Jim Messina reflects on his life in music

November 11, 2023 9:38 am • Last Updated: November 14, 2023 2:28 pm

By Rick Koster
Day Arts/Features writer

Jim Messina (submitted)

The musician will perform Saturday at the United in Westerly

Ever notice how music duos typically have one alpha member and then, ah, the other person?

Typically, these assignations by fans and critics are based on which member is associated with the most hits. There’s SIMON & Garfunkel. There’s HALL & Oates. Sonny and CHER. There’s JACK WHITE and Whatsername in the White Stripes. Ike and TINA Turner. GEORGE MICHAEL and Andrew Ridgley in WHAM!

But don’t hit the ALL-CAPS key quite yet on the multi-platinum act Loggins & Messina.

Yes, Kenny Loggins is probably a bigger name, but a lot of his fame is assuredly due to a hugely successful and sustained post-L&M solo career that includes a conveyor belt of hits like “Whenever I Call You Friend,” “Footloose,” “Danger Zone,” “I’m Alright,” “Heart to Heart” and on and on.

But waste no sympathy for Jim Messina, please, who brings his band Saturday to Westerly for a show at the United Theatre.

While it’s true Loggins wrote L&M staples “Danny’s Song,” “House at Pooh Corner” and “Whiskey,” the pair jointly composed “Angry Eyes,” “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” “Watching the River Run” and “My Music.” And it was Messina who contributed the songs “Good Friend,” “Thinking of You”” and the unsung L&M masterpiece “Pathway to Glory.”

What a lot of casual listeners also don’t remember about Messina — or never knew to begin with — is that, prior to meeting Kenny Loggins, he was already established in Hollywood as a studio producer/engineer with killer credentials. In that capacity, he was producing Buffalo Springfield when their bassist Bruce Palmer left — and mainstays Stephen Stills and Neil Young asked him to join the band.

After that, Messina co-founded the seminal country-rock group Poco with fellow ex-Springfielder Richie Furay.

It was in 1970, after leaving Poco, that Messina returned full-time to the studio environment and, working for Columbia Records, was introduced to Kenny Loggins. In a recent phone conversation from his home outside Nashville, battling a cold, the amiable Messina described the young folksinger. He remembers Loggins having plenty of ability — he presented “Danny’s Song” and “House at Pooh Corner” at that first get-together — but being raw.

“I was looking for someone to produce who had talent but could also use some guidance and was willing to work,” Messina said. “Kenny fit that situation. He didn’t have a band or a lot of experience, and I went to (Columbia Records president) Clive Davis. I suggested I could record Kenny and sit in on the sessions, the way jazz musicians sit in on each other’s dates. Clive was reluctant at first, but eventually came around.”

Let me sit in

The first album was in fact called “Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin’ In,” and the experiment worked so well that, not only did Messina continue as Loggins’ producer, the act went on to release the hugely popular albums “Loggins & Messina,” “Full Sale,” Mother Lode,” “So Fine” and “Native Son.”

In 1976, the pair amicably decided to split and pursue separate careers. And, as the world knows, Loggins is an ongoing star. As for Messina? Well, he’s more than happy and successful in his own fashion.

He stays busy helping young artists in his own studio, and has also worked on recordings by a wide-ranging array of established talent like Joni Mitchell, REO Speedwagon, Lee Michaels, Leon Russell and Mahagony Rush. He’s also steadily released a batch of his own solo albums like “One More Mile,” “Messina,” “Oasis,” “Mojito Moon pt 1” and, most recently, 2017’s “In the Groove.” Messina’s songs have been covered by Brooks & Dunn, Lynn Anderson and others, and he’s done reunion shows with Loggins, Poco and Buffalo Springfield.

By his own admission, Messina likes being part of the Nashville community, musical and otherwise. He enjoys painting and has done well commercially in that context. He stays as busy as he wants, either in his studio or in front of a canvas or touring with his solo band and describes his years as a producer/engineer as very fulfilling and comfortable. He’s decidedly happy with his slot in the music business.

What IS a producer?

“I think most people who enjoy listening to music aren’t really drawn to who produced it or who played on it, and I understand that,” Messina said. “I never thought the producer was SUPPOSED to get any attention — at least until George Martin came along with the Beatles. But as far as being an engineer and producer for Buffalo Springfield or Loggins & Messina and so forth, as far as getting credit? Man, I’m just happy to have had the experiences.”

Messina speaks fondly of old and perhaps more famous bandmates Loggins, Furay, Young and Stills. He’s asked to look back and, with the benefit of accumulated knowledge and history, single out which of the four would be the best to share a hotel room with on tour.

He laughed. “That’s a fun question, but the answer is NONE of them. Fortunately, even at the time, we were doing well enough that we had our own hotel rooms.”

A curious child

Messina is very much a child of the rock explosion of the 1960s, and it’s perhaps not surprising that his life followed a two-pronged musical path. While other kids in his age group picked up guitars and wanted to be the Beatles or the Stones, Messina was first fascinated by the technology of the music he loved.

“From the age of 10, I was mesmerized by the sounds and why they were happening,” he recalled. “I had a crystal radio and learned all about that, and I’d listen to songs and wonder how an effect could make a voice or instrument sound like it was underwater.”

Messina, who spent some early years in Texas, was living in Los Angeles by his early teens. He began learning guitar and, by 16, was in the studio with his first band, Jim Messina and the Jesters. Continuing his fascination with the intricacies of recording, he was offered a full-time job in a studio under the tutelage of the Jesters’ producer, a man named Larry Goldberg.

“Early on, Larry wanted me to understand the job of a producer,” Messina said. “He gave me my own engineer and encouraged me to experiment and learn — how to facilitate change in a song, whether through tempo or changing from major to minor chords. I started to understand how I could change the energy and make a song work simply by giving a direction.

“Over time, I learned to seek out artists capable of musical diversity, who were curious and wanted to experiment. I wanted artists who would allow me to try to supply that golden thread that provides credibility to their songs — but at the same time impart something to the music that no one knows to expect. And ultimately, doing that, you earn a reputation and the musicians’ trust.”

After more than half a century in the music business, Messina has seen a lot of change — and realized that the same problems nonetheless pop up over and over. Whenever something creative or original emerges and gains popularity, he said, corporate/money folks get involved and dilute the product until something newer comes along. Then the accountants get to work and thing happens again.

“For those of us who want to hear something new, it can be problematic,” Messina laughed. “But there’s always going to be the financial aspect and someone’s always going to want to be earning more money.

“Me? All I want at this point is to sell enough records and merch on my own or at my shows to hire the best musicians I can to play in my band and go on the road with me. I’m an OK singer and not a bad songwriter. And it’s still fun to go out and play those songs for people.”