Harper’s Back Porch Revue pays tribute to Jim Croce’s Harper College concert

When Jim Croce performed at Harper College in the winter of 1973, the singer-songwriter was on the cusp of superstardom. After landing “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim” on the pop charts in 1972, he was about to score additional Top 10 hits with “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,” “I Got a Name” and “Time in a Bottle” in the coming months.

Sadly, before the summer was over, Croce would be dead at age 30 in a plane crash. The folk musician’s Harper performance, which was recorded and released decades later, became an important moment, capturing Croce at the height of his powers, just before he became a household name.

Harper’s Back Porch Revue will be celebrating this performance by paying tribute to Croce’s only concert at Harper at 3 p.m. Saturday, December 14, in the Drama Lab Theatre, Building L, Room L109 on campus, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine. Tickets for the performance, titled The 50^th Anniversary of Jim Croce’s Harper College Concert, are $10 at the door with all proceeds benefiting the Community Music and Arts Center Scholarship Fund.

The Back Porch Revue is a folk music collective founded in 2017 by Scott Cashman, senior manager of community, career and corporate education, and Bekr Ali, community education instructor. Cashman said the group’s goals are to encourage members to try new things and bring additional live music to the area.

“It’s a true community group,” he said. “We’ve had people from age 15 to age 80 in the group – sometimes at the same time.”

While the Back Porch Revue tends to focus on folk music written before 1940, the group is branching out to include music that’s a little more modern for the Croce tribute (even if his music is 50-plus years old). Cashman said that, as a storyteller, Croce fits well into the Back Porch Revue tradition, although it will mark the first time the group is playing music that landed on the Billboard charts.

“When you play folk music, you’re telling the stories of American history,” Cashman said. “Jim Croce was doing that in the ’60s and ’70s. He had experience driving trucks and he was in the Army. He knew a Leroy Brown. These songs are about real people and real experiences.”

For the upcoming concert, the Back Porch Revue is mostly recreating Croce’s setlist from February 1973, while adding a couple of big-name hits that are closely associated with the legendary musician. Cashman notes that Croce was far from the only famous musician to play at Harper; past shows have starred John Denver, Muddy Waters, Journey, Leon Redbone and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. But the Croce concert has special resonance, considering his death later that year.

“We’re working hard to do Jim Croce justice,” Cashman said. “His show was celebratory and ours will be too. This is a piece of his history and, also, a piece of Harper College history.”

For more information, visit the concert’s event page.