M&SR: Are there any particular songs you’re most proud of or have the most memories about?
Loggins: Oh yeah, I’m sure there are. If I had a memory, I’d probably remember [Laughs]. Well, the whole “Leap of Faith’’ CD was an important period of my life. It was sort of like taking my journals and putting them to music. A very extraordinary time of leaving my first marriage and then falling in love. The writing that came from a major life decision and change like divorce, and then moving into a whole new life and new love affair, to be able to write an album during that period of time was perfect timing. That whole process was like taking dictation. It just poured out. This last album, “How About Now,’’ came from the past three years after my second divorce and during that process. A much more difficult passage for me. But the music again came from the journals and the changes that take place when you go through something really rough. Because of that, the music is very emotional.
M&SR: What first got you into playing music?
Loggins: I got into music just because I loved it. A buddy of mine, his big brother was a guitar teacher. So I decided I wanted to learn to play guitar. I’d been drawn to guitar since I was in grammar school but I never really applied myself to it until I met Rod, his name was. And Rod taught me to play guitar. In the process of doing that, he turned me on to a folk magazine of the era called Sing Out. It was through Sing Out magazine that I discovered the music of Bob Dylan. When I started listening to Bob Dylan, that’s when I started writing. And then Dylan led to the Beatles.
M&SR: Children today have distractions like video games and Internet that just weren’t there when you were growing up. Do you think the industry needs to do anything to get children as excited about music as you were when you were young?
Loggins: I don’t know what could be done. I mean, I think music goes through cycles. There are high periods of rock and roll and low periods of rock and roll. I don’t know which cycle we’re in now. I think downloading has changed the face of the music business. It’ll be interesting to see where it lands. I don’t think there’s any one act out there that’s galvanizing the interest of the audiences today. There are a lot of different musical directions. Most record sales are not great, so I guess we’re in a lower cycle. But music always wins. Music always comes back. People need music in their lives and we tend to measure the importance of music by the sales of music, and that’s not necessarily the case. Hard to judge by sales now because of the free downloading. We don’t know exactly where music stands with the 20-somethings of this generation. So I think time will tell.
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