Jimmy Buffett’s Best Country Collaborations – Billboard

Jimmy Buffett, the musical troubadour identified for his island-tinged, rum-soaked hits together with “Margaritaville,” “A Pirate Seems to be at Forty” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” in addition to his empire of companies together with his chain of Margaritaville cafes, died on Friday (Sept. 1) at age 76.

“Jimmy handed away on the evening of September 1st surrounded by his household, associates, music and canine,” an early Saturday morning (Sept. 2) put up on his official web site learn. “He lived his life like a track until the final breath and might be missed past measure by so many.”

The Mississippi-born, Alabama-raised Buffett was a globally-known star, due to his carefree hits and colourful stage exhibits, however a lot of his musical roots ran by means of Nashville. In 2021, Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band performed a personal present at Exit/In — 5 many years after he made a few of his first performances on the tiny membership on Elliston Place in Music Metropolis. The membership would function a launching pad for Buffett’s musical profession, whereas Buffett and artists together with Steve Martin would assist Exit/In turn out to be one Nashville’s most venerable music golf equipment, thus serving to to launch what could be generally known as the town’s historic “Rock Block,” alongside companies together with The Finish and The Gold Rush.

Buffett moved to Nashville within the late Sixties with ambitions of a profession in nation music. He grew to become a Nashville reporter for Billboard from 1969-1970, the place he’s credited with breaking the information of the breakup of bluegrass duo Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in 1969. His tenure at Billboard was temporary, as a result of launch of his 1970 debut album, Right down to Earth.

His follow-up, 1973’s A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean (the title is a twist on a Marty Robbins hit) was recorded at Tompall Glaser’s Nashville studio, which might later be dubbed “Hillbilly Central.” Although the album owed extra to Nashville than the islands, listeners can hear beginnings of the Key West vibes Buffett would turn out to be identified for. The album additionally testifies to Buffett’s affect as a songwriter; it consists of the Buffett/Jerry Jeff Walker-written “Railroad Woman,” which was additionally recorded by artists together with Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. Waylon Jennings coated one other of the album’s songs, “He Went to Paris,” on his 1980 album, Music Man, whereas Doug Supernaw recorded the observe in 1994. Buffett would additionally co-write “Happiness Alone” with Clint Black, a track that appeared on Black’s album No Time to Kill.

The Seventies and Nineteen Eighties noticed a number of of Buffett’s songs rank on Billboard‘s nation charts, together with “The Nice Filling Station Holdup” (1973), “Come Monday” (1974) and his star-making 1977 songs together with “Modifications in Latitude, Modifications in Angle” and “Margaritaville,” which might attain the highest 10 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 chart, in addition to No. 13 on the Sizzling Nation Songs chart. He additionally earned a prime 20 nation hit in 1985 with “If The Cellphone Doesn’t Ring, It’s Me.”

Throughout his five-plus many years in music, Buffett earned two No. 1 hits on Billboard‘s Sizzling Nation Songs chart, in addition to three prime 10 hits, partially due to his willingness to keep up ties inside the nation music group, collaborating with a variety of artists.

Buffett’s 2003 collaboration with Alan Jackson — “It’s 5 O’Clock Someplace,” about an overworked, underpaid blue collar employee who goals of escaping to the islands — grew to become an eight-week No. 1 Nation Airplay hit. The track additionally reached the highest 20 on the Sizzling 100. That very same 12 months, Kenny Chesney earned a serious hit with the island-themed “No Footwear, No Shirt, No Issues,” additional proving Buffett’s model of island escapism was a key affect on the style.

However even way back to his 1998 hit “How Ceaselessly Feels,” Chesney paid homage to Buffett with the lyric, “Now I understand how Jimmy Buffett Feels,” whereas the video’s tropical vibe helped cement cowboy hat-meets-puka shell necklace, “Island Kenny” persona Chesney would turn out to be identified for in later songs and movies similar to “When the Solar Goes Down.” Additionally in 1998, Garth Brooks additionally earned a success with the tropical-themed “Two Pina Coladas,” a track written by Benita Hill, Shawn Camp and Sandy Mason; the writers had initially considered pitching the track to Buffett, earlier than it was finally pitched to Brooks. With songs like 2009’s “Toes,” “Soar Proper In,” and their 2011 No. 1 hit collaboration with Buffett, “Knee Deep,” Zac Brown Band solid their very own island jam band vibe.

“When modern nation took it to the seaside, clearly we had been an enormous a part of that,” Buffett advised Billboard throughout a 2021 interview.

Notably, Buffett earned the only real Billboard 200-topping album of his profession in 2004, with License to Chill, a set of principally nation collaborations with artists together with Chesney, George Strait, Clint Black, Martina McBride, Jackson and Toby Keith.

Chesney, who was a shock visitor throughout Buffett’s 2021 Exit/In present, paid tribute to Buffett on social media, stating, “So goodbye Jimmy. Thanks in your friendship and the songs I’ll carry in my coronary heart eternally. Sail On Sailor.” The 2 hitmakers beforehand collaborated on “Attempting to Purpose With Hurricane Season.”

“To me that track is true poetry, and a real reflection of Jimmy’s capacity to inform a narrative and to seize a second and to color an image of that second,” Chesney later stated in a video in regards to the track. He added, “I’m undecided that Jimmy will get the credit score that he deserves as being a poet, like a real songwriter, storyteller poet, so much like [Ernest] Hemingway was in his time.”

Under, we have a look at a few of Buffett’s prime nation collaborations: