Jimmy Buffett was one of Alabama’s favorite sons

Jimmy Buffett, the Mississippi-born singer/songwriter who popularized beach-bum soft rock with hits like “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” died Friday at the age of 76. He was one of Alabama’s favorite sons, with many strong ties to the state.

“Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” said a statement on Buffett’s official website and social media pages, posted early on Saturday. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.” No cause of death was given.

In May, Buffett was hospitalized in Boston for treatment of an undisclosed condition and rescheduled a concert in South Carolina. “Growing old is not for sissies, I promise you,” Buffett wrote in a letter posted on his website.

Born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, in 1946, Buffett moved to Mobile with his family and grew up there. His parents, Mary Loraine Peets Buffett and James Delaney Buffett Jr., were employees of the Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company. Buffett’s grandfather, James Delaney Buffett, was a steamship captain and his father J.D. had traveled to India and Africa with the Army Corps of Engineers.

“For young Jimmy, the Gulf of Mexico was the doorway to a world of adventure where the characters he heard about in his grandfather’s stories were waiting to be discovered,” Buffett’s website says. “The siren call of exotic ports was in contrast to his days as a parochial school student and an altar boy, and it only took a guitar to take him off course from the life his parents had imagined for him.”

Buffett attended St. Ignatius Catholic School in Mobile and graduated high school in 1964 from McGill Institute for Boys. He enrolled at Auburn University before continuing his education at Pearl River Community College and then graduating in 1969 from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Buffett learned to play guitar in college, busked on the streets of New Orleans, played in Gulf Coast bars and more.

“I think he credits a lot of his success to his Gulf Coast roots,” Buffett’s sister, Gulf Coast restaurateur Lucy Buffett, said in a 2012 interview with AL.com. “They gave him the foundation that’s sustained his success. You can’t grow up around water and not develop an almost cellular longing to be out in a boat on that water. So many of his songs resonate with his love of exploring the ocean. That notion was born in his youth on Mobile Bay, Dauphin Island, Gulf Shores and the Mississippi barrier islands.”

READ: Buffett on Buffett: Lucy talks about her famous brother Jimmy

Jimmy Buffett moved to Nashville in 1970, hoping to make his fame as a country artist, and continued to pay his dues on the music scene as a singer and songwriter. His first few albums were not commercially successful, but included “Grapefruit—Juicy Fruit,” “Come Monday” and other songs that would become Buffett classics.

“From my point of view as the baby sister who’s 7 years younger than he is, I thought he had made it when mama, daddy and I drove over to Hattiesburg to watch him open for Jerry Jeff Walker in some small, coffee-house type venue,” Lucy Buffett told AL.com. “He sang and people applauded; I thought right then that he was a star. And the fact that he was also playing on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in his first group meant he had made it. If not to the big time, at least he’d made it out of Mobile, and I knew he would never come back home to live.”

READ: Alabama plays a role in early Jimmy Buffett tracks to be released as ‘Buried Treasure’

Buffett got his first real taste of fame after traveling to Key West and developing his trademark sound and persona. He released his breakthrough album in 1977, “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” which included the No. 1 single “Margaritaville.”

Overall, Buffett released 27 studio albums, received multiple Grammy nominations, wrote New York Times bestselling books and became one of the top touring artists in the world, thanks to his loyal legion of “Parrothead” fans.

Among his extensive catalog of songs is a beloved handful of tunes known as “The Big 8”: “Margaritaville,” “Come Monday,” “Fins,” “Volcano,” “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” and “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.” Buffett’s songbook contains much more, however, and hardcore fans will tell you his skills as a thoughtful lyricist and composer have been underappreciated.

“Jimmy is really a storyteller and when you listen to some of his songs, they truly resonate as contemporary poetry put to music,” Lucy Buffett said. “His hits represent his playful side, but when you look at his entire catalog, you can’t help but appreciate his deep emotional side. Much to his own chagrin, I might add. He’s really quite modest and private; like most men, he won’t wallow in the emotional side of things for very long. He really is more of a ‘breathe in, breathe out, move on’ kind of guy.”

Below, we look back on some of Buffett’s memorable appearances in Alabama, from the relatively recent (a surprise Mobile visit in 2017) to concerts that are more than four decades old. When his live show rolled through, it never failed to draw thousands of fans basking in the beachy good time Buffett delivered so effortlessly.

READ: We ranked 307 Jimmy Buffett songs. What’s your favorite?

AL.com’s Jared Boyd, left, and Mobile’s best-known singing son, Jimmy Buffett, at the Dew Drop Inn. Buffett was quietly visiting the city in January 2017, working on a documentary about his early musical career. (AL.com)bn

2017

Buffett was randomly spotted at the Dew Drop Inn in Mobile in January 2017. “Jimmy,” a woman at the lunch counter said. “That is him … Jimmy Buffett.” While working for AL.com at the time, reporter Jared Boyd caught a glimpse of the tropical-shirted figure stepping into a white late-model Nissan van in an adjacent lot on Old Shell Road.

“It’s often said around town, when Jimmy Buffett is discussed, that everyone in Mobile has a connection to the man,” Boyd wrote. “Inside, at the woman’s table, her mother looked my way, explaining that she hadn’t seen Jimmy since he was a young man, living in her neighborhood in Fairhope.”

The woman rushed outside to wave Buffett down before returning inside the restaurant, Boyd wrote, and had Buffett in tow. Boyd walked over to introduce himself and find out why the notoriously private star was in his childhood city. Buffett said he was saluting his Mobile roots in a documentary film about his early career, gathering shots and meeting with local musicians who were integral to the making of his first records. “I’m hoping to get out to McGill-Toolen in a minute,” he told Boyd about his alma-mater. “I’ve got some fond memories and some not-so-fond memories there.”

“So, now you’ve got the scoop,” Buffett said, as he took a few photos and walked out of the Dew Drop Inn.

READ: Why was Jimmy Buffett in Mobile?

Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band turned Oak Mountain Amphitheatre into a little slice of paradise at his concert in Pelham, Alabama, on Tuesday, April 19, 2016. (AL.com file photo/Tamika Moore)

2016

Buffett prompted raucous cheers and applause when his “Workin’ n’ Playin’” tour arrived at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham on April 19, 2016. The star’s commentary to the packed house was peppered with references to nearby Birmingham, along with crowd-pleasing performances of his hits.

“The Mobile, Alabama, native knows exactly what his audience wants and he always gives it to them,” freelancer Blake Ells said in a review for AL.com. “He panders to them. If they want seconds, he gladly gives them thirds. And that’s why he’s managed to open an entire chain of restaurants named after the 1977 song ‘Margaritaville.’ It’s why parking lots at his concerts are filled with tailgaters hours before his performances. It’s why he has been able to demand high prices for his tickets for years — a seat near the stage on Tuesday night cost $150.”

Ells continued: “Buffett casually dropped ‘Birmingham’ into his lyrics throughout the evening, a long-utilized Buffett tactic that feels like perfectly executed vacation karaoke. That’s the part that’s pandering; but if a business is giving its customer exactly what it wants, is it pandering or is it amazing service?”

Also from the review: “It’s downright balmy in Alabama tonight,” Buffett said. “It was so cold in Virginia, I had to wear socks. Now, we snuck into town a little early today and had lunch at my buddy Frank Stitt’s — at Chez Fon Fon. So we’re running on Stitt’s grits right now.”

Buffett also localized the lyrics of “Come Monday,” Ells said, with the line “It’s so nice to be home in Alabama again!” and an image of the Vulcan statue overlooking Birmingham.

One longtime member of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, a crack touring ensemble, is Alabama native Mac McAnally, a guitarist, singer and songwriter. McAnally — a 10-time winner of the CMA Award for Musician of the Year — was born in Red Bay. He also has has a home and recording studio in Sheffield.

“My role with Buffett has expanded as our friendship has expanded,” McAnally said in a 2016 interview with AL.com. “He’s been a supporter from way back, and I support him. When he’s doing a show, he thinks about his show more than anything. He has a family and a business and everything else, but Jimmy’s show, I think, is the most important thing in his life.”

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band perform Friday, April 24, 2015, at The Amphitheater at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Ala. (Mike Kittrell/mkittrell@al.com)

2015

Buffett drew a crowd of 10,000 at The Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach, declaring “If I were a very religious person, I would say that constitutes the redneck Riviera rapture.”

“The open-air venue was filled to the rim with loyal Parrotheads, many of whom had arrived hours before the gates opened to enjoy some pre-show tailgating with kindred spirits,” wrote AL.com’s Lawrence Specker. “Early in the show, Buffett told the crowd ‘we’re going to cover a little bit of I-10, highway 90, highway 98,’ and that’s just what he did, packing in a lot of songs inspired by his coastal upbringing in Pascagoula and Mobile. He opened the show with ‘Pascagoula Run,’ played ‘Bama Breeze’ in tribute to the Flora-Bama and other coastal honky-tonks.”

Specker continued, “Buffett, for his part, seemed to be in a playful, chatty mood. In ‘Margaritaville,’ which came halfway through the two-hour performance, he threw in a verse making light of a 2011 incident in which he fell off the stage at a performance in Australia: ‘There were lots of discussions/ about my concussion …’ And in the band’s rendition of ‘Sweet Home Alabama,’ he worked in a few references to the Mullet Toss. Not to mention that part of the time he was singing ‘Sweet Home Flora-Bama.’”

Mixing originals and covers including Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl,” Buffett closed with gratitude to the thousands of Parrotheads present. “Thank you again everybody, it’s great to be home … It’s a special show.”

READ: Jimmy Buffett hits Orange Beach with mullet on his mind

To accord with the beach theme, Jimmy Buffett went barefoot during his Feb. 25, 2012 concert at Birmingham’s BJCC Arena. “Fin Land comes home!” he said. “It’s good to be back back, playin’.” (Anna Jones/BJCC)

2012

Buffett, 65 at the time, and his band, The Coral Reefers, had not performed at the BJCC since November 2001, with fans waiting more than a decade to hear his classic beach anthems. The venue packed with 14,000 people, many decked out in standard Parrothead garb like shark-fin visors, Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts.

“‘Sweet home Alabama!’ he proclaimed,” AL.com’s Mary Colurso wrote in her review of the show. “Seemed like the star was in a great mood, ready to celebrate his strong ties to the state.” She said the concert lasted about two hours and 20 minutes, with Buffett recalling his past in Mobile, inserting Birmingham into various song lyrics, praising the state’s football champs and generally acting like a proud product of the state. The 30-song set even included “Bama Breeze,” “Pascagoula Run,” “Back Where I Come From,” “Stars Fell on Alabama,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Birmingham” and “Southern Cross.“

“Buffett’s no Pavarotti, but his Average Joe voice did the job nicely — and held up well until the very last number, a solo acoustic rendition of ‘Dreamsicle,’” Colurso wrote. “There, tone started to wobble and pitch began to fade. Still, it was a warm way to send the crowd home, and came off as highly personal … Overall, this vibrant show topped, exceeded and eclipsed the one Buffett delivered here in 2001. Parrotheads, rejoice!”

READ: How did Jimmy Buffett please his audience in Birmingham? Let us count the ways

Jimmy Buffett thanks the crowd for coming to the concert Sunday July 11, 2010, during the Jimmy Buffett & Friends Show in Gulf Shores. (Press-Register, Chip English)CHIP ENGLISH

2010

On July 1, 2010, Buffet and his Coral Reefer Band performed a surprise concert at Lulu’s at Homeport Marina, for a crowd that quickly grew to 2,000 through word of mouth. The waterside restaurant and bar in Gulf Shores is owned by Buffett’s sister Lucy, and is one of three restaurants that bear her name.

As Ryan Dezember of the Mobile Press-Register wrote, “At about 6:30 p.m. Lucy Buffett delivered some bad news: Bluesman Sonny Landreth, who was supposed to play at her waterfront restaurant, Lulu’s at Homeport Marina, had had to cancel his scheduled show. But, working a family connection, she had procured a substitute performer: her brother and south Alabama favorite son Jimmy Buffett.”

Buffett had played unannounced in 2000 at his mother’s birthday party at the old Lulu’s on Weeks Bay, but this 2010 show marked Buffett’s first performance at his sister’s much larger location in Gulf Shores, Dezember said. And Buffett delivered during a two-hour set, rolling through hits like “Margaritaville,” “Volcano,” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”

Buffett was in town to headline “Live From the Gulf Coast,” a free benefit concert televised on CMT. The televised show, performed on the beach in Gulf Shores, aimed to encourage tourism in the aftermath of the Gulf Coast oil spill. The TV broadcast originally was scheduled for July 1, but the date was rescheduled to July 11 because organizers were concerned about the effects of Tropical Storm Alex.

In the meantime, Buffett helped his sister — and spurred enormous goodwill — by appearing at Lulu’s for the surprise show. At the impromptu concert, Buffett thanked fans who stuck with their plans to visit Alabama’s beaches despite the Gulf oil spill that had a disastrous effect on the area’s tourism-driven economy.

As Dezember reported for AL.com: “How many of you heard the bad news and came anyway?” Buffett asked between songs at Lulu’s. The crowd roared. “Aren’t you glad you did?” Buffett asked. Again, the crowd roared.

READ: Jimmy Buffett performs surprise concert in Gulf Shores, drawing over 2,000 people

Jimmy Buffett in concert at the BJCC played to a packed house of beach ball throwing and flowered shirt wearing fans in 2001. (News Staff Photo/Frank Couch)bn

2001

Jimmy Buffett performed to a sold-out house at Birmingham’s BJCC Arena on Nov. 7, 2001. The set list was loaded with hits — “Fins,” “Margaritaville,” “Why Don’t We Get Drunk,” “Grapefruit-Juicy Fruit,” “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” “Volcano,” “Come Monday,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise” — and about 18,000 ticketholders were in Parrothead heaven, many of them pretending the venue was a fabulous tropical isle.

When AL.com’s underwhelmed reviewer — Buffett first-timer Mary Colurso — basically asked what all the fuss was about, Parrotheads leaped to Buffett’s defense with an eloquent flood of emails and phone messages.

“Most of Jimmy’s fans come to the show for a couple of hours and an escape from the drudgery of the ‘normal’ world,” one fan said. “I have seen Buffett since 1974 when I was an 18-year-old freshman, and I still love going to his concerts.”

“It’s all about letting go and dancing like no one is watching,” another fan said. “Didn’t you ever grab a hairbrush and sing along with your favorite song at the top of your lungs? Jimmy has put out over 30 albums with wonderful stories and anecdotes on them. I have found over the years that there is a song for everyone. Even my father, an opera singer, has his favorite JB songs. One album that I find the most soothing and refreshing is Floridays. Listen to the words and read along, and if that does not convince you, then nothing will.”

1990s

Buffett played at least two shows in Mobile during the 1990s, according to Setlist.fm: Dec. 2, 1998, at the Mobile Civic Center (on his “Don’t Stop the Carnival” tour); and July 29, 1990, at Ladd Memorial Stadium (on his “Jimmy’s Jump Up” tour).

Buffett’s 1998 concert included 29 songs, according to Setlist.fm., from “Kinja” to “Time to Go Home.” Along with his hits, the agenda featured “Jamaica Mistaica,” “It’s All About Da Water,” “Saxophones,” Pencil Thin Mustache” and “Take Another Road.” Buffett also covered James Taylor’s “Mexico” and “Southern Cross” by Crosby, Stills & Nash.

The 1990 show featured 23 songs, according to Setlist.fm, including “Last Mango in Paris,” “Off the See the Lizard,” “One Particular Harbor,” “You’ll Never Work in Dis Bidness Again,” “Honey Do,” “The Pascagoula Run” and “If the Phone Doesn’t Ring, It’s Me.” Buffett also covered Harry Belafonte’s “Jamaica Farewell” and Rodney Crowell’s “Stars in the Water.”

Buffett performed at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, on Oct. 2, 1992, on his “Recession Recess” tour, according to Setlist.fm. Buffett also stopped at Auburn University in 1990, doing a show at Joel H. Eaves Memorial Coliseum, according to Setlist.fm.

1994

Buffett paid a visit to Birmingham in spring 1994, but it wasn’t for a public concert. He was acting in the baseball movie “Cobb,” a bio-pic about Ty Cobb. The film starred Tommy Lee Jones and was written and directed by Ron Shelton.

“Few entertainers can fill the seats like good-time troubadour Jimmy Buffett, and producers of the movie Cobb hope the man from Margaritaville will do just that when he appears Sunday at Rickwood Field,” reporter Bob Carlton said in a story published on March 23, 1994, in The Birmingham News. “Buffett … will play a heckler in the Cobb movie, and while here, will reward unpaid Rickwood extras who come out to ballpark this weekend with a free concert, a movie official said.”

Associate producer Tom Todoroff told Carlton he arranged for the singer to be in the picture after taking the director to one of Buffett’s shows in Los Angeles. ”He loved Jimmy’s show and Jimmy loves his movies,” Todoroff said. “We all decided Jimmy should be in this movie and Ron said, ‘Figure out what Jimmy should play.’ I said he would be a great heckler because in the early days, when he was playing clubs, he was really heckled.”

1980

Buffett recorded his “Coconut Telegraph” album in 1980 in Sheffield, “at the 1000 Alabama Avenue location of Muscle Shoals Sound,” according to a Facebook post from the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. “Jimmy was an icon in the music industry with passionate fans around the world,” the post says. “Our thoughts are with Mac McAnally and the entire Coral Reefer band.”

“Coconut Telegraph,” released in February 1981, includes “Growing Older But Not Up,” “The Good Fight,” Buffett’s cover of “Stars Fell on Alabama” and “It’s My Job,” written by McAnally. The recording sessions included J.D. Souther, who co-wrote “The Good Fight” with Buffett and shared lead vocals with him.

Jimmy Buffett in the 1970s, during a tour stop in Birmingham, Alabama. (Neil Brake/The Birmingham News, Copyright, Alabama Department of Archives and History)

1970s and ‘80s

Buffett played at Birmingham’s Boutwell Auditorium on March 20, 1982, according to Setlist.fm. The show featured 24 songs, starting with “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” and ending with a cover of “Dixie Diner” by Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers. Buffett also covered “Stars Fell on Alabama.”

Buffett stopped in Birmingham on July 25, 1978, playing Boutwell Auditorium on his “Cheeseburger in Paradise” tour, according to BuffettWorld.com.

“1978 saw Jimmy begin his own tour with the Coral Reefer Band, spending March and April playing along the East Coast and diving into the mid-west for the first time,” the fan site says. “On May 1st, Jimmy broke his leg for the first of three times over the next year in West Palm Beach at a baseball game. June brought a California tour of which included a few shows opening for Jackson Browne in San Jose and Angels Camp, CA. August brought some Florida stadium shows with the Little River Band and the Steve Miller Band along with the infamous three shows in Atlanta and Miami which were recorded for the live album “You Had To Be There.” Jimmy then apparently took some much needed time off as no other dates have been uncovered for the rest of the year.”

Buffett also performed in Huntsville during the 1970s and ‘80s, according to Setlist.fm. The website lists three shows at the Von Braun Center: Nov. 9, 1983; Sept. 16, 1977 (on his “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” tour); and Oct. 1, 1976 (on his “Pink Crustacean” tour).

“1983 was a unique year in the Jimmy Buffett world,” says BuffettWorld.com. “Without a new album ready, Jimmy spent the spring on the An Evening in Margaritaville tour with only accompaniment from (Michael) Utley and Sam Clayton. That tour had some new songs creep in, including ‘Frank and Lola’ which wouldn’t be released until two years later. Jimmy had been growing tired of the summer tour for a few years, even commenting that there was too many bands on tour and everyone overlapped each other. With that in mind and continuing work on the new album, Jimmy launched the Six-Stop American tour in July which featured literally six stops. ‘One Particular Harbour’ was finally ready the last week of September, but Jimmy didn’t return to the road until November, when he launched a barnstorming tour of the East Coast and the South.”

Buffett performed two shows in the 1970s at Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, according to Setlist.fm: Feb. 20, 1979; and Sept. 15, 1977.

Buffett played at least three shows in Mobile during the 1970s, according to Setlist.fm: Feb. 23, 1977, at Municipal Auditorium; Nov. 15, 1974, at the University of South Alabama; and Nov. 11, 1974 at the Saenger Theatre Mobile.