Panida to host rock legend Jim Messina

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

When a summer concert with rock legend Graham Nash was announced recently, almost every seat in the house sold out within two hours. Get that credit card out because Too Far North Productions and Nightlife Network Northwest are again announcing a huge show on the Panida stage this May. Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee and founding member of the band credited with creating the genre of country rock, Jim Messina will play with his band to perform music from his days with Buffalo Springfield, Poco and Loggins & Messina. The iconic rocker will play at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 21 at the Panida Theater.

Jim Messina, November 4, 2022 at Daryl’s House Club in Pawling, NY
©Stuart M Berg

Reserved seating tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, March 10. Tickets will start at $39 and can be purchased online at panida.org. There are also a limited 30 VIP packages available with front orchestra seating and an after show “Conversation with Jim Messina.”

Messina began working with the legendary band Buffalo Springfield in 1966 as a recording engineer on their second album Buffalo Springfield Again. After producing the band’s third and final album in 1967, Messina replaced bass player Bruce Palmer and toured with the band up until the completion of the album Last Time Around.

After Buffalo Springfield disbanded in 1968, Messina and fellow band member Richie Furay formed the band Poco, whose debut album received a perfect rating from Rolling Stone, laying the blueprint for a new musical genre that would thereafter be known as country rock. Let’s put it this way: before there was the Eagles, there was Jim Messina.

In 1970, Messina opened up his living room to record for an up and coming young songwriter named Kenny Loggins. Because the songs Loggins presented leaned more toward folk, Messina sat in while recording to incorporate a more upbeat sound into the album.

Messina led the way as producer, arranger, vocalist and guitarist, contributing to signature songs that eventually found their way onto the album Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin’ In. The accidental duo was born, and over the next few years a series of albums would follow in rapid order. Loggins & Messina released in 1972, followed by Full Sail a year later, both the double-live On Stage and Mother Lode in 1974, So Fine in 1975 and Native Sons the following year. In 1977, Loggins & Messina produced the aptly named Finale, culminating one of the wildest rides to the top by this unlikely duo. When the dust had settled, Loggins & Messina had sold 16 million albums and became one of rock’s biggest live draws.

After his split with Loggins, Messina recorded four critically acclaimed solo albums, later reuniting with Poco for another album in 1989 before reuniting with Loggins for a series of live shows in 2004 and 2009.

In recent years, Messina has released a couple of live albums that contain both video and audio from his musical body of work. Now, nearly half a century after first stepping into the studio with Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay to engineer Buffalo Springfield Again, Messina is hitting the road with a band of acclaimed musicians to tour the country and play sold out shows, telling the stories and singing the songs that forever made him an iconic figure in music.