A J CROCE is the son of music legend Jim Croce. Croce senior died aged just 30 in 1973 having seen his songs – like ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown’ and ‘Time In a Bottle’ becoming US music standards. A J (Adrian James) suffered a difficult childhood. He was just two when his famous father died and after abuse from his mother’s boyfriend he was partially blinded. But music was in his genes and motivated by his father’s memory and inspired by people like Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, he made music his career.

AJ has eight albums under his belt and he’s just released his ninth – ‘Just Like Medicine’, and though he’s not a soul man per se, soul collectors might want to investigate when they learn that the 10 tracker has been produced by Dan Penn and features input from people like David Hood, Steve Cropper, the McCrary Sisters and The Muscle Shoals Horns. Recorded down in Nashville you’d be right in guessing  that the long player has a Southern soul feel to it; there’s a garnish of country about things too…. there’s a guest spot from Vince Gill.

Most soulful of the offerings is the moody ballad, ‘Move On’ (tremendous input from the MS Horns) while most poignant song is AJ’s version of his father’s ‘Name Of The Game’. It was the last song Jim Croce wrote and he never got round to recording it.

AJ CROCE’S ‘JUST LIKE MEDICINE’ is out now on Compass Records