A highlight of my childhood was riding through the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel over the West Virginia state line to the Mercer Mall in Bluefield. While most children my age were begging their parents for toys or candy, my requests most often involved a cassette tape. I loved going to the Disc Jockey record store and purchasing a tape, even if I didn’t have a particular song in mind at the time. When I was four years old, I can recall coming home with the single “Call It Love” by Poco.
I never dreamed that 36 years later, I’d be talking to the bass player of that particular song on my podcast for my editorial column. However, Jim Messina was the subject of an interview ahead of his March 12th performance in my hometown at the Millwald Theater in Wytheville. I started the interview by telling him that, having been born with cerebral palsy and bound to a wheelchair my entire life, music took me to places that life otherwise did not afford me. “Call It Love” is one of those songs that takes me back to that era of my life.
I was also a big fan of the other half of his famous duo, Loggins and Messina. Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” represented a much larger part of my childhood. My mother had originally bought the Top Gun soundtrack because she liked the songs, and as big a fan as she was of Kenny Loggins, I think I made her play that song so much that she began to hate it.
At any rate, Jim Messina was kind enough to share with me his thoughts on the making of the Poco hit, sung by his former bandmate from Buffalo Springfield, Richie Furay. However, Furay wasn’t keen on singing the suggestive lyrics to the song, nor the steamy nature of the video. It was Messina who played mediator and made minor modifications to both the lyrics and video content to satisfy the newly ordained Christian minister.
The Top 20 hit single was featured on a 1989 album called From the Inside, which represented a reunion of the original Poco members, who had disbanded in 1970.
“There was a group of Nashville writers who had written the song for us,” Messina recalled. “We heard the original guitar solo that became the hook of the song, and I wrote it down.
“It’s a fun song,” he said. “I’m looking to see if we can get Richie to do some dates with us so that we can include that in our repertoire on the road.”
Unfortunately, that could not be done in time for the March 12th show at the Millwald Theater.
It was the summer of 1970 when a 6-foot gangly kid with a long beard and braces came into Jim Messina’s studio for an audition to potentially be his next artist for production. He asked for demo tapes. Loggins didn’t have any. As it turned out, he didn’t even own a guitar. Messina let him borrow one of his own for the recording session. Despite his lack of preparedness, Jim Messina quickly learned that Kenny Loggins had an extraordinary ability as a singer. But could he play the songs he wrote?
Loggins sang to his future partner what would become some of their staple songs, including “Danny’s Song,” “Return to Pooh Corner,” and “Vahavelia.”
“Since he didn’t have a guitar or tapes, I asked him how he made a living,” Messina recalled. “It turned out that he worked for a publishing company who called upon Kenny to do whatever song they needed. If they needed an Elton John song, he could sound like Elton John. If they needed a Leon Russell song, he could sound like Leon Russell. As I soon discovered, Kenny would be a great marketable artist with such an epiglottis of various sounds he could sing.”
Legendary producer Clive Davis was head of Columbia Records at the time and was very impressed by the demos the duo produced. Messina, however, was not looking to return to the road. But Davis was so impressed with his playing on the demos that he gave them representation and the means to create their first album, which took almost two years to make. This was due to Messina’s incredible ability to record a song to perfection. It was that precision with which Kenny Loggins learned how to record a great album. In his 2021 autobiography, Still Alright, Loggins calls Messina a “master of recording.”
I asked Messina why he never considered writing his own story.
“I’ve had many offers but turned them all down,” he told me frankly. “All the publishers ever want to hear is the nasty, salacious stuff about the music business, and I’m not that kind of guy.”
I told him if he was ever interested in putting down his story with a co-writer who would honor his every word, I would be more than happy to be the guy for the job. The stories that he imparted to me about being present in the demo process of Joni Mitchell’s debut album, as well as working with the likes of David Crosby and Neil Young, had my mouth agape for the entire time we spoke. I was only supposed to be on the phone with him for a maximum of 30 minutes, but he was generous enough to give me twice that amount of time.
I truly felt like I had come a long way from that 4-year-old boy listening to a cassette tape of “Call It Love” on the car radio. I am very grateful to Mr. Messina for his time and for giving me this opportunity. I will always treasure it.
Wytheville can thank Jim Messina for making history on March 12th as the first-ever living rock and roll legend to grace the stage of our beautiful Millwald Theatre. In his electrifying, jam-packed 90-minute set, the former member of Poco and Buffalo Springfield left some 300 fortunate spectators spellbound by his immense capability as a multi-instrumentalist. At 77, Messina proved that absolutely nothing had diminished in either his voice or his playing. Backed by his impeccable band, The Road Runners, Messina treated Wytheville to a full-fledged rock show on this unforgettable Wednesday night. The only regret was that it wasn’t the sellout it unquestionably deserved to be.
Most famous for being half of the duo Loggins and Messina, with Kenny Loggins of “Danger Zone” and “Footloose” fame, the now-Tennessee resident crammed plenty of classics from his days with his fellow legend. “Thinking of You” started off the night, followed by the folk-rock staple “Watching the River Run.” The Loggins and Messina classics “House at Pooh Corner” and “Danny’s Song” were highlights of the evening. Messina showed his versatility, defying genre when he offered a rock cover of “Mexican Minutes,” the song he wrote for country duo Brooks and Dunn’s 1991 debut album Hard Workin’ Man.
After the Poco staple “You Better Think Twice,” came a pairing of country rock songs from the Loggins and Messina days: “Listen to a Country Song” and “Holiday Hotel,” before the duo’s signature song, “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” another apex of the evening.
“I remember when Kenny and I were performing these songs,” he said onstage. “Back then, people were living for the right drug. Now, we must find the right drug to live.”
More Loggins and Messina rounded out the night, including a medley of “Lovin’ You,” “Make Your Woman Feel Wanted,” and “Peace of Mind.” Messina featured another Poco song, “Lovin’ You Every Minute,” and a solo number, “New and Different Way,” before closing the set with Loggins and Messina classics “Be Free” and “Angry Eyes,” the latter of which included a jam with all four of the stellar Road Runners, each given their chance to shine individually. The encore, the Loggins and Messina crowd-pleaser “You Need a Man,” had a similarly long and powerful jam session.
His backing band consists of some of the best musicians I have ever heard. Except for 33-year-old bass player Ben King, every person onstage was over 60 and played with the energy and precision musicians half their age could never maintain. King, however, proved himself more than capable of holding his own with these unbeatable professionals. He always received a few extra whistles from the women in the audience.
“Ben is an old soul,” Messina said in an after-show question-and-answer session with fans. “He has a grand passion for the music we do.”
Playing every percussive instrument imaginable, along with drums, flute, and saxophone (with which he stole the show several times by stepping center stage for a ripping solo), there seemed to be no instrument Steve Nieves could not play with a flourish. Sitting in the front row, I could see the beads of sweat pop on his face as he poured every ounce of himself into securing every note as a jaw-dropping moment. The fruits of his labor were clear in the fiery sweetness that emerged from his instrument. Jack Bruno was a powerhouse drummer, especially when in duet with Nieves. On keyboards and guitar, Jim Frazier paired off with Messina in many playful battles throughout the show, showing the crowd that he could play every bit as well as the boss.
This formation of the band has been together for nearly two years. They have a new album, Here, There & Everywhere, due for release on April 4th. I can tell you firsthand that, if this ensemble has a sound on record anywhere near their live output, this is an album no music lover should be without.
“I’ve been touring for over 50 years,” Messina praised the Road Runners. “I’ve never in my life had a band so capable and cohesive.”
The estimated two dozen people who stayed for the intimate after-show conversation enthusiastically applauded in agreement. I couldn’t help but admire these men even more after watching them tear down their own instruments—no roadies, no gophers. These gentlemen are true professionals in every sense of the word, giving us all a masterclass in musicianship.
Let’s not forget the boss himself. While most singers half Jim Messina’s age are rightly concerned about the quality of their voice, he proved to have no problem handling Kenny Loggins’s workload on the old classics, handling the lead on every one of the seventeen songs. In his humble and understated nature, he produced shredding solos on every instrument he played, from the acoustic guitar to electric. He even picked up a 1912 mandolin for one number, playing with careful exactness but alluring sound.
After the show, some had very interesting questions. One woman asked Messina what celebrity had rendered him star struck, as she felt in his presence. A person he mentioned was the late legendary comedian George Burns, who was staying at the same Holiday Inn as Loggins and Messina when they performed a farewell concert at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, on August 21, 1976.
Some fans, like Craig Barbrow, just wanted to thank Messina for playing in Wytheville.
“Your music has been part of the soundtrack of my life for over 50 years,” he stated. “This is the first time I have ever seen you perform live, and I just want to thank you for coming to our town and sharing the genius of your music with us.”
Of course, I had the honor of my career interviewing Messina beforehand. He flabbergasted me by thanking me from onstage. I will treasure the memory always.
