This was tough for me to swallow this weekend. Woke up 9 am ish - with about 10-15 texts, tweets, emails starting at 5 am that Jimmy had passed. He was the soundtrack to my Jr high / highschool years.

I remember finding my uncles "Jimmy Buffett's 'Songs you Know by Heart'" Back in ~2003. I had that entire album memorized by the end of the summer.

My first concert was my junior year at A&M. Singing Cadets perform at Muster every year - and Jimmy was coming to Houston Minute Maid Park April 21 2007. I want to say it was also the launch of Landshark Lager. I missed Muster to see Jimmy perform. I hadn't missed a summer concert since 2007. Got to meet Mike Hollywood Holly at a concert and he stenciled '10' on my arm. I got to meet resident Spadilly at a Buffett concert years ago (albeit - intoxicated, always fun to meet Texags / Parrotheads).

Concert in Vegas at MGM circa 2011. It was a Halloween concert - and between the Kayne show, Parrotheads, rodeo championship, and Halloween weekend all culminating - it was the craziest hodgepodge of folks I've ever seen in my life. MGM was absolutely wacky.

Got to see him for tailgating in Austin at Circuits America - that was one of the biggest tailgating events I've ever been to. My ex-wife and I stumbled out of that concert with a handle of Cabo Wabo and found some folks in a golf cart. They offered to drop us off at our tailgate - we passed the bottle- they passed a blunt. We eventually made it back - bottle emptied.

Never got to see Jimmy at Red Rocks, or Paris, or Jones Beach. My last concert was front row 2022 at Cynthia Woods. Some great memories - some fuzzy ones. Got to be part of the Houston Parrothead club and we threw some fun parties back in those years.

Jimmy was always more about the music - he was about a time and place. He gave us an escape. I'll always cherish the memories I've made listening to his music and escaping. Pouring several out this week in honor of Bubba. Gonna miss him.

Cheers to this. Much like you, I woke up to texts, emails, and facebook messages checking on me, several from people I haven't heard from in years. I guess I turned in to "the Buffett guy" for most of my friends, a title I'll gladly take.

My parents took our family to Pensacola every year growing up. And every year I knew we would have the yellow Jimmy Buffett cd. Like most kids, a song about cheeseburgers was really cool and was my gateway drug to Buffett.
I went head first in when I jumped. Found that while his popular songs were good, his deep cuts were really where the magic was.

13 shows, and many of those had 12 hour tailgates with it. (Happy to report that no matter how great the tailgates were, I never missed a show at the end of the night...stumbled my way in several times, but made each of them.
Something so great about partying in a coconut bra and grass skirt. Many of those tailgates because just like yearly family reunions with the parrothead crowds (made it a point to find cr0wbar and share a drink each time he came through the Woodlands). We'd see the same people each year and catch up.

Life is hard, so any chance to sail away to margaritaville and a mini Buffett vacation a few days each summer was the perfect remedy. Saw him in the Woodlands, Toyota Center for a private event, Frisco several times, and even a trip to Tampa for a Florida show.

He'll be missed, but we'll keep his spirit alive. It sure was a lovely cruise!

EclipseAg said:

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spadilly said:

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Found that while his popular songs were good, his deep cuts were really where the magic was.

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I suppose this can be said of many artists, but I definitely feel this way about JB. The fun stuff is fun but there is a lot of depth to his music that goes beyond the "Big Eight."

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Just this past weekend I heard several songs I have never heard before and thought- wow this is a great song! I am going to listen to his entire discology on YouTube in the coming weeks. Feeling a little sheepish that it took him passing away to get more into his music.

I started listing to the Yellow CD, or the cassette of it with the artwork of Jimmy in the hammock in the late 80s. When I got to A&M, I was becoming a true Parrothead, and started collecting all of his CDs and the box set. My roommate and I would sit in our dorm and play dominoes, listen to Buffett, and drink Captain and Cokes! I saw my first of 20 shows at the Woodlands in 1992. It became a yearly pilgrimage, with annual trips to the Woodlands, or sometimes Austin. I had to miss a show when I was Muster Chair for my club in 2007, and I missed a show for work in 2019. In college, we made the trips to his bar in New Orleans many times, back when he owned it.

My fish year at A&M I got sick and had to miss some school. When I returned, one of my dorm buddies had left a Corona Buffett poster on my desk that I cherished my entire time in college and as a bachelor. I wish I knew what happened to it (need to look for one on eBay later on).

I took my wife to her first show in 2007 at The Woodlands (the Pope Benedict the XVI show). She was hooked! We mostly went with friends and sometimes just went by ourselves.

Our daughter went to her first show in Austin in 2014 when she was 2 months old. She has been to 5 shows, and cried on Saturday with me.

I own all of his albums on CD and Vinyl. I have a pristine digital copy of the "Kick It In Second Wind" test pressing. I have good quality bootlegs of most of the shows I have been to, and the production video of most of his Texas shows since he has made them available. We have a lifetime of his music and shows in our library. Buffet holds a special place in our hearts. A special trip for my daughter was getting to go to Key West when she was 5, and eating at Margaritaville and getting her picture with the mural of the Havana Daydreamin' album gatefold.

Our last show was in Austin in 2022. Got to see Jimmy perform with Willis Allen Ramsey and Django Walker. That was our last show. Little did we know.

Buffett's music and lifestyle has been the background of my life. It's like I lost a family member.

His obituary is online for those of you who feel like I do. You can make a memorial gift in his name at MD Anderson.

Respect. That's awesome.

EclipseAg said:

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spadilly said:

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Found that while his popular songs were good, his deep cuts were really where the magic was.

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I suppose this can be said of many artists, but I definitely feel this way about JB. The fun stuff is fun but there is a lot of depth to his music that goes beyond the "Big Eight."

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Probably not far behind the "Big Eight", but I was always partial to Pencil Thin Mustache...loads of nostalgic references that spurred me to look up Andy Devine, amongst others.

Now I've got the "Brylcreem, a little dab'll do ya" line stuck in my head...but I don't mind.

MsDoubleD81 said:

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Who else has been singing "mustard" for 40+ years??!!

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/jimmy-buffett-best-songs-margaritaville-1234816602/son-of-a-son-of-a-sailor-1234816728/

"Big Meat owes Buffett a heifer-sized debt of gratitude for all he did to promote burger eating. While vegans may recoil at a song that pines for something ordered "medium-rare with Muenster," "Cheeseburger in Paradise""

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Mustard is right. Rolling Stone is wrong.

Edit: Mustard and Tailgate88 are wrong, Rolling Stone is right...

EclipseAg said:

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Big Al 1992 said:

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I always liked his covers which in a lot of cases became more tied to Jimmy than the original
Stars on the Water - Strait, Rodney Crowell
Southern Cross - CSN
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Weather With You - Crowded House

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Yep ... Buffett has a ton of great covers.

My favorite is "Banana Republics," written and recorded by the great Steve Goodman, who wrote "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" and "City of New Orleans."

Jimmy's long-time collaborator Mac McAnally has written a ton of country hits by artists like Kenny Chesney and Sawyer Brown, including four No. 1s.

ETA "Coast of Marseilles" by Keith Sykes is another great Buffett cover.

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Mexico by James Taylor

Always loved it when he'd cover Another Saturday Night and Stars on the Water live as well. He had those down in his own unique fashion.

He went to Paris is one of the best written songs ever in my opinion.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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EclipseAg said:

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Big Al 1992 said:

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I always liked his covers which in a lot of cases became more tied to Jimmy than the original
Stars on the Water - Strait, Rodney Crowell
Southern Cross - CSN
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Weather With You - Crowded House

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Yep ... Buffett has a ton of great covers.

My favorite is "Banana Republics," written and recorded by the great Steve Goodman, who wrote "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" and "City of New Orleans."

Jimmy's long-time collaborator Mac McAnally has written a ton of country hits by artists like Kenny Chesney and Sawyer Brown, including four No. 1s.

ETA "Coast of Marseilles" by Keith Sykes is another great Buffett cover.

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Mexico by James Taylor

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Uncle John's Band
Scarlet Begonias
Ballad of Spider John

Charley's caption under though:

ETA: sorry, oragator. Just realized I'm an idiot and your IG post was actually linked. Could have saved me five minutes of copying and pasting and spacing.

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I didn't know Jimmy Buffett. But I sure I wish I did. About 5 years ago I'd started to calling my music "Gulf & Western". It sounded better to me then what I was going by before, Gulf Coast Boogie Woogie. Being naive, I thought I'd come up with my own sub genre.

I got the idea from the old Paramount Pictures logo with the tall snow capped mountain on it. Well, a few years later somebody reviewing one of my records noted that I identified as gulf and western and that Jimmy Buffett had claimed that title almost 50 years before. Of course he did. He was born on the Gulf too. He was also very country, and highly unusual.

Difficult to pin down. Margaritaville casts a mighty long shadow, and because of that, a lot of folks discount Jimmy's brilliance. But that's how you know you wrote a hit. How I came around to being a Parrot Head was all thanks to the 1974 neo-western cult classic "Rancho Deluxe". I kept wondering who the hell was signing all those songs in the movie. The voice was familiar but I couldn't place it. Short story long, it was Jimmy Buffett. That soundtrack feels like a country concept album to me. I'd say that's what it is.

So began my journey into his early albums. And there's a lot of 'em! I've reached a place in my life where his song writing brings me great comfort in a relentlessly tiresome world. I don't fit in to the modern music business. But neither did Jimmy Buffett, and he reminds me that I don't have to give a damn. I can do it anyway I want to. And I do. That's how I came to call my sound "Gulf & Western".

When you're from the Deep South, and especially born along that third coast line, you're a different type of country & western. The kind that hangs in all that humidity and warm breeze. Thank you Jimmy. From Livingston to Texas, I'll be eating off your plate for a long time. #jimmybuffett @jimmybuffett

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