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jimmybuffett.jpg" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE"5"> Jimmy Buffett's new License to Chill is a collection of some of the singer/songwriter's favorite songs. The man who routinely packs arenas with tens of thousands of merry revelers occasionally slips unannounced into bars to play. And when he does, he draws from a different repertoire than “Margaritaville” and the rest of the songs that have made him so famous.

His “bar gig” songs, as he calls them, include Jerry Garcia’s “Scarlet Begonias,” the Hank Williams classic “Hey Good Lookin',” Don Gibson’s chestnut “Sea of Heartbreak,” Guy Clark’s “Boats to Build” and the Leon Russell tropical charmer “Back to the Island.” These Buffett favorites have never found their way onto any of his recordings. Until now.

Those five tunes, as well as five Buffett originals and contributions from such acclaimed songwriters as John Hiatt, Bruce Cockburn and Bill Withers, among others, complete the CD. Once he’d assembled the song stack for License to Chill, Buffett decided to combine his Coral Reefer band with some of the hottest session musicians in Nashville.

Then he called country superstars Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Martina McBride, George Strait and Clint Black and asked if they’d like to record with him in Key West. Additional collaborations with the legendary Bill Withers and songstress Nanci Griffith soon followed. Jimmy's seven solo performances round out the 16-song set.

“I never expected even in my wildest dreams that everyone I asked would show up," he says. “I figured schedules and times and conflicts would take their toll. But they didn’t.”

After the recording was completed last December, Jimmy Buffett emerged smiling. In a career that already spans 38 albums, he just might have the Album of the Year on his hands.

“I approach recording like I'm doing a concert set. For License to Chill, we went in there and tried to capture the energy and the magic that happens. It was amazing chemistry.”

License to Chill has already yielded a hit single. His lively version of “Hey Good Lookin’” finds the enduringly popular Buffett trading lines with Black, Chesney, Jackson, Keith and Strait, five of today's biggest country artists, who all reappear on the collection to sing duets with him:

- Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett, who ruled the country charts last year with their award-winning “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” take a breezy troll around the lagoon on the new CD’s “Boats to Build.”

- Toby Keith, who recorded his last album at Buffett’s Florida studio, joins him on Will Kimbrough’s rocker “Piece of Work.”

- Clint Black reunites with Buffett on the latter’s funky “Conky Tonkin.’”

- Fellow sailor George Strait swaps lines and harmonizes on an island-flavored “Sea of Heartbreak.”

- Kenny Chesney, who draws much of his sunny concert performance style from Buffett’s, joins him on the album’s rollicking title tune.

During the album’s planning, Buffett’s longtime friend Bill Withers phoned, offered the heartache lament “Playin’ the Loser Again” and joined him on this duet. Then Buffett and Withers wrote the witty “Simply Complicated” together. The female singing partners have two of the album’s more philosophical moments. Martina McBride harmonizes with him on “Trip Around the Sun,” a beautiful tune about the passing of time. For Nanci Griffith, Buffett chose “Someone I Used to Love.” The lyrics of this acoustic gem speak of yearning for lasting romance.

License to Chill is more than a series of collaborations, however. Buffett’s solo performances on the album rank as some of the finest of his career. In addition to “Scarlet Begonias,” “Back to the Island” and the fun-loving “Simply Complicated,” they include his grooving, guitar-drenched treatment of John Hiatt’s “Window on the World.” His heartfelt performance of Bruce Cockburn’s romantic ballad “Anything, Anytime, Anywhere” is yet another high point. Buffett crafted the beach ode “Coastal Confessions,” the beautiful ballad “Coast of Carolina” and the rest of the original tunes expressly for this collection.

Jimmy Buffett began his songwriting career in Music City. The majority of his band members are Nashvillians. Many country artists have recorded his songs including Lefty Frizzell, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, The Glaser Brothers, Crystal Gayle, Clint Black and Alan Jackson. More than half of his albums have been produced in Nashville, including nine of his 15 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum platters. He has placed more singles on the country-music charts than in any other genre.

But this performer hasn’t built his career on chart successes. Hits like 1974’s “Come Monday” and 1977’s “Margaritaville” have been the exceptions rather than the normal course of events. Instead, he became one of the most phenomenal live-performance successes in music history. A Buffett concert has an atmosphere that combines Mardi Gras, New Year’s Eve, Spring Break and Woodstock all in one festive event. His legion of fans, known affectionately as “Parrotheads,” belong to a colorfully costumed group who do mountains of charity work as well as know how to party. “I’ve always been a live performer because it's been important for me to have that connection to my audience,” he comments. “I always wanted that parallel career, because I never had much radio success before.”

Actually, there are several “parallel” careers. Buffett founded his own Internet station RadioMargaritaville.com six years ago, which, in addition to 24/7 programming, broadcasts all of his concerts. He launched his Mailboat Records label in 1999, and it now sells his CDs, as well as projects by other recording artists. He co-wrote the 1997 theatrical musical Don’t Stop the Carnival with Pulitzer prize winner Herman Wouk, which went on to win a Carbonell Award for Best New Work. He co-authored two children’s books, 1988’s The Jolly Mon and 1991’s Trouble Dolls, with his daughter, Savannah Jane. His novels Tales From Margaritaville (1989) and Where Is Joe Merchant? (1992) were literary hits. When A Pirate Looks at Fifty was published in 1998, Buffett became one of the few writers in history to have No. 1 ranked books on both the Fiction and Non-Fiction New York Times best-seller lists. Others on that impressive short list include Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, William Styron, Irving Wallace and Dr. Seuss.

Jimmy has a new novel, A Salty Piece of Land, scheduled for release soon. Says Buffett, "This one took me five years, but I’m very proud of the book."

Buffett says his original intent was to market License to Chill on his own label. But as co-producers Michael Utley and Mac McAnally worked, everyone realized that the album had the potential to return him to the radio airwaves. RCA Records won the ensuing major-label competition to distribute it.

“Basically, all I did was pick the songs and collect the talent,” says Buffett. “They did all the work, and I think it’s brilliantly produced. I’ve known how good they are for years, and now hopefully, everyone else can see what talents Mac and Mike are."

With the back-to-back successes of the CMA and ACM award-winning “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” and the new, all-star “Hey Good Lookin',” Jimmy Buffett has at last been embraced by country radio. “I’ve had all these country songs in my heart for a while," says Buffett.

"So now that the spotlight is on them all of a sudden, I’m going to have fun with it.”

LicenseToChillMusic.com (Opens New Window)

Source: RCA Nashville Label Profile Error processing SSI file