April 22, 2025 • 34 mins
BMG recording artist/singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist A.J. CROCE, son of legendary singer/songwriter Jim Croce (“Time in a Bottle,” “Operator,” “I Got A Name”), whose new forthcoming album, “Heart of the Eternal,” was released on March 7. Croce, who was only two years old when his legendary father passed away in an airplane crash, started playing as a small child, and has taken after his father’s footsteps as an amazing musician. Tune in to hear more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, mighty fine and a great big Western Howdy. This
is Ranger Doug with the world famous writers.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In the sky.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Backstage Past Exclusive. I'm KKTC True
Country ninety nine point nine because it's the Cowboy way ed.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Welcome inside the backstage pass. Always a busy day here
for affiliates KYBN ninety eight point one, your Bay Area
Broadcasting Network, and our friends at KKTC True Country ninety
nine point nine there at Tawas, New Mexico. You can
also stream the show the Sports Guys podcast dot com
and out there on iHeartRadio wherever you guys find your
podcast out there and listen to all your great music,
(00:37):
brand new week here too. Horrord to believe that to
April is almost coming to a close and summer will
be here before we know it. More great shows, more
great artists coming up here too as well and also
streaming it tar Heel Worldnetwork dot org and please be
joined his brand new album out there, Heart of the
Eternal is across all those DSPs out there to BMG
recording artist, single songwriter and multi instrumentalist AJ Croachy to
(01:00):
the program to the Backstage Past, Aj, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sir, I'm doing all right, man, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
He appreciate you being here too. Let's talk about this too,
because no stranger too. The musical side of things, of course,
son of the legendary singer songwriter Jim Crochey. Of course
Time in a Bottle, he's had a bunch out there
to operator. I got a name, and of course you
got this brand new album, Heart of the Eternal, debut
in that top twenty on the Billboard Americana Folks Chart,
and of course that top forty on the Billboard Current
(01:28):
Rock Albums. Talk about just the I guess growing up
and I know that you were really young when your
father had passed a very tragic accident out there too,
but getting that inspiration and getting to learn his story
as you got older, and just what he meant to
music in general. I mean Time in a Bottle, a
classic song out there, talk about for the fans that
may not know that, the Croachy name. Just learning all
(01:49):
that and learning the background of music and his story
growing up a little bit for.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Me, you know, I was a fit generation musician, so
music was around everywhere. My great grandfather was an op singer,
and my grandparents on both sides played music. Of course,
my mother was an artist. My grandmother on my mother's side,
she had a television show in Philadelphia in the late
(02:13):
forties and played piano and sang and so it was
always kind of part of my life. You know. My
father died when I was very young, but his presence
never left because his music was there. I had home
recordings that were amazing to be able to listen to
(02:34):
him hanging out with friends and talking and was always
recording something. I had over two hundred tapes reel the
reels and cassette tapes of my father writing new songs,
hanging out with friends. He recorded everything in the event
that something great would happen or someone would say something
funny and he could riff on it for a song.
(02:56):
His record collection was my inspiration. And you know, losing
site at four years old turned me on to Ray
Charles and Stevie Wonder and all the great blind blues
guitar players and singers and songwriters and and of course
you know that's where it started, you know. So from
(03:16):
there I just kind of I played started on piano
and and one thing led to another.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, I love this and it really reflects in the
music that the style of music you play out there too,
which I love it. And let's break down this album
before we play a couple of tracks off of it. AJ,
this is fantastic, a great body of work, hard of
the eternal, and I know it was produced by Shooter
Jennings who's been out there for many many years in
the music industry. He knows front to pack too, and
this album is fantastic. Break it down for us as
far as song choice putting it on there, and of
(03:46):
course a couple we're going to dive into it and
play here on the show today.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, man, you know it's it's a diverse record. I'm
playing playing a lot of guitar, a lot of lead
guitar that I haven't in the past, playing all kinds
of keyboard news. So I'm I'm all over this thing,
and and it was just, you know, it's really diverse musically.
You know, I've got I've got things like I Got
(04:11):
a feeling that are that are sort of in that
psychedelic soul world of Sugary Otis and and the Chambers
Brothers or or Sly and the family Stone and then
and then other things that are more esoteric like the
Finest Line or or didn't you want that too? And
then I've got a couple of things that are more
(04:32):
in the gospel world, like Reunion that I wrote with
John Oates, and you know it's it's it's rootsy American music.
I don't really know how else to how else to
describe it except that it's soul music.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Very much soul music too. We're gonna have a little
bit of soul here on the backstage pass again the
A J Croche joining us here on the backstage past,
powered by the sports Guys so podcast dot Com of
course after to our affiliates wherever you guys find your podcas.
iHeartRadio ky be in ninety eight point one of your
area broadcasting network and are friends with kk t C
True Country ninety nine point ninety. I got a feeling
(05:08):
off the record, heart of the eternal AJ Croche here
it is, stay tuned.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I've gotta feeling I can't home. I thought I had
to keep it locked inside.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
I'm no che frupt shop going fav it dot fit
pa and for Central Sensal saying so number, I gotta
feed it this time around something man, that strain has
come on and Wow, there's something less up than that.
(05:55):
Ten John down on the road ten of fees. When
you lose something.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
You while you find that thing you meet. I've got
feeling from now gonna meet my struggle like a dog
by the light. I will see by the line that's
(06:22):
loving me like the long rus of abdy log.
Speaker 6 (06:29):
I we stand, I wi stand, I will stand from now.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I'm god feeling.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
From now on, gonna meet my struggle like the dog
by like I will see.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
By that's loving me love the roots of a mighty how.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
I will stand, I will stand, I will stand from now.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
Hey guys, this is Nashville recording artist Citi Bass and
you're listening to the award nominated Backstage Pass on KYBN
ninety eight point one in kk t C True Country
ninety nine point nine. You can also catch the show
on k I SW Country in th hw N dot org.
Speaker 8 (07:59):
Mcada and Gordon Show. It's a two hour show playing
the best in country music, so check it out at
the Cadangordonshow dot com. Again, that is the Caden Gordon
Show dot com.
Speaker 9 (08:13):
Hey, y'all, this is recording artists Will Moseley and you're
listening to the Award nominated Backstage Past podcast on KKTC
True Country ninety nine point nine and on KYBN ninety
eight point one, your Bay Area broadcasting network.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I tell you what, he leaves the heart on the
sleeve out there too when it comes down to it.
Love this album, Heart of the Eternal. Back here the
Backstage Pass again, AJ Croachey joining us here on the show.
Uh you mentioned this title here too, And it's always
great to pick a song AJ that really sets the
tone for the rest of the record. Y'all did this
one justice for I got a feeling talk about just
the writing and a little bit of the backstory of
(08:52):
this one too, because I love this record, love this
song too.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
At the same time, Oh thank you. Well. I was
on tour and uh, I was in I believe I
was in California somewhere and was just playing with that
riff and it reminded me of, you know, of that
psychedelic soul thing, and I had written lyrics to I
got a feeling. I had started it, written most of
the song, but it was a bit conversational and I
(09:17):
wanted something that was a little more esoteric because it
was kind of in that psychedelic soul vibe. So when
I got back to Nashville, I gave a guy a call,
Tommy Simms, who is a wonderful songwriter. Don't know if
you know his work with Eric Clapton. He wrote Change
the World and worked with Tony Braxton and Baby baby
(09:38):
Face and a lot of them Atlanta based R and
B folks, And he came over and we wrote this
kind of esoteric psychedelic lyric for the song that ended
up being I Got a Feeling.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Another in office record too.
Speaker 8 (09:54):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
We're gonna touch on several board, but on a roll
for this one, Heart of the Eternal. Let's go there
and dive into that one.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
That one's self explanatory. You know, it's about my life.
It's about it's about growing up, you know, in the
shadow of a hero. You know about the fact that
I that I could care less about fame and fortune.
I do this because it's a calling, because I love it,
you know, from the beginning, when I was, you know,
playing for Jack Clement here in Nashville at seventeen, or
(10:24):
BB King at eighteen, or with Ray Charles when I
was twenty, or any of the other folks that I
toured with or worked with ry Cooter and Keltner and
all those amazing artists that took me under their wing
and encouraged me. You know, it was It's all part
of it.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
It really is, like I said, that whole situation of
just building your career and finding out where you want
to go with it too. It is a calling for
you too. Let me ask you this about guitar because
I've put my little one in it and she could
really calibrate herself to it, to learning it. Dad, my
fingers hurt that kind of thing. I tried it when
I was younger. It's not for everybody. One of the
toughest instruments to learn. And AJ, when did you first
kind of pick up that guitar and did you teach
(11:03):
yourself through videos or instructure?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Talking about that story for me, Yeah, yeah, I picked
up guitar late. You know, I've been playing piano since
before I could walk. But with guitar, you know, I
just I just wanted to be great at one instrument,
you know, initially, and then my mother gave me this
guitar that was my dad's writing guitar. It was an
(11:27):
old thirties Gibson, a small body lub beautiful old instrument,
and that really encouraged me to write on guitar, to
simplify my writing and to think about the way, you know,
in a way, I had all of these options in
(11:49):
front of me on the piano because I knew the
instrument so well. With guitar, I knew about five or
six chords, and by simplifying that, I I became a
better storyteller, I became a better songwriter in certain ways,
and it really became an instrument that I started to
(12:10):
embrace and really started to practice, probably you know, five
ten years after starting, because I found that I had
this success chart success with songs I wrote on guitar.
I think it was the fact that I had simplified it.
There were few records. It was the melody was was
maybe more familiar, I'm not exactly sure, but there was
(12:31):
something about it that allowed me to connect with an
audience in a new way that I had never done
at the piano.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
It really is and that's the connection with that audience.
There's nothing like I'll never know what it's like. I mean,
I've had a lot of friends who are in the
music industry, and of course through doing the show, they
talk about that, just that feeling and that emotion you
get from being a performer and being on stage, and
like it's all they almost say, it's like an out
of body experience, or if they played the opera before
they step inside the center circle and they're like, you know,
you can feel all the great singers that have been
(13:02):
there too, and we're actually inside the circle and it's
a surreal feeling. Talking about this for the most important part,
being on stage for you kind of what drives you
and performing in front of.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
An audience, it's the connection that I have with the
with the audience.
Speaker 9 (13:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Half of what I'm doing is is talking to a
group of people that I've never met. And this is
a place where regardless of our philosophies or ideologies, we
can all be one. This is the place where we
can all connect and there's no judgment, and it's all
(13:38):
about the beauty of just being human. And and you know,
I think we can all laugh at ourselves. And if
you can't laugh at yourself, no point coming because because
this just requires a certain amount of understanding of just
the human condition. I think I think that's the first
(13:59):
step is that I'm there to entertain but I also
want a deeper connection with the audience. And so it's
not just the musicality, which is which is very important.
It's the connection with with the with the audience, with
the individual, no.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Doubt about it too. Like I said, when they can
feel it, you can feel it too. The same time,
there's nothing, like you mentioned, the connection of them singing
the lyrics.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Back to you.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
At the same time, I want to go back to
your last album for the play our next track off
the album currently out there across all the DSPs by request,
and we'll touch on a couple of songs here. A
lot of to have definitely charted out their top forty blues, Americana, Jazz,
and a lot of things out there too. And I
love this top twenty charts, but one that really caught
my attention, AJ Brickyard Blues. We have to got I
(14:44):
love this.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Song all right. Well, you know I had I've I've
loved Alan two song for a long time and we
worked together and he sat in with me whenever I
was in New Orleans in the later years of his life,
and and you know, he produced some of my some
of my music and so getting to to that it
(15:07):
was like, what can I do? You know that album
is about requests from from friends that came over.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
It was.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
They were all special evenings. Each each song was a
different evening, a different party, and a different request from
someone who I care about. And Brickyard Blues was was
just one of those, one of those requests. And I
was so happy to incorporate something by Toussaint because he
was such an influence on me.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Great influence there too. I want to ask you about
the tour for Heart of the Eternal too, the same
because I'm gonna do you guys do a widely acclaimed
Croachy Place Croachy fiftieth anniversary tour, which of course honored
your your dad through at the same time, but for
this one Heart of the Eternal, I mean tickets. Now,
this is going to be another big tour for you
too with this record.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Right it is it is and you know Croachy Places
Croachy was so successful, honestly sincerely that we're incorporating a
big part of that show into what we're doing with
Heart of the Eternal. Of course, I'm gonna play part
of the Eternal. I'm gonna play the ten albums that
came before it, you know, the music that a lot
(16:17):
of people came to know me through was through my father.
So I feel like it's appropriate to incorporate it and
give them what they want to hear as much as
as much as I want to share new things with them.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
It really does. I love this one hard of the
eternal across all the DSPs out there, we got to
play another one here. We don't just talk music, we
play music here on the backstage pass. It's called The
Finest Line, features a very talented musician and Margo Price.
If you haven't actually checked out her stuff, you need
to go do that here and say Brandon told you
to hear KKTC True Country ninety nine point nine and
out there KYB and ninety eight point one in the
(16:52):
Bay Area, your Bay Area broadcasting network out there also
tar Heel World Network dot org and check out the
show there at iHeartRadio. It's aj Crupci and The Finest
Line featured Margo Price. Back in the flash stay tune.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Is there a road ahead?
Speaker 10 (17:23):
A road behind?
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Is there a way to change between our life and death?
Speaker 11 (17:31):
He's strong, the Finest, We'll see the finely free in time.
(17:53):
If we're falling love, if there's a phantom thread, Queena
loving now strong, the finniest time, We'll see and fine.
Speaker 10 (18:12):
We're free in time.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Sometimes the bills in between stayble as the wall. One
other times the marrier was barely Harry and all.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Inside of real view me.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I see my light, I feel the love and feel
I feel. Is there a state of grace?
Speaker 11 (19:00):
Long?
Speaker 4 (19:00):
The funnest.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Fun It's a.
Speaker 10 (19:37):
Hey, this is Nashville recording artist Anita Cochran and you're
listening to the Backstage Past podcast powered by Sports Guys
Podcasts exclusively on KKTC True Country ninety nine point nine
in Taos, New Mexico.
Speaker 8 (19:52):
That Caden Borton Show Today's Best Country Mix is a
two hour show playing independent and mainstream country music you
know and he be sure to check it out at
the Kangordon Show dot com for more information on the show.
Speaker 12 (20:07):
Hey, everybody is Nashville recording artist Chad Brock and you're
listening to the award nominated Backstage Past podcast powered by
the Sports Guys Podcast exclusively on KKTC True Country ninety
nine point nine And back.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Here aj Croche on the Backstage Pass again, powered by
the Sports Guys Podcast dot com and out there too,
across all the digital streaming platforms. Wherever you guys find
your podcast, you'll check the backstage past. iHeartRadio and our
affiliates KYB in ninety eight point one, your Bay Area
Broadcasting Network and KKTC True Country ninety nine point nine.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So I love this one.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Margot Price, we're talking a little bit on the phone today,
a little bit before this, how this really collaborations are
becoming more of the norm in the business. This finest
line tune is fantastic. And you were in the studio
and the fate, as if it will, Margot comes in.
You guys collaborate on a terrific song.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Talk about this one for me, Well, it's the last
song I wrote for the record. I had written it
on guitar, and right as I was heading out the
door to get to the airport and head out to
LA for the recording, I played the song on piano
and I played it for my girlfriend and and and
she's like, what is that? I said, Oh, it's that
(21:18):
song I was I was playing on guitar before. And
she's like, that's the way that you go, and and
and I finished the lyrics on the plane. And when
I got to La. I was playing Shooter all the
stuff that that we knew we were going to go through,
and I threw that one in and and he's like,
I love this song. I said, I'm not sure if
(21:40):
it fits the album or how it works with the
rest of the songs, but we'll just we'll hold on
to it. We can, we can record it and if
something comes along then great. We hadn't even gotten to it.
Second day of of doing tracks, Margot dropped in and
heard what we were recording. I don't know which song
was really dug it and said, if you need anyone
(22:04):
to sing with you, or you want to do a duet,
let me know.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
And and so we did.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
And I realized that if I broke the lyrics of
the finest line in half in the verse, that it
became this really kind of haunting and ethereal duet, and
I don't know, just kind of one of my favorites
on the record.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Really is a great record, Heart of the Eternal from
aj Croachy out there across all the DSPs. So we
all love a good drink. My friend, Hey, Margarita, for
all the fans, I just came back from Cabos. So
this song really fits all right in Mexico, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Right, And yeah, well, you know, initially it was it
was like a lot of blues songs. You know. It's
kind of like a in the in the vein of
Hubert Summlin riff or a Link Ray kind of rock
and roll riff. And and I had this this music,
Like most of this album, I had the music before
I had the lyrics and got together with my friend
(23:05):
Gary Nicholson and he's a guy I've collaborated with for
thirty years, and it was just like it came out.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
It was there.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It is kind of loosely based on a mid twentieth
century Russian novel, like all blues songs, right, you know.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I mentioned the album was produced there by Shooter Jennings.
Shooters worked with a lot of great people there too,
and has a great track record when it comes to
being in this in the music industry. What was it
like to work with Shooter on this record too? Because
of just his name, with the business of so many
great people he's worked with, It.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Was really like a full circle. It was beautiful. He
is incredibly kind and intuitive. We just it was hanging
out with a friend, you know, we got to hang
out for a couple of weeks and make music. I
couldn't think of a better way to do it. And
I met Shooter actually through his father, because his dad
(24:03):
had asked me to sit in on a session and
so I had played a piano on one of his songs,
and I met Shooter around that time and we had
a really cool connection. But we just lost touch. And
so when I was thinking about going outside the box
on this on this album, trying to work with someone
(24:23):
a little bit younger than folks I'd worked with in
the past, his name was the first that came up.
And I'm really glad we had a chance to do it.
I'd do it anytime. It was so real.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Last name Jennings, I would do the same thing. And
of course I love that at several of Jennings family
great artists here on the program. Hey, let me ask
you about this. I know you love writing songs that
come down this co writing songs. You've worked with Leon
Russell and Dan Penn, but one specifically, I just had
him on the show a while back. You talk about
asked this guy one question. He goes off to the races,
but of course what almost what forty plus years of
(24:55):
musical history, and he's still out there doing his thing.
But you've had a chance to collaborate work with him,
the great Texas country artist Robert Earl Keane. He is
just working with Robert Earl and like taking in all
and infusing basically all of his great musical knowledge. I'm
sure there's great stories there, right man.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
We had such a We had wrote such a cool song.
It's funny you mention it. It's the lyrics are sitting
at my piano right now. I had just I'd not
thought about the song in a long time, and and
it's such a cool piece. We we wrote it in Texas.
I was down there playing a gig and we were
(25:35):
on some ranch not far from College Station, and and
he came over. We sat down, wrote that song, and
I'm I'm it'll probably end up on my next one
if it doesn't end up on his. I mean, I
think he's out of retirement now, isn't he He is?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, he's actually I saw some new shows the other
day too. I guess of another tour that's coming up
there too. At the same time, I love his stuff,
and of course of the story goes on and on
Lives on Forever, the legend Robert Earl King. So when
not doing music and on tour, aj what are some
kind of those fun hobbies or things that you like
to do when you're not doing music.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Oh man, Well, I've got to cash up on everything
else in life, you know, with my girlfriend be it.
You know, I try and get to the beach and
and be in nature and just be in the world
and experience life enough so that I can that I
can write about the things that I experience.
Speaker 9 (26:35):
I have a.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Beautiful, a beautiful dog named Mose, Who's who we have
Who's Who's a beautiful death adopted Aussie who is amazing.
And so I'm always active in trying to encourage people
to adopt animals, and and it's been a you know,
a part of my life in my girlfriend's life for
(26:58):
a number of years.
Speaker 9 (27:00):
All right.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
So I gotta throw a little bit of sports in
there too with you too, because I love it. It's
the best time of the year for like sports fans,
and and people say, well, we have to catch up
on this, and we don't follow it like we used
to because we're so busy doing the thing called music.
But is there I guess being where you're from, obviously,
you know Tennessee. If people are like, well, eventually the
Titans are gonna get better once they find a quarterback
in the NFL draft. You know, you got major League baseball, hockey.
(27:22):
Is there a team or teams, whether it be college
or pro, that.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
You root for?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
No, I you know, I haven't. I used to follow baseball.
I used to love it, but I don't have a
team here and and so, but you know, I've got
you know, we've got a Triple eight baseball team, and
and I don't know. I just I watch I watch
(27:48):
football during the Super Bowl. That's about it. I want
to see the halftime performance. You know, it just depends
if I'm if I'm hanging out with enthusiasts, then it's
then it's great. It's like whether it's whether it's tennis
or golf or or hockey. I mean, you know, my
vision is pretty poor, so I can't see the ball
(28:11):
moving around. So watching sports is not a lot of fun.
Usually it's just, you know, you can't really tell. I
can't really tell where people are running or what they're
running to or from.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Now it's again, but you know, the sounds and of
course people going out there are the artist connection with
like the national anthem and still hearing the great crowd,
the roar and smart like a drug man when I
watch it too, because you're always going to have your
favorite teams, but I'm always the kind of guy to
root for the underdog. And I think it's more too,
you know, whether even visually impaired or things like that.
There are many ways and I was a special scene
on the radios, many more ways to enjoy it too,
(28:46):
through the sound, the feeling, and of course out there
just really understanding what sports is all about to life.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Absolutely no, I and I love that and and you know,
and because so many people pay attention to it, I
think it's really it's you know, obviously relevant to to
people's you know, personal lives. I think that, you know,
growing up, I'm from Philly, so I always I always
(29:13):
pull for for the Phillies and the Eagles. But then,
but then, growing up in San Diego, I was a
Podres fan, and and we despised the Dodgers because they
were like the big money team and we had the
smallest budget and uh and all of that. But then
but then watching the World Series, it was so amazing
(29:36):
to watch. I can't believe I was rooting for the
Dodgers of all teams, and I was just you know,
I was kind of uh surprised at myself.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
I know what a lot of people take in that
historical franchise and get caught up in that Dodger voodoo
if you will too as well. But hey, you know what,
I've been out there a few years ago. My dad
grew up a Dodger fan too at the same time,
and I'm an Astros fan out here too, so you
can talk about the rivalry they had last five six,
seven years and of course what they did back in
the old nationally.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
So it definitely Nolan Ryan. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, there's great
history there.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
No doubt a lot of history there too. All right,
are you a foodie? Do you like to, like I said, meals?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
And what do you like to get? Oh? My god,
I love to cook and I love I love to
try new things. So it doesn't matter what what place
it's from.
Speaker 9 (30:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
My my family was was Italian and my father's side
and Eastern European on on my mother's but but it
was my father's side that that where the great cooks
all lived, and my father was a great cook, and
my mother learned from my father and from my my grandmother.
So I love making some of those, you know, Tuscan
(30:52):
style Italian meals. But then I love trying new things
and and you know, smoking meat and trying all kinds
of of of new approaches to cooking all the time.
It's it's one of my favorite things to do when
I'm not on the road because it's something I can't
(31:12):
really do in a hotel room. You know, I can't
do it on the bus. You know, you can get
creative with a microwave and a toaster, but only so
and so. So Yeah, you know, when I when I'm
on the road, a lot of times I'll be looking
at recipes and I'll be planning what I'm gonna make
(31:35):
when I get back home. And and that's just kind
of a fun pastime.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
I right will finish with this one too, obviously, the
late great Jim Croche the father there too, favorite song
or songs for you that, uh, do you like to
cover or just kind of listen to or throughout the
musical history that he had any really the the really
the image he left and the credibility out there is
it time a bottle for you that really still sticks
with you today?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Oh? It all? Does you know? Music is about emotion,
It's about mood and and so you know, you're not
always in the mood for one flavor. You know, you
want to you have you have a different taste every day.
You want to try something new, And I think music
is like that. You know, sometimes you want to hear
(32:24):
Sabbath and sometimes you want to hear Operator. You know,
it's it's not there's not an either or they They're
both relevant. All kinds of music are are important. And
I think that you know, he left legacy of really
great songs, and I think just depending on my mood,
is is you know what I'm you know, interested in
(32:46):
playing or listening.
Speaker 9 (32:47):
To or.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
But it's just you know, obviously it's such a part
of my life that you know, it might be a
little different than for for other folks.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
I'll tell you what, Like you said, the legacy definitely
left and message heard loud and clear through all those
great songs. Time in the Bottle I got a name,
and of course Operator, and just love the legacy and
the name he left out there. Croachy too as well.
You're following in those footsteps, and of course this great
album across all the DSP's Heart of the Eternal, across
all the digital streaming platforms. Make sure you guys go
check it out, and of course out there on tour,
(33:22):
check out the website. Make sure it's coming to a
city near you. Get those tickets. AJ is such a
pleasure to catch up with you here on the backstage.
Pass my friend, the best of luck with the tour
going forward, and of course on you guys are gonna
be very busy during the summer. We appreciate you sharing
some time to talk about the new record and again,
continue success going forward.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Thanks so much, Thank you so much. Take care You
got it.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
AJ Crochy across all the digital streaming platforms. We're back
with more great artists here thanks to our affiliates KYBN
ninety eight point one, your Bay Area Broadcasting network, and
of course out there too as well our friends KKTC
True Country ninety nine point nine, iHeartRadio. Wherever you guys
find your podcast, we'll talk.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
To you soon.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Take care, more great music come it up here across
all the affiliates, see you, sir, hey all, This.
Speaker 13 (34:04):
Is Texas Country artist Josh Abbott, and you are listening
to the Backstage Past with Brandon, powered by the Sports
Guys podcast dot Com on KKTC True Country ninety nine
point nine.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Hey guys, this is Nashville recording artist Kirsty Kraus, and
you're listening to the award nominated Backstage Pass podcast on KYBN,
your Bay Area broadcasting network.
Well, mighty fine and a great big Western Howdy. This
is Ranger Doug with the world famous writers.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In the sky.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Backstage Past Exclusive. I'm KKTC True
Country ninety nine point nine because it's the Cowboy way ed.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Welcome inside the backstage pass. Always a busy day here
for affiliates KYBN ninety eight point one, your Bay Area
Broadcasting Network, and our friends at KKTC True Country ninety
nine point nine there at Tawas, New Mexico. You can
also stream the show the Sports Guys podcast dot com
and out there on iHeartRadio wherever you guys find your
podcast out there and listen to all your great music,
(00:37):
brand new week here too. Horrord to believe that to
April is almost coming to a close and summer will
be here before we know it. More great shows, more
great artists coming up here too as well and also
streaming it tar Heel Worldnetwork dot org and please be
joined his brand new album out there, Heart of the
Eternal is across all those DSPs out there to BMG
recording artist, single songwriter and multi instrumentalist AJ Croachy to
(01:00):
the program to the Backstage Past, Aj, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sir, I'm doing all right, man, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
He appreciate you being here too. Let's talk about this too,
because no stranger too. The musical side of things, of course,
son of the legendary singer songwriter Jim Crochey. Of course
Time in a Bottle, he's had a bunch out there
to operator. I got a name, and of course you
got this brand new album, Heart of the Eternal, debut
in that top twenty on the Billboard Americana Folks Chart,
and of course that top forty on the Billboard Current
(01:28):
Rock Albums. Talk about just the I guess growing up
and I know that you were really young when your
father had passed a very tragic accident out there too,
but getting that inspiration and getting to learn his story
as you got older, and just what he meant to
music in general. I mean Time in a Bottle, a
classic song out there, talk about for the fans that
may not know that, the Croachy name. Just learning all
(01:49):
that and learning the background of music and his story
growing up a little bit for.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Me, you know, I was a fit generation musician, so
music was around everywhere. My great grandfather was an op singer,
and my grandparents on both sides played music. Of course,
my mother was an artist. My grandmother on my mother's side,
she had a television show in Philadelphia in the late
(02:13):
forties and played piano and sang and so it was
always kind of part of my life. You know. My
father died when I was very young, but his presence
never left because his music was there. I had home
recordings that were amazing to be able to listen to
(02:34):
him hanging out with friends and talking and was always
recording something. I had over two hundred tapes reel the
reels and cassette tapes of my father writing new songs,
hanging out with friends. He recorded everything in the event
that something great would happen or someone would say something
funny and he could riff on it for a song.
(02:56):
His record collection was my inspiration. And you know, losing
site at four years old turned me on to Ray
Charles and Stevie Wonder and all the great blind blues
guitar players and singers and songwriters and and of course
you know that's where it started, you know. So from
(03:16):
there I just kind of I played started on piano
and and one thing led to another.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, I love this and it really reflects in the
music that the style of music you play out there too,
which I love it. And let's break down this album
before we play a couple of tracks off of it. AJ,
this is fantastic, a great body of work, hard of
the eternal, and I know it was produced by Shooter
Jennings who's been out there for many many years in
the music industry. He knows front to pack too, and
this album is fantastic. Break it down for us as
far as song choice putting it on there, and of
(03:46):
course a couple we're going to dive into it and
play here on the show today.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, man, you know it's it's a diverse record. I'm
playing playing a lot of guitar, a lot of lead
guitar that I haven't in the past, playing all kinds
of keyboard news. So I'm I'm all over this thing,
and and it was just, you know, it's really diverse musically.
You know, I've got I've got things like I Got
(04:11):
a feeling that are that are sort of in that
psychedelic soul world of Sugary Otis and and the Chambers
Brothers or or Sly and the family Stone and then
and then other things that are more esoteric like the
Finest Line or or didn't you want that too? And
then I've got a couple of things that are more
(04:32):
in the gospel world, like Reunion that I wrote with
John Oates, and you know it's it's it's rootsy American music.
I don't really know how else to how else to
describe it except that it's soul music.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Very much soul music too. We're gonna have a little
bit of soul here on the backstage pass again the
A J Croche joining us here on the backstage past,
powered by the sports Guys so podcast dot Com of
course after to our affiliates wherever you guys find your podcas.
iHeartRadio ky be in ninety eight point one of your
area broadcasting network and are friends with kk t C
True Country ninety nine point ninety. I got a feeling
(05:08):
off the record, heart of the eternal AJ Croche here
it is, stay tuned.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I've gotta feeling I can't home. I thought I had
to keep it locked inside.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
I'm no che frupt shop going fav it dot fit
pa and for Central Sensal saying so number, I gotta
feed it this time around something man, that strain has
come on and Wow, there's something less up than that.
(05:55):
Ten John down on the road ten of fees. When
you lose something.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
You while you find that thing you meet. I've got
feeling from now gonna meet my struggle like a dog
by the light. I will see by the line that's
(06:22):
loving me like the long rus of abdy log.
Speaker 6 (06:29):
I we stand, I wi stand, I will stand from now.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
I'm god feeling.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
From now on, gonna meet my struggle like the dog
by like I will see.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
By that's loving me love the roots of a mighty how.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
I will stand, I will stand, I will stand from now.
Speaker 7 (07:38):
Hey guys, this is Nashville recording artist Citi Bass and
you're listening to the award nominated Backstage Pass on KYBN
ninety eight point one in kk t C True Country
ninety nine point nine. You can also catch the show
on k I SW Country in th hw N dot org.
Speaker 8 (07:59):
Mcada and Gordon Show. It's a two hour show playing
the best in country music, so check it out at
the Cadangordonshow dot com. Again, that is the Caden Gordon
Show dot com.
Speaker 9 (08:13):
Hey, y'all, this is recording artists Will Moseley and you're
listening to the Award nominated Backstage Past podcast on KKTC
True Country ninety nine point nine and on KYBN ninety
eight point one, your Bay Area broadcasting network.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I tell you what, he leaves the heart on the
sleeve out there too when it comes down to it.
Love this album, Heart of the Eternal. Back here the
Backstage Pass again, AJ Croachey joining us here on the show.
Uh you mentioned this title here too, And it's always
great to pick a song AJ that really sets the
tone for the rest of the record. Y'all did this
one justice for I got a feeling talk about just
the writing and a little bit of the backstory of
(08:52):
this one too, because I love this record, love this
song too.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
At the same time, Oh thank you. Well. I was
on tour and uh, I was in I believe I
was in California somewhere and was just playing with that
riff and it reminded me of, you know, of that
psychedelic soul thing, and I had written lyrics to I
got a feeling. I had started it, written most of
the song, but it was a bit conversational and I
(09:17):
wanted something that was a little more esoteric because it
was kind of in that psychedelic soul vibe. So when
I got back to Nashville, I gave a guy a call,
Tommy Simms, who is a wonderful songwriter. Don't know if
you know his work with Eric Clapton. He wrote Change
the World and worked with Tony Braxton and Baby baby
(09:38):
Face and a lot of them Atlanta based R and
B folks, And he came over and we wrote this
kind of esoteric psychedelic lyric for the song that ended
up being I Got a Feeling.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Another in office record too.
Speaker 8 (09:54):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
We're gonna touch on several board, but on a roll
for this one, Heart of the Eternal. Let's go there
and dive into that one.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
That one's self explanatory. You know, it's about my life.
It's about it's about growing up, you know, in the
shadow of a hero. You know about the fact that
I that I could care less about fame and fortune.
I do this because it's a calling, because I love it,
you know, from the beginning, when I was, you know,
playing for Jack Clement here in Nashville at seventeen, or
(10:24):
BB King at eighteen, or with Ray Charles when I
was twenty, or any of the other folks that I
toured with or worked with ry Cooter and Keltner and
all those amazing artists that took me under their wing
and encouraged me. You know, it was It's all part
of it.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
It really is, like I said, that whole situation of
just building your career and finding out where you want
to go with it too. It is a calling for
you too. Let me ask you this about guitar because
I've put my little one in it and she could
really calibrate herself to it, to learning it. Dad, my
fingers hurt that kind of thing. I tried it when
I was younger. It's not for everybody. One of the
toughest instruments to learn. And AJ, when did you first
kind of pick up that guitar and did you teach
(11:03):
yourself through videos or instructure?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Talking about that story for me, Yeah, yeah, I picked
up guitar late. You know, I've been playing piano since
before I could walk. But with guitar, you know, I
just I just wanted to be great at one instrument,
you know, initially, and then my mother gave me this
guitar that was my dad's writing guitar. It was an
(11:27):
old thirties Gibson, a small body lub beautiful old instrument,
and that really encouraged me to write on guitar, to
simplify my writing and to think about the way, you know,
in a way, I had all of these options in
(11:49):
front of me on the piano because I knew the
instrument so well. With guitar, I knew about five or
six chords, and by simplifying that, I I became a
better storyteller, I became a better songwriter in certain ways,
and it really became an instrument that I started to
(12:10):
embrace and really started to practice, probably you know, five
ten years after starting, because I found that I had
this success chart success with songs I wrote on guitar.
I think it was the fact that I had simplified it.
There were few records. It was the melody was was
maybe more familiar, I'm not exactly sure, but there was
(12:31):
something about it that allowed me to connect with an
audience in a new way that I had never done
at the piano.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
It really is and that's the connection with that audience.
There's nothing like I'll never know what it's like. I mean,
I've had a lot of friends who are in the
music industry, and of course through doing the show, they
talk about that, just that feeling and that emotion you
get from being a performer and being on stage, and
like it's all they almost say, it's like an out
of body experience, or if they played the opera before
they step inside the center circle and they're like, you know,
you can feel all the great singers that have been
(13:02):
there too, and we're actually inside the circle and it's
a surreal feeling. Talking about this for the most important part,
being on stage for you kind of what drives you
and performing in front of.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
An audience, it's the connection that I have with the
with the audience.
Speaker 9 (13:15):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Half of what I'm doing is is talking to a
group of people that I've never met. And this is
a place where regardless of our philosophies or ideologies, we
can all be one. This is the place where we
can all connect and there's no judgment, and it's all
(13:38):
about the beauty of just being human. And and you know,
I think we can all laugh at ourselves. And if
you can't laugh at yourself, no point coming because because
this just requires a certain amount of understanding of just
the human condition. I think I think that's the first
(13:59):
step is that I'm there to entertain but I also
want a deeper connection with the audience. And so it's
not just the musicality, which is which is very important.
It's the connection with with the with the audience, with
the individual, no.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Doubt about it too. Like I said, when they can
feel it, you can feel it too. The same time,
there's nothing, like you mentioned, the connection of them singing
the lyrics.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Back to you.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
At the same time, I want to go back to
your last album for the play our next track off
the album currently out there across all the DSPs by request,
and we'll touch on a couple of songs here. A
lot of to have definitely charted out their top forty blues, Americana, Jazz,
and a lot of things out there too. And I
love this top twenty charts, but one that really caught
my attention, AJ Brickyard Blues. We have to got I
(14:44):
love this.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Song all right. Well, you know I had I've I've
loved Alan two song for a long time and we
worked together and he sat in with me whenever I
was in New Orleans in the later years of his life,
and and you know, he produced some of my some
of my music and so getting to to that it
(15:07):
was like, what can I do? You know that album
is about requests from from friends that came over.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
It was.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
They were all special evenings. Each each song was a
different evening, a different party, and a different request from
someone who I care about. And Brickyard Blues was was
just one of those, one of those requests. And I
was so happy to incorporate something by Toussaint because he
was such an influence on me.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Great influence there too. I want to ask you about
the tour for Heart of the Eternal too, the same
because I'm gonna do you guys do a widely acclaimed
Croachy Place Croachy fiftieth anniversary tour, which of course honored
your your dad through at the same time, but for
this one Heart of the Eternal, I mean tickets. Now,
this is going to be another big tour for you
too with this record.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Right it is it is and you know Croachy Places
Croachy was so successful, honestly sincerely that we're incorporating a
big part of that show into what we're doing with
Heart of the Eternal. Of course, I'm gonna play part
of the Eternal. I'm gonna play the ten albums that
came before it, you know, the music that a lot
(16:17):
of people came to know me through was through my father.
So I feel like it's appropriate to incorporate it and
give them what they want to hear as much as
as much as I want to share new things with them.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
It really does. I love this one hard of the
eternal across all the DSPs out there, we got to
play another one here. We don't just talk music, we
play music here on the backstage pass. It's called The
Finest Line, features a very talented musician and Margo Price.
If you haven't actually checked out her stuff, you need
to go do that here and say Brandon told you
to hear KKTC True Country ninety nine point nine and
out there KYB and ninety eight point one in the
(16:52):
Bay Area, your Bay Area broadcasting network out there also
tar Heel World Network dot org and check out the
show there at iHeartRadio. It's aj Crupci and The Finest
Line featured Margo Price. Back in the flash stay tune.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Is there a road ahead?
Speaker 10 (17:23):
A road behind?
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Is there a way to change between our life and death?
Speaker 11 (17:31):
He's strong, the Finest, We'll see the finely free in time.
(17:53):
If we're falling love, if there's a phantom thread, Queena
loving now strong, the finniest time, We'll see and fine.
Speaker 10 (18:12):
We're free in time.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Sometimes the bills in between stayble as the wall. One
other times the marrier was barely Harry and all.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Inside of real view me.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I see my light, I feel the love and feel
I feel. Is there a state of grace?
Speaker 11 (19:00):
Long?
Speaker 4 (19:00):
The funnest.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Fun It's a.
Speaker 10 (19:37):
Hey, this is Nashville recording artist Anita Cochran and you're
listening to the Backstage Past podcast powered by Sports Guys
Podcasts exclusively on KKTC True Country ninety nine point nine
in Taos, New Mexico.
Speaker 8 (19:52):
That Caden Borton Show Today's Best Country Mix is a
two hour show playing independent and mainstream country music you
know and he be sure to check it out at
the Kangordon Show dot com for more information on the show.
Speaker 12 (20:07):
Hey, everybody is Nashville recording artist Chad Brock and you're
listening to the award nominated Backstage Past podcast powered by
the Sports Guys Podcast exclusively on KKTC True Country ninety
nine point nine And back.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Here aj Croche on the Backstage Pass again, powered by
the Sports Guys Podcast dot com and out there too,
across all the digital streaming platforms. Wherever you guys find
your podcast, you'll check the backstage past. iHeartRadio and our
affiliates KYB in ninety eight point one, your Bay Area
Broadcasting Network and KKTC True Country ninety nine point nine.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So I love this one.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Margot Price, we're talking a little bit on the phone today,
a little bit before this, how this really collaborations are
becoming more of the norm in the business. This finest
line tune is fantastic. And you were in the studio
and the fate, as if it will, Margot comes in.
You guys collaborate on a terrific song.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Talk about this one for me, Well, it's the last
song I wrote for the record. I had written it
on guitar, and right as I was heading out the
door to get to the airport and head out to
LA for the recording, I played the song on piano
and I played it for my girlfriend and and and
she's like, what is that? I said, Oh, it's that
(21:18):
song I was I was playing on guitar before. And
she's like, that's the way that you go, and and
and I finished the lyrics on the plane. And when
I got to La. I was playing Shooter all the
stuff that that we knew we were going to go through,
and I threw that one in and and he's like,
I love this song. I said, I'm not sure if
(21:40):
it fits the album or how it works with the
rest of the songs, but we'll just we'll hold on
to it. We can, we can record it and if
something comes along then great. We hadn't even gotten to it.
Second day of of doing tracks, Margot dropped in and
heard what we were recording. I don't know which song
was really dug it and said, if you need anyone
(22:04):
to sing with you, or you want to do a duet,
let me know.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
And and so we did.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
And I realized that if I broke the lyrics of
the finest line in half in the verse, that it
became this really kind of haunting and ethereal duet, and
I don't know, just kind of one of my favorites
on the record.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Really is a great record, Heart of the Eternal from
aj Croachy out there across all the DSPs. So we
all love a good drink. My friend, Hey, Margarita, for
all the fans, I just came back from Cabos. So
this song really fits all right in Mexico, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Right, And yeah, well, you know, initially it was it
was like a lot of blues songs. You know. It's
kind of like a in the in the vein of
Hubert Summlin riff or a Link Ray kind of rock
and roll riff. And and I had this this music,
Like most of this album, I had the music before
I had the lyrics and got together with my friend
(23:05):
Gary Nicholson and he's a guy I've collaborated with for
thirty years, and it was just like it came out.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
It was there.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It is kind of loosely based on a mid twentieth
century Russian novel, like all blues songs, right, you know.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I mentioned the album was produced there by Shooter Jennings.
Shooters worked with a lot of great people there too,
and has a great track record when it comes to
being in this in the music industry. What was it
like to work with Shooter on this record too? Because
of just his name, with the business of so many
great people he's worked with, It.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Was really like a full circle. It was beautiful. He
is incredibly kind and intuitive. We just it was hanging
out with a friend, you know, we got to hang
out for a couple of weeks and make music. I
couldn't think of a better way to do it. And
I met Shooter actually through his father, because his dad
(24:03):
had asked me to sit in on a session and
so I had played a piano on one of his songs,
and I met Shooter around that time and we had
a really cool connection. But we just lost touch. And
so when I was thinking about going outside the box
on this on this album, trying to work with someone
(24:23):
a little bit younger than folks I'd worked with in
the past, his name was the first that came up.
And I'm really glad we had a chance to do it.
I'd do it anytime. It was so real.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Last name Jennings, I would do the same thing. And
of course I love that at several of Jennings family
great artists here on the program. Hey, let me ask
you about this. I know you love writing songs that
come down this co writing songs. You've worked with Leon
Russell and Dan Penn, but one specifically, I just had
him on the show a while back. You talk about
asked this guy one question. He goes off to the races,
but of course what almost what forty plus years of
(24:55):
musical history, and he's still out there doing his thing.
But you've had a chance to collaborate work with him,
the great Texas country artist Robert Earl Keane. He is
just working with Robert Earl and like taking in all
and infusing basically all of his great musical knowledge. I'm
sure there's great stories there, right man.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
We had such a We had wrote such a cool song.
It's funny you mention it. It's the lyrics are sitting
at my piano right now. I had just I'd not
thought about the song in a long time, and and
it's such a cool piece. We we wrote it in Texas.
I was down there playing a gig and we were
(25:35):
on some ranch not far from College Station, and and
he came over. We sat down, wrote that song, and
I'm I'm it'll probably end up on my next one
if it doesn't end up on his. I mean, I
think he's out of retirement now, isn't he He is?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, he's actually I saw some new shows the other
day too. I guess of another tour that's coming up
there too. At the same time, I love his stuff,
and of course of the story goes on and on
Lives on Forever, the legend Robert Earl King. So when
not doing music and on tour, aj what are some
kind of those fun hobbies or things that you like
to do when you're not doing music.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Oh man, Well, I've got to cash up on everything
else in life, you know, with my girlfriend be it.
You know, I try and get to the beach and
and be in nature and just be in the world
and experience life enough so that I can that I
can write about the things that I experience.
Speaker 9 (26:35):
I have a.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Beautiful, a beautiful dog named Mose, Who's who we have
Who's Who's a beautiful death adopted Aussie who is amazing.
And so I'm always active in trying to encourage people
to adopt animals, and and it's been a you know,
a part of my life in my girlfriend's life for
(26:58):
a number of years.
Speaker 9 (27:00):
All right.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
So I gotta throw a little bit of sports in
there too with you too, because I love it. It's
the best time of the year for like sports fans,
and and people say, well, we have to catch up
on this, and we don't follow it like we used
to because we're so busy doing the thing called music.
But is there I guess being where you're from, obviously,
you know Tennessee. If people are like, well, eventually the
Titans are gonna get better once they find a quarterback
in the NFL draft. You know, you got major League baseball, hockey.
(27:22):
Is there a team or teams, whether it be college
or pro, that.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
You root for?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
No, I you know, I haven't. I used to follow baseball.
I used to love it, but I don't have a
team here and and so, but you know, I've got
you know, we've got a Triple eight baseball team, and
and I don't know. I just I watch I watch
(27:48):
football during the Super Bowl. That's about it. I want
to see the halftime performance. You know, it just depends
if I'm if I'm hanging out with enthusiasts, then it's
then it's great. It's like whether it's whether it's tennis
or golf or or hockey. I mean, you know, my
vision is pretty poor, so I can't see the ball
(28:11):
moving around. So watching sports is not a lot of fun.
Usually it's just, you know, you can't really tell. I
can't really tell where people are running or what they're
running to or from.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Now it's again, but you know, the sounds and of
course people going out there are the artist connection with
like the national anthem and still hearing the great crowd,
the roar and smart like a drug man when I
watch it too, because you're always going to have your
favorite teams, but I'm always the kind of guy to
root for the underdog. And I think it's more too,
you know, whether even visually impaired or things like that.
There are many ways and I was a special scene
on the radios, many more ways to enjoy it too,
(28:46):
through the sound, the feeling, and of course out there
just really understanding what sports is all about to life.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Absolutely no, I and I love that and and you know,
and because so many people pay attention to it, I
think it's really it's you know, obviously relevant to to
people's you know, personal lives. I think that, you know,
growing up, I'm from Philly, so I always I always
(29:13):
pull for for the Phillies and the Eagles. But then,
but then, growing up in San Diego, I was a
Podres fan, and and we despised the Dodgers because they
were like the big money team and we had the
smallest budget and uh and all of that. But then
but then watching the World Series, it was so amazing
(29:36):
to watch. I can't believe I was rooting for the
Dodgers of all teams, and I was just you know,
I was kind of uh surprised at myself.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
I know what a lot of people take in that
historical franchise and get caught up in that Dodger voodoo
if you will too as well. But hey, you know what,
I've been out there a few years ago. My dad
grew up a Dodger fan too at the same time,
and I'm an Astros fan out here too, so you
can talk about the rivalry they had last five six,
seven years and of course what they did back in
the old nationally.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
So it definitely Nolan Ryan. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, there's great
history there.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
No doubt a lot of history there too. All right,
are you a foodie? Do you like to, like I said, meals?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
And what do you like to get? Oh? My god,
I love to cook and I love I love to
try new things. So it doesn't matter what what place
it's from.
Speaker 9 (30:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
My my family was was Italian and my father's side
and Eastern European on on my mother's but but it
was my father's side that that where the great cooks
all lived, and my father was a great cook, and
my mother learned from my father and from my my grandmother.
So I love making some of those, you know, Tuscan
(30:52):
style Italian meals. But then I love trying new things
and and you know, smoking meat and trying all kinds
of of of new approaches to cooking all the time.
It's it's one of my favorite things to do when
I'm not on the road because it's something I can't
(31:12):
really do in a hotel room. You know, I can't
do it on the bus. You know, you can get
creative with a microwave and a toaster, but only so
and so. So Yeah, you know, when I when I'm
on the road, a lot of times I'll be looking
at recipes and I'll be planning what I'm gonna make
(31:35):
when I get back home. And and that's just kind
of a fun pastime.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
I right will finish with this one too, obviously, the
late great Jim Croche the father there too, favorite song
or songs for you that, uh, do you like to
cover or just kind of listen to or throughout the
musical history that he had any really the the really
the image he left and the credibility out there is
it time a bottle for you that really still sticks
with you today?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Oh? It all? Does you know? Music is about emotion,
It's about mood and and so you know, you're not
always in the mood for one flavor. You know, you
want to you have you have a different taste every day.
You want to try something new, And I think music
is like that. You know, sometimes you want to hear
(32:24):
Sabbath and sometimes you want to hear Operator. You know,
it's it's not there's not an either or they They're
both relevant. All kinds of music are are important. And
I think that you know, he left legacy of really
great songs, and I think just depending on my mood,
is is you know what I'm you know, interested in
(32:46):
playing or listening.
Speaker 9 (32:47):
To or.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
But it's just you know, obviously it's such a part
of my life that you know, it might be a
little different than for for other folks.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
I'll tell you what, Like you said, the legacy definitely
left and message heard loud and clear through all those
great songs. Time in the Bottle I got a name,
and of course Operator, and just love the legacy and
the name he left out there. Croachy too as well.
You're following in those footsteps, and of course this great
album across all the DSP's Heart of the Eternal, across
all the digital streaming platforms. Make sure you guys go
check it out, and of course out there on tour,
(33:22):
check out the website. Make sure it's coming to a
city near you. Get those tickets. AJ is such a
pleasure to catch up with you here on the backstage.
Pass my friend, the best of luck with the tour
going forward, and of course on you guys are gonna
be very busy during the summer. We appreciate you sharing
some time to talk about the new record and again,
continue success going forward.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Thanks so much, Thank you so much. Take care You
got it.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
AJ Crochy across all the digital streaming platforms. We're back
with more great artists here thanks to our affiliates KYBN
ninety eight point one, your Bay Area Broadcasting network, and
of course out there too as well our friends KKTC
True Country ninety nine point nine, iHeartRadio. Wherever you guys
find your podcast, we'll talk.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
To you soon.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Take care, more great music come it up here across
all the affiliates, see you, sir, hey all, This.
Speaker 13 (34:04):
Is Texas Country artist Josh Abbott, and you are listening
to the Backstage Past with Brandon, powered by the Sports
Guys podcast dot Com on KKTC True Country ninety nine
point nine.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Hey guys, this is Nashville recording artist Kirsty Kraus, and
you're listening to the award nominated Backstage Pass podcast on KYBN,
your Bay Area broadcasting network.
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