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Jim Post

American singer-songwriter (1939-2022)

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Jimmie David Post (October 28, 1939 , September 14, 2022) was an American folk singer-songwriter, composer, and playwright. In 1968, his pop song "Reach out of the Darkness" charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks, peaking at number 10.

01Life and career

Jim Post was born in Houston, Texas. He performed and recorded in the 1960s as the duo Friend and Lover with his then wife, Cathy Conn Post. He worked as a solo singer-songwriter in Chicago and throughout the Midwest in the 1970s and 1980s. Post was a regular performer at the Earl of Old Town and other Chicago folk music bars, and was a contemporary of notable singer-songwriters Steve Goodman, John Prine, Fred Holstein, and Bonnie Koloc, and a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mick Scott and Tom Dundee. In 1971, he produced and played on an album of Chicago folk musicians, Gathering at the Earl of Old Town, that included the first recording of Goodman's "City of New Orleans". Starting in 1985, he hosted the Flea Market folk show played on WBEZ live at Navy Pier. During the 1990s and 2000s, he focused on performing the character of Mark Twain in one-man shows in a style similar to that of Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain Tonight and Mike Randall's Mark Twain Live. Post has also recorded an album of children's songs.

Post lived in Galena, Illinois. He was a guest on Ellen in a segment titled "Awesome Album Covers", where the talk-show host teased him about his album I Love My Life.

Post died from congestive heart failure on September 14, 2022, at the age of 82.

02Discography

Year Title Label Number Notes
1968Reach Out of the DarknessVerve ForecastFTS 3055As Friend and Lover
1972Slow to 20Fantasy9408
1973Colorado ExileFantasy9401
RattlesnakeFantasy9425
1976Looks Good to MeFantasy9451
1977Back on the Street AgainMountain Railroad52778Live
1978I Love My LifeMountain Railroad52784
1979Magic: In ConcertFlying FishFF-216Live
1980Ship ShapeFlying FishFF-240Live
1984The Crooner from Outer SpaceFreckle1905
1987Jim Post & FriendsFlying FishFF-419
1987Galena Roseself releasedCD
1989The Heart of ChristmasChicago Master Works1263CD
1996Mark Twain and the Laughing RiverWoodside AvenueWA-006-2CD
2000Frog in the Kitchen SinkCD, children's songs
Watch videos about Jim PostExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Jim Post, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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