Kenny Loggins and popularity

I just read a recent blog post by Kenny Loggins. He told of playing for a crowd of 10,000 in Kansas City on August 3, 2012, then only 120 showed up at another Kansas City venue (Folly Theatre; seats 1200) the next day to hear him with his new band, Blue Sky Riders. He played all his hits August 3, the new stuff August 4. So, what's the difference? Maybe part of it was Kenny's fame was more attached to specific popular hits, so when he diverges from those archetypes that still resonate with The Crowd, they don't hear him. I mean, I think people would still turn out for Jimi Hendrix, were he around, to simply jam something new (guess we'll never know). Maybe the new material is just not all that good (it sounds pleasant to me, but doesn’t grab me enough to make it part of my musical landscape). I mean, McCartney's "My Valentine" new song he performed at the Grammy's show earlier this year stunk in my opinion (as did Joe Walsh's guitar work live on that number--I've never seen Joe so uninspired). It's curious though (about Kenny), since half the battle is getting someone to listen to your song. I've been at CD Baby now (with the two albums Chas and I did) for a couple of years and I've never listened to any of the 300,000 other artists up there (maybe one for a few seconds, just to compare sound level and quality). The Black Keys got popular building their fan base slowly through constant live performances touring from 2001 on until they broke through in 2010 or so. They sound good, but hardly brilliant or innovative (think the Fabulous Thunderbirds did that same sound 20 years earlier). At least they play rock music! My own tastes have changed over the years. At one time (1971) I am ashamed to say I enjoyed Grand Funk Railroad (briefly, thankfully). For a while if it wasn't Yes, my answer was No. Now I'm more song oriented, looking for a strong emotive reaction, good lyrics, good melody, possibly interesting video. For example, things like Shiny Happy People by REM. But the critics hated that song and made Michael Stipe say he hated it too---although he clearly did not and the song was number 4 on the charts for a while (the critics seemed to prefer the darker Losing My Religion released on the same album). I still like to hear good work on an instrument, but guitar shredders have no soul---if you're just playing a lot of notes without emotional grab you may as well generate them on a computer. I personally like my new song, Window, grin---I guess that is my good fortune at this late date in my life, to be able to write and record exactly (within the limits of the available time and instruments I have available) what I want to hear.