described Clement as an eccentric who’d dress in his “costume of the day.” He might dress up like the Penguin, or he be wearing a kimono and smoking a huge joint. He’d been hired by Cowboy Jack Clement, who produced Johnny Cash for some 50 years. Jerry Lee Lewis walked out of the studio as he arrived, and he was starstruck things like that didn’t happen in San Diego. went from San Diego to Nashville for his first recording session. They co-wrote two songs, the first of which lent its title to his new album: “Cures Just Like Medicine.”Īt the age of 17, A.J. saw Dan perform at the Nashville City Winery and asked him if he’d be interested in writing together. The song opens dirty and funky, but that gives way to a more pop middle and ending.ĭan Penn wrote and produced many of the great soul hits of the ’60s: “The Dark End of the Street,” “I’m Your Puppet,” “The Letter,” “Cry Like a Baby,” and “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man.” A.J. and Mitchell were correct in what they heard in it. said, “you can imagine it anyway like.” Listening carefully to the song, I found that both A.J. described Mitchell’s vision as “cinematic.” “Given that it’s just David and I playing,” A.J. Producer Mitchell Froom, however, had a different vision for the song: 10 years earlier, set at the Copacabana. told the audience that he wrote “Call of Love” with a Curtis Mayfield vibe in mind, specifically 1971’s The Bitter. He followed with another original song, “Coraline,” before playing a cover of Sam Cooke’s “Nothing Can Change This Love.” “The Heart That Makes Me Whole” appeared on A.J.’s most recent album, Just Like Medicine. opened his set with the last song he co-wrote the late Leon Russell. at the piano bench and David sitting with his electric bass, the evening felt relaxed yet structured.Ī.J. John, the Neville Brothers (both individually and together), and Patti LaBelle, among others. In his more than 40 years in the business, he’s recorded and performed with Dr. With his thick body and gray jacket, David carried himself like the veteran R&B player he is. during his set at City Winery DC on May 28. He described one of his songs as “Cuban delta style.” It’s all just a little Dixie-fried, too.īass player David Barard accompanied A.J. may be based in the blues, but he has a panoramic view not just of view of American but of world music. John, translation of the genre-bending guitar mastery of Ry Cooder and David Hidalgo.
In A.J.’s playing, you can hear the Tulsa sound of Leon Russell, the New Orleans hoodoo of Dr. has tapped into something even older and deeper: He belongs to the tradition of bards and troubadours that extends back at least as far as Homer. Born musical royalty, son of the legendary Jim Croce, A.J.
Croce plays timeless barrelhouse boogie-woogie. Croce perform at City Winery recently, this piano man would be at home in the Old West, tickling the ivories at a saloon.īut he also would seem at home in some futuristic, far-out space scene, playing the keys at the cantina in Star Wars. And so it occurred to me as I watched A.J.
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