Jim Messina - Night 2

Genre – Folk Rock
Few musical artists résumés list membership in a band inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; fewer still can lay claim to being a founding member of the seminal band credited with creating Country Rock; and only one artist can include all the above in addition to being one half of the most successful duos of the 1970s. 

In November of 1970, Messina opened up his living room to record a number of compositions for a promising young songwriter named Kenny Loggins. With the songs Loggins presented leaning more toward folk (a style Messina felt could resign Loggins to the “past”), Messina suggested to Columbia Records president Clive Davis that he consider letting Messina “sit in” in much the same way that jazz artists had done in the past, and that Loggins incorporate more upbeat material into his album.

Says Loggins: “Right from the beginning, Jimmy was the producer, I was the artist. I’d never made a record. I’d never put a band together. I’d never found a manager or an agent. So, Jimmy was the leader…” Leading the way as producer, arranger, vocalist, and guitarist, and contributing the signature songs “Listen To A Country Song” (subsequently also recorded by country music legend Lynn Anderson who had a #3 hit with the song in 1972) “Nobody But You,” “Same Old Wine” and “Peace Of Mind” (from “Trilogy”) the album Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin’ In was released one year later in November of 1971 and an accidental duo was born.

In the next few years, a series of albums would follow in rapid order: 1972’s Loggins & Messina, 1973’s Full Sail, 1974’s double-live On Stage, the same year’s Mother Lode, 1975’s cover song set So Fine and 1976’s Native Sons. The Best of Friends greatest hits collection followed later that year and in 1977 another live album fittingly called Finale. When the dust had settled, Loggins & Messina had sold sixteen million albums, become one of rock’s biggest live draws, and cemented their legacy as one of the most successful recording duos ever. 

Following the split with Loggins, Messina recorded four critically acclaimed solo albums: 1979’s sublime Latin rock with a touch of jazz album Oasis; 1981’s eponymous Messina featuring guest performances by Jeff Pocaro, Joe Pocaro and Victor Feldman; 1983’s One More Mile; and 1996’s re-imagined retrospective of concert favorites Watching The River Run Revisited. 

Most recently, Messina has released two live albums. In 2010 he released both a DVD and CD entitled Jim Messina “LIVE” at The Clark Center for the Performing Arts. It contains the video and audio performances of his musical body of works, those he performed with The Buffalo Springfield, Poco and Loggins and Messina, including a number of his newest songs such as She’s Gotta Rock and Sinners and Saints.

Now, nearly 50 years after first stepping into the studio with Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay to engineer Buffalo Springfield Again, Jim Messina is hitting the road with guitar in hand to tell the stories and sing the songs that made Buffalo Springfield, Poco, and Loggins & Messina, iconic American groups.

Concludes Messina: “The road most traveled in my innocence was with this band of poets, and is the same road that “Twists and Turns” as I journey along my musical road of life. For ‘I ride with “Sinners” and I sing with “Saints” and I do what I can to avoid what I cain’t, I’ll pass on the judgment, now you make the call, I’m a playin’ my hand. Oh.. the way the cards fall.’ ”