A Footloose Family Man -- Kenny Loggins Plays To A New Audience: Parents And Kids

Concert previews "Summer Nights at the Pier": The series' final week features Kenny Loggins, tonight at 8 ($24), and Ray Charles, Sunday at 7 p.m. ($32). For tickets call 628-0888.

Grammy-winner Kenny Loggins had hits with Jim Messina in the '70s and a solo career in the '80s (including work on the "Footloose" and "Top Gun" soundtracks). But most recently he's veered in a completely different direction.

"Return to Pooh Corner" is his new foray into children's music, but it's not only for children.

It's more romantic; to paraphrase his wife, "It's music to make and enjoy children by."

"This is a good album to put anybody to bed with," Loggins says.

"I did it because originally I thought it would be fun to do, and a simple album to make. It's something I've been collecting over the years," he says.

Loggins, a father of four, has been collecting the music since his oldest boy, now 13, was a baby.

"The music is just an automatic outgrowth of being with them and sharing who I am with them," he says.

"I've been a dad for 13 years, and what I noticed is a big void there where nobody makes music that parents can like as much as the children."

Music doesn't have to be traditional children's music to appeal to them. Consider "Love," the John Lennon song.

"I just found myself singing it to my daughter when she was little, spontaneously. And it felt right, so I included it in the record," he says.

The album also contains some originals, including a reworking of Loggins' song "House at Pooh Corner." David Crosby, Amy Grant and Chet Atkins, among others, join him.

"It's not really a children's record, though. That's why we call it a family album, because it crosses between the two."

The children's music market is not considered strong; according to the Recording Industry Association of America, it accounts for $30 million in a $10 billion music industry. Yet Loggins' record has been a big seller. "It's selling faster and better than any record I've ever done," he says.

Columbia Records, Loggins' label, did not want to take on a "family-audience" record, so "Return to Pooh Corner" became the first release in the new Sony Wonder Family Artist series.

Loggins plans an "adult" album next, but wants to return to children's music because response to "Pooh Corner" has been strong. The album has sold 200,000 copies in less than two months.

But that doesn't mean he now sees himself as a children's recording artist.

"I just don't want to suddenly switch over into children's albums and forsake the other aspects of my writing and recording."

So don't expect to hear him play a lot of "Pooh Corner" songs at his show tonight, part of a national tour.

"I don't want to scare the audience into thinking, `Oh, this is a children's show,' " he says. "It's by no means a children's show."