Album Notes

An eclectic debut from Kansas City born singer-songwriter Joe Croker, "All The Pretty Girls" is produced by Bonnie Raitt sideman George Marinelli. Recorded at Wing-Ding Studios in Nashville, the cd features top flight session players who negotiate a broad current of genres-from pop to country, rock to swing. At base, Croker is a Midwestern lyricist in the Dylan, Mellencamp mold, but the musicians on this release jettison him to broad corners of a compelling musical map.

Upon its release "All the Pretty Girls" garnered praise for the incisiveness of the songwriter's lyrics and for the songwriter's "grasp of the intricacies of our modern world." Rockzilla magazine opined that "for intelligence, listenability, beauty, sheer listening enjoyment, "All the Pretty Girls" is the ticket to musical nirvana." Other reviewers noted that despite the "topical element to some of the songs, reminiscent of the populist appeals of Springsteen or Mellencamp, Croker's range of styles and subjects makes most comparisons less than apt. He's an original in the best sense of the word."

Croker's reception in his adopted town of Nashville has been enthusiastic, with Tennessee's largest paper, The Tennessean, describing Croker's work as "potent, sparkling, and remarkably varied."