Jeff catches up with Jim Messina of Loggins and Messina

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I'm Jeff Stevens. He was onehalf of Loggins and Messina back in the
seventies, also part of Buffalo Springfieldand Poco. So excited to talk to
Jim Messina. Good morning, Jeff. Hey there, Jim Messina. How
you doing. I'm doing very well. Thank you, excellent. Well,
it is a real big thrill totalk to you, and I just want

(00:20):
to say I'm happy that you've gota new album on the way, You're
going on tour and all the peoplehere in the US are going to be
excited to see you back out there. Man. Well, we enjoyed the
performances and it's been very exciting tosee the reaction, especially this new band
that people have been giving us.So yes, it's exciting. So,

(00:41):
Jim, what is it like fiftyyears of performing You've performed with obviously Buffalo
Springfield and Poco and Loggins and Messinaand just you know, just Jim Messina.
So, I mean you've seen,you have seen so much in the
music industry and on tour. Whatis it like to go out now?
You know, five decades into yourcareer, it's still very fresh for me.

(01:03):
I have a wonderful band that I'veassembled when we moved to Tennessee.
They're all just diverse and all thedifferent genres of music that I performed so
and much to my amazement, thisis one of the first bands. Like
we were putting some new songs together, and I gave them the materials and

(01:25):
the arrangements, and they're not easyarrangements. And we show up the first
day and I've had a couple ofdays set aside, and we got through
three hours and we had already rehearsedeverything, and everything was exactly the way
it was supposed to be. AndI went, do you guys take the
day off and don't worry about comingback tomorrow because it's always so laborious really

(01:46):
to run through rehearsals. But I'vegot such a great group of guys that
they love to play, they lovethe music. So it's real fresh for
me to be able to go outon stage and feel supported and knowing that
people are gonna be put the notesin the right place and I can have
the freedom to, you know,to express myself and sing. And over
the years, I'm fortunate because myvoice has actually gotten stronger and higher than

(02:12):
it used to be. Wow,some of the you know, and I
was very surprised because I had gottenCOVID at the second time from being on
airplanes. And when I was inLA, I had a specialist when I
was sick look at me and hestuck one of those things down my throat
and he goes, oh my goodness. I thought, oh hell, there's
you know, there's watermelon growing onthere. Oh no, And he said,

(02:36):
I said, what's what's wrong?And he said, oh, it's
nothing wrong. He says, youknow, your vocal cords look like a
twenty five year old. He said, what do you how do you?
Wow? Man? Is that?And I said, well, you know
what, I just I don't gobeyond my ability, my limit, and
I try and take care of myself. That's what I do. And so,
you know, he said, Ilook at some singers throats and their

(02:58):
vocal cords are just shattered, reallyreally fortunate. So I think the fact
that all of that is still inplace, Yeah, it thinks that at
this point, at this point inmy life, you know, I'm I
just enjoy what I do and I'mgrateful that I can do it and the
people are enjoying seeing us perform.Yeah, that's that is really cool to

(03:20):
hear, Jim, And Yeah,I mean you hear a lot of times
where people you know, have hadto go through a couple of vocal surgeries,
or you know, you go watchthe show and they obviously don't quite
have it anymore, and that's youknow, it's a bummer. It's a
bummer for the fans. I'm sureit's hard for the musician themselves. So
when you hear that you have morerange than you used to and your vocal
course look like a twenty five yearold, that's you can't hear much better.

(03:44):
That's that's for sure. Yeah,No, I'm and the people.
I have a symbol. I've gota guy named Jack Bruno and drum who
used to be with Tina Turner andthen Joe Cocker many years ago, and
Tilbert McClinton recently. Oh wow,And he's just superb, superb drummer.
Stevie Nievis, who was with mein two thousand and five, in two
thousand and nine when Kenny and Idid our reunions, has joined and he's

(04:09):
a vocalist, percussionist and a brilliantsax player. Along with James Fraser on
keyboards and Ben King on bass andvocals. Ben is thirty two, thirty
three years of age and sings allthe high parts that Larry Simms and and
Hawkins used to play George Hawkins.So these guys have really focused on these

(04:30):
arrangements and they they're working to dojustice to the original players as well as
the original arrangement. So it's reallyexciting to be performing with them. I
look forward to doing it. Therewere times in my life that I just
dreaded going out on the road becausejust the you know, the not so
much the camaraderie, but just theday to day drama that would happen people.

(04:53):
And it's not here, which isso wonderful. Well, that is
very nice that that's going to makethe experience much more pleasant. We're talking
to Jim Messina on tour this summer. Jimmesina dot com for tickets and to
uh to check out the new albumas well, which is also very exciting.
And you know, going back throughand just just preparing to talk to

(05:14):
you, and I thought, youknow what, I'm just gonna I'm just
gonna chill to some loggins of Messinafor for a minute here, And man,
you guys had obviously some some ofthe most iconic songs of the seventies.
And and the cool thing is is, you know Danny's song, your
Mom and I don't dance Pooh corner. I mean, you're talking about iconic
songs that weren't weren't just for themoment. But here we are, all

(05:36):
these years later, still talking aboutthem. People still, you know,
sing the words at the top oftheir lungs, which I'm sure you see
when you're on tour, that that'scool to do those, I mean timeless
classics that you and Kenny in particularwere a part of. Yes, And
you know, and I think that'spart of the joy. When I I
sometimes joke around. I'll tell people, you know, i've gotten older now

(05:58):
and I have a Tennessee to forgetso and especially on this next song,
because I've just done it so manytimes, and I'd say, you know,
if I should drop out, wouldyou be kind enough to come in
and help me finish it? Andthey go, oh yeah, yeah,
I'll start singing Danny's song. Andbefore I even get, you know,
to the point where I normally stop, they're singing, I go, well,
hold the fault here, I said, you know, I said,

(06:19):
if I forget something, I haven'tforgotten anything else. You're already singing,
going to giggle and laugh, andso it's it's it's part of the joy
of knowing that that. I mean, who knew. I certainly didn't think
so. I mean I used toin my twenties, I, you know,
think about Frank Sinatra and and peoplelike that, and and I would

(06:43):
think, oh my god, They'vebeen around so long, how does that
happen? Why would why would anybodycare about what I'm doing right now?
And then I look back now fiftyfifty years and people are still enjoying the
music. So, you know,it gets down to the quality of the
song, quality of the experience,you know, the culture at the time,
you know. And I have foundover the years, much to my

(07:06):
surprise, that the songs like whetherit be you know, Danny's song or
Pook Corner or songs like that,they teach them to their kids, and
then their kids learn them, andthen they come to the shows and they
go, yeh, I used tohear that song. Yeah, well,
and how cool is it for whenyou hear one of your songs get covered
by somebody else? In the caseof like. You know, I remember

(07:27):
hearing Anne Murray's version of Danny's songon the radio, thinking, hey,
wait a minute. You know isthat you know, because I was young
at the time and I was thinking, I think I've heard another version of
this. So but for you asthe artist, is that cool when an
Anne Murray covers that or Poison coversyour Mama Don't Dance or something like that.
Well, yeah, you know,I think what it does is it
helps to solidify the credibility of themusic. And I mean I had the

(07:53):
point you sisters do one of mysongs called Angry Eyes, which was yes
the light. You know, I'vehad bluegrasses groups to some of my music,
and uh, what it does isit just shows that they they appreciated
their interest in it and they identifywith it. And I mean I never
when I was writing your Moment onNance, I mean I wrote that song,

(08:18):
hadn't finished it. I brought itto Kenny and I said, you
know, I got this idea.But you know that came from my own
experience of just you know, mystepfather didn't want me to play music at
night, didn't want me to goout and do that. My mother was
the one who stood up, youknow. But as I got older and
I thought, you know, that'sthat was a bummer, you know,

(08:39):
I wrote, I wrote a tunethat I thought would be you know,
humorous in this sense and put allof that into perspective. But little did
I know that that it had suchdeep it was so deeply rooted in all
of us that another when other youknow, groups like Poison with a whole
different genre of music in a wayof performing in another another art form,

(09:01):
if you will, totally related toit as well. So it's when those
songs come along, you know,they're pretty special. I mean, first
of all, it was an extensionof my humor that I wrote that.
And I've warned people, and youknow, when they asked me questions,
I said, you know, bevery careful what you put out, especially

(09:22):
as a first song, and becareful about it being an extension of your
humor because you may have to livewith it. Right, And yeah,
pretty much what happened. I mean, songs like be Free, which have
a lot more credibility than your oneWe Don't Dance, didn't get the attention.
Right. Well, you've certainly,Jim, you've certainly written some timeless

(09:43):
classics. And before I let yougo, I do want to know what
was it like to be a partof Kenny's Farewell that this is It tour
When you guys got back together anddid a few shows and performances together.
Well, it was a bittersweet experiencefor me. We we got you know,
of course, we did shows atthe Hollywood Bowl, I think that
was in September of twenty two,and I could see that, you know,

(10:07):
he was getting tired, you know, as we all do at times,
and and I kind of I hada sense then that that was probably
going to be the last shows thatwe did together. And then it was
now shortly after that he would bedoing that this is a tour. But
you know, I just he's hewas such a wonderful partner to work with.
He worked equally as hard as Idid on getting the early part of

(10:31):
his career going and eventually the youknow, the two of us with Loggins
of Assina. It was a wonderfulexperience to have, and and he's had
such a great career himself as asolo. Very it was very bittersweet to
see all that come and go.But you know, all things must pass.
Right, yeah, yeah, andit sounds like he. I mean,

(10:54):
I talked to people who went tothat to that tour and just said
it was truly truly amazing. So, uh, that's really cool. I'm
sure for the folks who got tosee the two of you reunite, you
know, reunite like that had tobe pretty amazing. So, Jim,
we're so happy you're gonna be ontour. We're gonna we're gonna look for
you all over the country. Uh, we'll look forward to the new album.

(11:16):
Jim Messina, really really great totalk to you man. Thank you
so much for taking the time.Thank you