JIM CROCE TO BE COMMEMORATED

WITH REISSUES OF STUDIO ALBUMS AND RELEASE OF COLLECTOR’S EDITION BOXED SET

Releases From Rhino Encore and

Madacy/Shout Factory/Croce Music Group

To Honor 35-Year Anniversary of the

Singer/Songwriter’s Passing

Reissues With Video Also Available On The iTunes Store

LOS ANGELES — Jim Croce was enjoying hard-fought success as a singer/songwriter in 1973 when he was tragically killed in a plane crash at the age of 30 just a few months after scoring his first #1 hit with “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” In tribute to the 35-year anniversary of Croce’s untimely death, Rhino Encore—the Back-In-Print Imprint—will reissue all three of his studio albums, two making their CD debut and the other out-of-print for almost a decade. YOU DON’T MESS AROUND WITH JIM, LIFE AND TIMES and I GOT A NAME will be available on September 30 from Rhino Encore at all retail outlets, including www.rhino.com, for a suggested list price of $12.98 each. Additionally, iTunes will exclusively offer each of the albums with a video clip selected from Croce Music Group’s HAVE YOU HEARD JIM CROCE LIVE DVD.

 (In addition) to the long awaited Rhino releases, Madacy/Shout Factory/Croce Music Group will release a special collector’s edition boxed set, JIM CROCE COLLECTOR’S EDITION (CDs/DVD), which features the quintessential Jim Croce DVD “Have You Heard - Jim Croce Live,” as well as the CD of “Home Recordings” that chronicles the roots and inspirations of Jim Croce in his early years. And to round out the set, there is a greatest hits collection of Jim Croce masters that includes all of his most recognizable hits, including “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown,” “Operator” and many more.

In the three years leading up to the accident, Jim Croce wrote and recorded seven Billboard Top Ten singles, two of which reached the #1 spot. Croce’s ability to write a humorous song about everyday people and experiences was only outdone by his talent for writing tender ballads that have been part of the pop music landscape for the last 35 years. Since his death, Croce has sold a million records a year and is one of only a handful of artists in history to hold the #1 and #2 album spot on the Billboard Top 100 chart. He was inducted into the Songwriter Hall Of Fame in 1989, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will honor him with a new exhibit in early 2009.

Croce recorded an album of folk songs with his wife Ingrid in 1969 before making his solo debut with YOU DON’T MESS AROUND WITH JIM (1972). Spending five weeks at #1, the album showcased Croce’s natural storytelling ability on 12 songs that mixed witty tales and heartfelt ballads. Reaching the Top 20, the title track introduced listeners to one of Croce’s most enduring characters, the pool shark “Big” Jim Walker. The album featured two more hits, “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)” and “Time In A Bottle.” The latter would be re-released after Croce’s death, becoming his second and final #1 song. This release will be the album’s CD debut.

Five months after his debut, Croce returned with his follow-up, LIFE AND TIMES (1973). The album cracked the Top 10 and introduced another indelible character with the Top 40 smash “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” The album contained a second Top 40 hit, “One Less Set Of Footsteps,” along with several memorable ballads (“These Dreams” and “Alabama Rain”) and humorous story songs (“Roller Derby Queen” and “Speedball Tucker”). This release will be the album’s CD debut.

I GOT A NAME (1973) was Croce’s third album in two years and the last before a plane crash in Natchitoches, Louisiana took his and his guitarist Maury Muehleisen’s lives. Peaking at #2 on the album chart, the record includes a pair of hits, “I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song” and the title track. Released the day after his passing, “I Got A Name” reached #10 on the pop chart. Prior to this reissue, the album has been out of print for almost a decade.

Rhino’s Encore line harkens back to the earliest days of Rhino when the company made the leap from record store to record label by reissuing out-of-print titles in reaction to the demand of hungry customers. 30 years later, in an age when many albums are only available digitally, Encore still fills the bins for eager record shoppers with titles that deserve one last hurrah on CD.

Croce Music Group will mark this 35th anniversary year by paying tribute to the lasting music and legacy of Jim Croce through the release of his rare live performances and early recordings. Both DVD’s and CD’s will be released through the fall and winter of 2008.

Publicity Contacts:

For additional information regarding JIM CROCE’s YOU DON’T MESS AROUND WITH JIM, LIFE AND TIMES and I GOT A NAME, please contact Lellie Capwell in the Rhino Records Media Relations Department at 818-238-6246 or Lellie.Capwell@rhino.com

For additional information regarding JIM CROCE COLLECTOR’S EDITION, please contact David Roy in the Madacy Media Relations Department at Droy@madacy.com

For additional information regarding JIM CROCE and additional CD’s and DVD information please contact ARTIST WEBSITES: www.jimcroce.com or www.croces.com

TRACK LISTINGS

YOU DON’T MESS AROUND WITH JIM

• “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”
• “Tomorrow’s Gonna Be A Brighter Day”
• “New York’s Not My Home”
• “Hard Time Losin’ Man”
• “Photographs And Memories”
• “Walkin’ Back To Georgia”
• “Operator (That’s Not The Way It Feels)”
• “Time In A Bottle”
• “Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)”
• “Box #10”
• “A Long Time Ago”
• “Hey Tomorrow”

LIFE AND TIMES

• “One Less Set Of Footsteps”
• “Roller Derby Queen”
• “Dreamin’ Again”
• “Careful Man”
• “Alabama Rain”
• “Good Time Man Like Me Ain’t Got No Business (Singin’ The Blues)”
• “Next Time, This Time”
• “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”
• “These Dreams”
• “Speedball Tucker”
• “It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way”

I GOT A NAME

• “I Got A Name”
• “Lover’s Cross”
• “Five Short Minutes”
• “Age”
• “Workin’ At The Car Wash Blues”
• “I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song”
• “Salon And Saloon”
• “Thursday”
• “Top Hat Bar And Grill”
• “Recently”
• “The Hard Way Every Time”