Until recently, Frank “Doc” Messina’s choice of performing arts pretty much focused in one area.  He considered himself a “music guy,” and he mostly made his livelihood either performing music or as a music educator. Today, the 71-year-old Messina has embraced another art, writing, and has cranked out two popular murder/mystery novels, with another on the way. But, his path to becoming an author was a bit circuitous.   

“I came to Lexington from New York in 1978 to play country music fulltime,” he noted. He played keyboard in a trio, which included his first wife, and the group called itself Richardson/Messina. “We were on the road nine months a year at places all around the southeastern region of the country.” The group played, he said, “the only thing that would sell in the ‘70s: Waylon and Willie; early Hank Williams, Dolly Parton and bands like Alabama. We played what people wanted to hear. We made a good living.”