Remembering Jim Post, Chicago folk music icon who died last month at 82
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A celebration of life was held Monday for local music icon Jim Post, who died last month at the age of 82.
Post, a longtime resident of Galena, Illinois, died Wednesday, Sept. 14, in Dubuque, Iowa, according to an obit published in Dubuque Today.
As noted in a Northwest Quarterly Magazine blurb that appears on his website, Post hung out with Janis Joplin and Studs Terkel and opened for Cream. But he was known for decades in Chicago as a regular on the folk music scene.
Post was born in Houston, Texas on Oct. 28, 1939, and won a broadcast radio competition when he was 6 years old, according to his obit.
In the 1960s, Post launched a successful recording career with his then-wife, Chicago native Cathy Conn, as Friend & Lover. The duo's most famous song was "Reach out of the Darkness," a top 10 hit in 1968.
Post also became a major part of Chicago's folk music scene in the Old Town neighborhood – particularly at the Earl of Old Town at 1615 N. Wells St. He played alongside other icons such as Steve Goodman, John Prine, and Bonnie Koloc, according to his obit.
Post released albums regularly as a solo artist in the 70s and 80s – among them "Colorado Exile" (1973), "I Love My Life" (1978), "The Crooner from Outer Space" (1984), and Jim Post & Friends (1987).
Post also served a stint as host of WBEZ's "Flea Market" folk and world music radio program – broadcast as a live concert on Sunday nights at the Old Town School of Folk Music's Armitage Avenue location back in the 1980s. He also performed for children, including a regular engagement at the Organic Theater in Lincoln Park called the Cookie Crumb Club.
Post also published a couple of children's books -- "Barnyard Boogie" and "Frog in the Kitchen Sink" -- and co-created Reading by Ear, a musical program intended to help children learn phonetically, his obit read.
In later years, Post – long known for his dramatic mustache - performed as Mark Twain in a long-running one-man show, "Mark Twain and the Laughing River."
In 2007, Post made an appearance at the Summer of Love 40th Anniversary Reunion in San Francisco, his obit noted.
Post lived in Galena for almost 50 years and became known as the Bard of Galena, his obit said.
"Anyone who ever spent time listening to his golden voice live or on record or attended one of his concerts or musicals in person is much richer for the experience— his infectious good humor, love of life, and masterful songwriting shine through every note and will live on as long as humans have ears to hear," Post's Dubuque Today obit read.
A celebration of Post's life was held Monday at Turner Hall in Galena, with music, stories, and poems.
Producer Richard Friedman told WGN Radio's Rick Kogan this past weekend that the Old Town School of Folk Music is also planning a celebration of Post's life in Chicago – but a date has not yet been set.
