A.J. Croce, son of the late Jim Croce, has just released a brand-new studio album titled Heart of the Eternal. The 11-track collection is a follow-up to A.J.’s 2021 covers project, By Request, and is his first new album of original tunes since Just Like Medicine in 2017.
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Heart of the Eternal, the 53-year-old singer/songwriter’s 11th studio effort, was produced by Shooter Jennings. It offers up a variety of songs, with influences ranging from blues to psychedelia to Philly soul to Latin-flavored jazz-pop.
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A.J. recorded the album at the famous Sunset Sound studio in Los Angeles during downtime on his long-running Croce Plays Croce tribute tour. Among the musicians who played on the record were former Steve Miller Band drummer Gary Mallaber, long-time Dr. John bassist David Barard, and Grammy-winning guitarist James Pennebaker.
Heart of the Eternal’s final track, “The Finest Line,” features Croce duetting with Margo Price. The album also features the song “Reunion,” which A.J. co-wrote with John Oates of Hall & Oates fame. Oates’ recorded the original version of “Reunion,” which appeared on his 2024 solo album of the same name.
Croce issued a statement explaining the inspiration by the songs on Heart of the Eternal.
“I’ve always felt that music is the heart of our humanity,” he noted. “It’s the purest way to connect to one another. Every songwriter I’ve ever met has told me that they don’t know where their greatest songs have come from. Maybe it’s our dreams or subconscious that allow us to draw from that eternal well of creativity. I don’t know the answer but I’m always looking for it.”
He added, “While stylistically diverse, this album is my search for the heart of the eternal.”
About Croce’s New Single and Music Video
Coinciding with Heart of the Eternal’s release, A.J. has debuted a new music video for the album’s latest single, “Hey Margarita.”
Croce co-wrote the swampy, blues-influence tune with Gary Nicholson, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee.
In a new interview with Garden & Gun magazine, A.J. explained that he’d written the music for “Hey Margarita” first, then brought the song to Nicholson to work on the lyrics.
“I met with Gary Nicholson on his back porch and played it for him,” he recalled. “He told me he heard a name in the song, and I had just reread [the novel] The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. So I said, ‘How about a blues song about this character from a Russian novel?’ I would love for it to have been about a margarita that you might drink, but it’s about another Margarita.”
The “Hey Margarita” music video features stylishly shot black-and-white footage of Croce and his backing musicians performing the song. You can check out the clip at Croce’s official YouTube channel.
Croce’s 2025 Tour Plans
A.J. wrapped up the latest leg of his Croce Plays Croce 50th Anniversary Tour in January. The trek features him celebrating his late father’s classic songs, mixed with select covers and his own solo tunes.
In February, A.J. launched a new tour in support of Heart of the Eternal. He has 30 upcoming confirmed dates in the U.S. and Canada. The trek currently is scheduled through an October 24 performance in New York City. On the new tour, Croce is still performing select songs by his dad, but his sets are more focused on his own material.
Heart of the Eternal Track List:
- “I Got a Feeling”
- “On a Roll”
- “Reunion”
- “Complications of Love”
- “Didn’t You Want That Too”
- “Hey Margarita”
- “Turned Around”
- “The Best You Can”
- “So Much Fun”
- “All You Want”
- “The Finest Line” (featuring “Margo Price)
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