Maury Muehleisen
January 14, 1949 – September 20, 1973
Maury Muehleisen was a songwriter and guitarist best known as the recording and performing partner of Jim Croce. Muehleisen had already released an album on Capitol Records when me met Croce in 1970. They began working together, and the magic was immediate. Muehleisen and Croce had a way of bettering each other both in the studio and on stage. Upon the release of Croce’s debut solo album, his career took off, and he took Muehleisen with him. Together the mounted a seemingly never ending dates on television and on tour. But then on September 20, 1973, Muehleisen and Croce boarded an ill fated flight from Louisana to Texas. Just after takeoff, the small commercial plane clipped a tree just beyond the runway. The plane crashed, killing Muehleisen and Croce instantly. The cause was officially ruled as pilot error, but some early reports indicated that the pilot may have suffered a heart attack.
Thank you for remembering my brother Maury Muehleisen on the 36th anniversary of September 20, 1973, the day he and Jim Croce died in a plane crash. The others who lost their lives that day were Jim’s road manager Dennis Rast (aka Morgan Tell); Jim’s booking agent Ken Cortese; comedian George Stevens III; and the pilot Robert Newton Elliott.
Nice to see the photo Maury and Jim in an airplane in the Spring of 1973.
If he hadn’t gone with that pilot Robert N Elliott, would he and his band still be alive? The other question is why Mr Robert N. Elliott was permitted to fly the plane if he had some previous problems with his flying record? This is just a wishful thought if the accident would have been prevented?
Afton,
Thanks for your wishful thoughts. Sometimes we just never get to know the answers to some questions.
YES… were it not for the greed and lack of ethics increasingly polluting the formerly honorable traditions of aviation, Jim Croce would be alive as would Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Richie Valens, Rick Nelson, and others. Croce’s pilot lied on his medical to conceal heart disease which he aggravated being forced to hurry on foot 3 miles to the airport… then semi-incapacitated took off downwind and disoriented. The Buddy Holly crash was due to charter operator Hubert Dwyer sending them off into bad weather in a high performance airplane with a 21 year old NON-INSTRUMENT-RATED grossly incompetent pilot unfamiliar with the airplane. To this day, saving a buck costs lives in aviation. If performers cannot charter small jets from approved Part 121 or 135 operators (while still checking crew qualifications), then airline or limo to destination. And have and heed your own experts: the Convair CV-300 in which the Lynyrd Skynyrd band died (pilots ran it out of fuel) had been inspected by members of Aerosmith’s flight crew for their possible use, but was rejected because it was felt that neither the plane nor the crew were up to standards.
Not to mention SRV whose pilot was lacking experience and leveled off before rising above the fog shrouded ski lift at Alpine Valley Wisconsin.
Where do you go after perfection.
Agnes Day,
What a sweet thought. Wish I had the answer to that one, too.
I miss them so much.
I have always wondered why –nobody has done a broadway show based on the Jim’s life and music, which very much would include Maury…I think it would be show filled with memories and Jim’s humor –there are millions of fans of the music that would love to see that…I had as a kid had always wanted to do the Jim Croce story on broadway…
somebody should do the story…
Great idea, Tony! Maybe someone will read your comment and become inspired.
Thanks for stopping by!
Vince
Find 2010 PBS television special “The Legacy Of Jim Croce.” The program features the late singer-songwriter’s performances on television in the early 1970s and includes these classic Croce songs: “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels),” “One Less Set of Foot Steps” and “Bad, Bad LeRoy Brown.” Many of these performances have not been seen in their entirety since their original broadcast. Croce’s widow, Ingrid, and their son A.J., provide commentary filled with intimate anecdotes.
Just noticed the brilliant guitar playing by maury he was a very talented player
I have always wondered if the photo of Jim and Maury sitting inside the airplane was of them on the actual plane that crashed? Maury seems happy while Jim seems to be in somewhat of a pensive mood.
I dont think so because it is not that cold in Louisiana in September, not enough to wear a heavy coat. Probably the picture was taken in a much colder state.
This makes me cry because his wife was going to have a baby, so he wrote the song time in a bottle for the currently unborn child. then he died.