Editing Jim Croce (section)

=== 1960s ===
Croce married Jacobson in 1966 and [[Conversion to Judaism|converted from Catholicism to Judaism]], as his wife was Jewish. They were married in a [[Jewish wedding|traditional Jewish ceremony]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Elizabeth Applebaum |newspaper=[[The Jewish News (Detroit)|The Detroit Jewish News]] |url=http://www.netporch.com/sa/ |title=Article: Photographs And Memories, A story of love, music and conversion |date=1998 |access-date=April 11, 2014}}</ref> Croce enlisted in the [[Army National Guard]] in [[New Jersey]] that same year to avoid being drafted and deployed to [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], and served on active duty for four months, leaving for duty one week after his honeymoon.<ref>{{cite news |work= The Philadelphia Inquirer |date= August 13, 1967 |title= Jim Croce |publisher= }}</ref> Croce, who tended to resist authority, endured basic training twice.<ref>{{cite web |first= Carl |last=Wiser |url= http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/ingrid_croce/ |title=Ingrid Croce: Songwriter Interviews |website= Songfacts.com |date=May 1, 2007 |access-date=April 11, 2014}}</ref> He said that he would be prepared if "there's ever a war where we have to defend ourselves with mops."

From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, Croce and his wife performed as a duo. Initially, their performances included songs by artists such as [[Ian & Sylvia]], [[Gordon Lightfoot]], [[Joan Baez]], and [[Arlo Guthrie]], but they eventually began writing their own music. During this time, Croce secured his first long-term gig, at a suburban bar and [[steakhouse]] in [[Lima, Pennsylvania]] called the Riddle Paddock. Croce's set list covered several genres, including blues, country, rock and roll, and folk.

In 1968, the Croces were encouraged by the record producer [[Tommy West (producer)|Tommy West]], a fellow Villanova alumnus, to move to New York City. The couple spent time in the [[Kingsbridge, Bronx|Kingsbridge]] section of the Bronx and recorded their first album with [[Capitol Records]]. According to Ingrid, over the next two years, they drove more than {{convert|300000|mi|abbr=off}},<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070802142841/http://www.croces.com/croces.shtml Croce's Restaurant – San Diego]. Croces.com. Retrieved July 11, 2011.</ref> playing small clubs and concerts on the college concert circuit to promote their album ''[[Jim & Ingrid Croce]]''.

Becoming disillusioned by the music business and New York, they sold all but one guitar to pay the rent and returned to the Pennsylvania countryside, settling in an old farm in [[Lyndell, Pennsylvania|Lyndell]], where he played for $25 a night (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|25|1970}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}} dollars{{Inflation/fn|US}}). To earn additional money, Croce took odd jobs such as [[truck driver|driving trucks]], [[construction worker|construction work]], and teaching guitar while continuing to write songs, often about the characters whom he would meet at local bars and [[truck stop]]s and his experiences at work. These songs included "Big Wheel" and "[[Workin' at the Car Wash Blues]]."<ref>{{cite book |title= Jim Croce Anthology (Songbook): The Stories Behind the Songs |first1= Ingrid |last1= Croce |author-link1=Ingrid Croce |first2= Jim |last2= Croce}} {{ISBN?}} {{page?|date=September 2024}}</ref>