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'70s Rock Duo 'Sittin' In Again'

One of the most successful rock acts of the '70s, Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, will embark on their first tour since breaking up back in 1976.

They visited The Early Show to perform two of their biggest hits, "Danny's Song" and "Your Mamma Don't Dance."

Their tour is called "Loggins & Messina Sittin' In Again Reunion Tour," named after their debut album, "Sittin' In."

"It was just time," Loggins tells co-anchor Hannah Storm about the reason they decided to play together again. "We had a couple of charity shows that we did together. The music felt good. We felt like we were becoming friends again. So we thought we'd give it a try."

The duo started having personal problems when they let their competitive nature get in the way. Messina was like a mentor to Loggins, and Loggins felt he had something to prove.

"I had been through that before," Messina says, "And I could see the pain. I realized that in order to be a friend, you have to be a friend."

Now that they are together, Loggins says it is "Peace and love, baby."

Smiling, Messina notes that does not mean that getting together again has been like riding a bicycle.

"It's been like riding a bull," he says. The biggest challenge, he adds with a laugh, is "just remembering what we're supposed to play."

The tour will include more than 40 dates, beginning June 24 in Boise, Idaho.

In conjunction with the tour, there is also a new CD called "The Best: Loggins & Messina Sittin' In Again."

Messina notes, "This album was a collection of our favorites. We actually went back to New York, took the original analog masters and put them to digital. So now people can hear the original masters on their CDs."

During their decades apart, Loggins established himself as a solo artist with a series of albums, starting with 1977's "Celebrate Me Home," and moving on to:

  • "Nightwatch" (1978)
  • "Keep The Fire" (1979)
  • "Alive" (1980)
  • "High Adventure" (1982)
  • "Vox Humana" (1985)
  • "Back to Avalon" (1988)
  • "Leap of Faith" (1991)
  • "Outside: From The Redwoods" (1993)
  • "Return To Pooh Corner" (1995)
  • "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: The Greatest Hits of Kenny Loggins" (1997)
  • "The Unimaginable Life" (1997)
  • "December" (1998)
  • "More Songs From Pooh Corner" (2000)
  • "The Essential Kenny Loggins" (2002)
  • "It's About Time" (2003)
Loggins also contributed to several movie soundtracks.

During this time, Messina recorded several solo albums:

  • "Oasis" (1979)
  • "Messina" (1981)
  • "One More Mile" (1983)
  • "Watching The River Run" (1996)
Messina also reunited with the country-rock pioneers Poco for the 1989 album "Legacy." He also established the Songwriters' Performance Workshop, the purpose of which, says Messina, is to "empower amateurs."

Both Loggins and Messina see "Sittin' In Again" as a chance to look back at what they've achieved.

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