this songwriter was, and without hesitation, Frank retorted, “Jim Croce.”
In Ingrid Croce’s “Jim Croce Anthology: the stories behind the songs,” Ingrid actually refers to Frank’s Folly store and how Jim would make a run to the store “for some eggs, thick slab of bacon and a few six-packs of beer and Frank’s local chatter.” Reading Ingrid’s words, reflections and moving stories about their arc of love makes me appreciate so very deeply the life of this Pennsylvania songwriter whose music, songs and stories resonate with us still. I often wonder how many other songs he would have written, and how blessed I and so many others would have been to be on the receiving end of such gentle, humorous, and moving love songs, ballads and lively lyrical and real-life characters and portraits.
This very evening, my wife and I will attend A.J. Croce’s, “Croce Plays Croce Fifty Year Anniversary Concert” in Reading, Pennsylvania. What a privilege and opportunity to celebrate A.J.’s artistry and remember his father’s music as well. So today is a day to remember and give thanks for all those loving, cantankerous, creative, fun-loving artists who have gone before us. As we remember and give thanks, may we also write, sing and gather people together in ways we haven’t before, knowing that, in the words of Jim Croce, “Tomorrow’s Gonna Be a Brighter Day.”
Photo by Miller James on Unsplash
