You Don’t Mess Around With Jim

A surprising omission from the original 1001 list given the predilection for exactly this genre of 70s folksy singer songwriter stuff. Acoustic guitar driven songs fleshed out with strings and a light rhythm section here and there, all putting his mellow low voice and the lyrics - love songs and story songs - front and center. It’s well done for what it is, pleasant enough mellow stuff and not overlong.

Considering Dimery's penchant for singer/songwriters, I'm surprised he missed You Don't Mess Around With Jim. This album has some of the finest songwriting I think I've heard, definitely better than most of the singer/songwriters on the main list. James Taylor just feels like a watered down version of Jim Croce, for example.

This album wastes no time, clocking in at just 33 minutes, but it doesn't feel any less complete! Jim Croce constructs a folk pop world full of sentimental lyrics about relatable experiences such as unrequited love, the passage of time and broken dreams. As sad as some of the lyrics are the album always feels positive, helped by how fun and bouncy Croce's guitar playing and singing is, and it also helps a lot that he /can/ play guitar and sing quite well. There's also a few fun diversions, such as the old school rock and roll song right after what are probably the two emotionally heaviest songs on the album.

Jim Croce died the next year after this album's release. What a horrible waste of talent, I think Jim would have had an exceptional career

Should it be on the list: Yes

Top 3 songs: You Don't Mess Around with Jim, Operator, (That's Not the Way It Feels), Time in a Bottle

Someone's dad's favorite cooking music

I’ve heard this one before but it’s always worth a listen. Good album

I'm a casual folk enjoyer but this was really solid. Never heard of him before but he's got a great voice and the songwriting here is really good.