Biography
Jim Messina operated as vocalist, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and engineer, leaving a substantial imprint on music across the 1960s and 1970s through late-period work with Buffalo Springfield, co-founding the country-rock band Poco, and forming one half of the duo Loggins & Messina. Born in California in 1947, he spent his childhood in Harlingen, TX until age eight, shuttling between his mother’s residence in Texas and his father’s in California. His father, a semi-professional guitarist, exerted a strong influence on his son’s musical path. Messina took up the guitar at five years old. Over time he grew drawn to the guitar lines on Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson records, later developing a taste for surf music that arose naturally from his California surroundings. The hits of Dick Dale & the Del-Tones, the Ventures, and the Champs shaped him deeply. In high school he assembled his own band, Jim Messina & the Jesters, whose sound drew heavily from the Ventures, Freddie King, and Duane Eddy; the group won several local band competitions. They caught the final wave of the surf craze and issued an album, The Dragsters, on the Audio Fidelity label in 1966. Releasing a record marked a notable feat for a teenager, yet the surf boom had largely subsided by the time of its appearance.
Messina withdrew from performing and chose instead to study music through its technical dimensions. While producing several records in 1965 for Ibis Records (Glen Edwards, president) at Emperor Production Studios, owned by Bob Hudson (known locally at KRLA as Emperor Hudson or “Beautiful Bob”), he encountered the studio’s recording engineer, Mike Dorrough, who handled his Ibis sessions. Once those productions ended, Messina apprenticed under Dorrough to deepen his knowledge of sound engineering. The pair collaborated to establish Universal Audio Records in Los Angeles; after completion of the studio, Messina remained as house mixing engineer. He mixed dates for Dorsey Burnette and Roger Miller, among others, and during those sessions he met and captured the playing of Joe Osborn, James Burton, Keith Allison, and Jerry Allison of the Crickets. He also served as mastering engineer at Harmony Recorders (owned by Bob Ross Music), situated in Los Angeles at the corner of Sunset and Vine, and for Madeline Baker at Audio Arts (where Jimmy Webb likewise launched his songwriting career). Dorrough introduced Messina to Tutti Camarata, leading to work at Sunset Sound Recorders, a prominent independent Los Angeles studio; Messina became one of the second pair of mixing engineers there, handling sessions for Joni Mitchell, Leon Russell, and Lee Michaels. The assignment that redirected his career back toward performing, however, was among the least promising he received—the final album by the Buffalo Springfield.
Although co-founders Stephen Stills and Neil Young later elevated the Springfields to legendary status, in late 1968 the band was viewed as one of the more unfortunate acts on the Los Angeles scene; after an auspicious start with an early hit, they had wasted or lost opportunities across three turbulent years marked by personnel changes, management troubles, and an inability to capitalize on breaks. Those setbacks included appearing at the Monterey Pop Festival without full strength, co-founder Neil Young missing from the lineup; completing a major television spot with a roadie filling in for an absent bassist; and cutting a debut album of strong material that nevertheless sounded flat because their managers produced it themselves rather than hiring an experienced outsider. With Messina’s assistance, their last album, Last Time Around, diverged sharply—it flowed continuously and sounded livelier and fresher than any release by a disintegrating group reasonably could. Part of that vitality stemmed from Messina’s own performances on the record in addition to his production.
The sessions proved so fruitful that Richie Furay, the principal remaining member, and Messina decided to launch a new band together, resulting in Poco. Although the group’s personnel proved scarcely more stable than the Springfields’—original bassist Randy Meisner departed before the first album was finished, prompting Messina to play many of the bass parts both on record and onstage—they produced a strong body of work over the following years. By the third album, however, Messina was prepared to exit; after completing Deliverin’ in late 1970, he returned to production work, this time at Columbia Records. His initial assignment under a six-album contract with Columbia was to produce singer Kenny Loggins. Messina helmed Loggins’ debut, Sittin’ In, while also contributing electric and acoustic guitar plus lead and backup vocals. The outcome satisfied both so thoroughly that they resolved to continue collaborating, including on stage, and suddenly Messina found himself performing once more. Loggins & Messina issued nine albums in seven years, selling more than 16 million copies and ranking as the most successful duo of the early ’70s. Their approach incorporated folk, country-rock, jazz, and classical elements, yielding hits such as “Watching the River Run,” “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” and “Thinking of You.” Their voices and instrumental work, paired with Messina’s production and arrangements, placed their output among the most polished and popular soft-rock recordings of the mid-’70s. Their success even prompted the reissue of Messina’s earlier surf album, credited to Jim Messina & the Jesters, on the Thimble label.
The partnership concluded in 1976 after the release of Native Sons and its supporting tour. Following a period of rest, Messina reentered the industry with the albums Oasis (1979), Messina (1981), and One More Mile (1983). His return also encompassed singing and touring with Poco on their 1989 reunion album, Legacy. He continued to tour and introduce new material intermittently; the 1996 album Watching the River Run consisted primarily of re-recorded hits yet included several new tracks showcasing his characteristic country-rock style. In 2005, Messina and Kenny Loggins undertook their first joint tour in 29 years, yielding the live CD/DVD Sittin’ in Again and sparking renewed interest along with fresh reissues and remasters of their ’70s catalog. In August 2009, Messina issued a new solo project, the Latin-tinged EP Under a Mojito Moon, containing four original songs and two re-recordings of earlier material. That same year he and Loggins reunited once more for concerts across the United States and Canada. In 2010, Messina mounted his West Coast Run Tour, commencing in Seattle and routing through Oregon and California before concluding in Tucson, AZ at the Fox Theater, where he and former bandmate Richie Furay shared the stage with their respective bands for a single performance.
Messina withdrew from performing and chose instead to study music through its technical dimensions. While producing several records in 1965 for Ibis Records (Glen Edwards, president) at Emperor Production Studios, owned by Bob Hudson (known locally at KRLA as Emperor Hudson or “Beautiful Bob”), he encountered the studio’s recording engineer, Mike Dorrough, who handled his Ibis sessions. Once those productions ended, Messina apprenticed under Dorrough to deepen his knowledge of sound engineering. The pair collaborated to establish Universal Audio Records in Los Angeles; after completion of the studio, Messina remained as house mixing engineer. He mixed dates for Dorsey Burnette and Roger Miller, among others, and during those sessions he met and captured the playing of Joe Osborn, James Burton, Keith Allison, and Jerry Allison of the Crickets. He also served as mastering engineer at Harmony Recorders (owned by Bob Ross Music), situated in Los Angeles at the corner of Sunset and Vine, and for Madeline Baker at Audio Arts (where Jimmy Webb likewise launched his songwriting career). Dorrough introduced Messina to Tutti Camarata, leading to work at Sunset Sound Recorders, a prominent independent Los Angeles studio; Messina became one of the second pair of mixing engineers there, handling sessions for Joni Mitchell, Leon Russell, and Lee Michaels. The assignment that redirected his career back toward performing, however, was among the least promising he received—the final album by the Buffalo Springfield.
Although co-founders Stephen Stills and Neil Young later elevated the Springfields to legendary status, in late 1968 the band was viewed as one of the more unfortunate acts on the Los Angeles scene; after an auspicious start with an early hit, they had wasted or lost opportunities across three turbulent years marked by personnel changes, management troubles, and an inability to capitalize on breaks. Those setbacks included appearing at the Monterey Pop Festival without full strength, co-founder Neil Young missing from the lineup; completing a major television spot with a roadie filling in for an absent bassist; and cutting a debut album of strong material that nevertheless sounded flat because their managers produced it themselves rather than hiring an experienced outsider. With Messina’s assistance, their last album, Last Time Around, diverged sharply—it flowed continuously and sounded livelier and fresher than any release by a disintegrating group reasonably could. Part of that vitality stemmed from Messina’s own performances on the record in addition to his production.
The sessions proved so fruitful that Richie Furay, the principal remaining member, and Messina decided to launch a new band together, resulting in Poco. Although the group’s personnel proved scarcely more stable than the Springfields’—original bassist Randy Meisner departed before the first album was finished, prompting Messina to play many of the bass parts both on record and onstage—they produced a strong body of work over the following years. By the third album, however, Messina was prepared to exit; after completing Deliverin’ in late 1970, he returned to production work, this time at Columbia Records. His initial assignment under a six-album contract with Columbia was to produce singer Kenny Loggins. Messina helmed Loggins’ debut, Sittin’ In, while also contributing electric and acoustic guitar plus lead and backup vocals. The outcome satisfied both so thoroughly that they resolved to continue collaborating, including on stage, and suddenly Messina found himself performing once more. Loggins & Messina issued nine albums in seven years, selling more than 16 million copies and ranking as the most successful duo of the early ’70s. Their approach incorporated folk, country-rock, jazz, and classical elements, yielding hits such as “Watching the River Run,” “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” and “Thinking of You.” Their voices and instrumental work, paired with Messina’s production and arrangements, placed their output among the most polished and popular soft-rock recordings of the mid-’70s. Their success even prompted the reissue of Messina’s earlier surf album, credited to Jim Messina & the Jesters, on the Thimble label.
The partnership concluded in 1976 after the release of Native Sons and its supporting tour. Following a period of rest, Messina reentered the industry with the albums Oasis (1979), Messina (1981), and One More Mile (1983). His return also encompassed singing and touring with Poco on their 1989 reunion album, Legacy. He continued to tour and introduce new material intermittently; the 1996 album Watching the River Run consisted primarily of re-recorded hits yet included several new tracks showcasing his characteristic country-rock style. In 2005, Messina and Kenny Loggins undertook their first joint tour in 29 years, yielding the live CD/DVD Sittin’ in Again and sparking renewed interest along with fresh reissues and remasters of their ’70s catalog. In August 2009, Messina issued a new solo project, the Latin-tinged EP Under a Mojito Moon, containing four original songs and two re-recordings of earlier material. That same year he and Loggins reunited once more for concerts across the United States and Canada. In 2010, Messina mounted his West Coast Run Tour, commencing in Seattle and routing through Oregon and California before concluding in Tucson, AZ at the Fox Theater, where he and former bandmate Richie Furay shared the stage with their respective bands for a single performance.
Albums
Live
