“In the meanwhile, I think ‘By Request’ was the perfect project at this time. I do feel like there’s some heavy moments that will be relatable to a lot of people. And, obviously, some of the new songs I wrote came from that grief, not that I think it will be a particularly sad album when I make it. “Writing an album of original material is a very personal endeavor. “I started touring again and it was very hard, at first, playing so many songs I wrote that my wife had inspired. “After several months of being in my house and grieving and spending time with my two (adult) kids, I felt like I needed to experience the other part of my life, which is my music,” Croce recalled. The album focuses entirely on songs that various friends requested Croce perform while visiting him and Marlo at their San Diego home in University Heights and, later, in Nashville.
Instead, he takes the title of “By Request” literally. Those new songs are simply too personal for now, although he plans to feature them on his next album. Like Waits, he is also an accomplished singer and songwriter - as befits the son of famed troubadour Jim Croce, who died in a 1973 plane crash barely a week before his son turned 2.īut when it came time to make “By Request” in Nashville with his band and some choice guest artists, Croce opted not to include any music he has written since his wife’s death. Like Waits, a key early influence, the piano-playing Croce grew up in San Diego and honed his music chops playing in local clubs and coffee houses. It was great, and it seemed like that ride got shorter and shorter.” l was also listening to old rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, blues and soul music. I listened to Tom Waits’ first two albums, on cassettes while doing a lot of driving back and forth to L.A. I was recording, playing live dates, doing film work and some sessions for other artists. I used to have a root beer-colored ’56 Ford Mustang and was driving up to Los Angeles a lot. “I listened a lot to ‘The Heart of Saturday Night’ album after, and even before, my first record came out. “Absolutely,” said Croce, whose all-star 1993 debut album was released internationally when he was only 21. “San Diego Serenade’s” closing lines - Never saw my hometown till I stayed away too long / I never heard the melody till I needed the song - have even more meaning for him now than when he first heard Waits’ music as a teenager here. Waits’ song, from his second album, 1974’s “The Heart of Saturday Night,” is especially resonant for Croce, who lived in San Diego for all but about eight of his nearly 50 years.
“I felt this album was a perfect bridge between the loss of my wife - she was my best friend - and the next album I do, which will be very personal,” Croce said by phone from East Nashville, where he and Marlo moved in 2015. Of critical importance, these songs proved as welcoming to him as a performer channeling his emotions as they will to “By Request’s” listeners. Croce’s interpretations strike a deft balance that enables him to sound reverent while adding his own musical stamp. Those song titles alone tell a touching story about love and loss. Instead, he turns to funk, rock, blues, soul, pop and country favorites by a dozen distinctly different artists, including Neil Young (“Only Love Can Break Your Heart”) Sam Cooke (“Nothing Can Change This Love”) the Five Stairsteps, (“O-o-h Child”) Randy Newman (“Have You Seen My Baby?”) and the Beach Boys (“Sail On Sailor”). With his 10th and newest album, the cathartic “By Request,” music provides a life-affirming way for him to grieve losing his wife of 24 years, Marlo, who died suddenly in 2018 from a rare and sudden heart virus.īut Croce does not achieve that catharsis with his own songs. Croce has experienced the transformative power of music for much of his life, be it as a vehicle for celebration and contemplation, transcendent love and profound loss, and many points in between.
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