Still Alright: A Memoir

Legendary songwriter Loggins brings the energy of his live performances to the page in this exhilarating look at his career. His lively recollections whisk readers from his rise to fame as a member of the 1970s rock duo Loggins & Messina through his peak as a solo artist, his decline into drug addiction and depression, and his triumphant return to the stage as a legacy artist. While he hits all the requisite details—writing his two most famous songs (“House at Pooh Corner” and “Danny’s Song”) at age 17, the creative differences that led him and Jim Messina to dissolve the band and later cut ties, his “post L&M life,” the excesses of touring (including an addiction to benzodiazepines)—Loggins’s frank reflections on his craft are what beg an encore. In one particularly memorable passage, in which he fondly recalls the recording sessions that led to the release of his 1977 hit album Celebrate Me Home, he even admits to “blow[ing] it” with James Taylor: “I’d brought the guy in specifically because nobody plays acoustic guitar like James Taylor, then, through some combination of ego and insecurity, proceeded to tell him how to play.” Fans won’t want to skip this one. (June)