1 of 1 copy available
In Jimmy Buffett: A Good Life All the Way, acclaimed music critic Ryan White has crafted the definitive account of Buffett's rise from singing songs for beer to his becoming a tropical icon and inspiration behind the Margaritaville industrial complex, a vast network of merchandise, chain restaurants, resorts, and lifestyle products all inspired by his sunny but disillusioned hit "Margaritaville."
Filled with interviews from friends, musicians, Coral Reefer Band members, and business partners who were there, this book is a top-down joyride with plenty of side trips and meanderings from Mobile and Pascagoula to New Orleans, Key West, down into the islands aboard the Euphoria and the Euphoria II, and into the studios and onto the stages where the foundation of Buffett's reputation was laid.
Buffett wasn't always the pied piper of beaches, bars, and laid-back living. Born on the Gulf Coast, the son of a son of a sailing ship captain, Buffett scuffed around New Orleans in the late sixties, flunked out of Nashville (and a marriage) in 1971, and found refuge among the artists, dopers, shrimpers, and genuine characters who'd collected at the end of the road in Key West. And it was there, in those waning outlaw days at the last American exit, where Buffett, like Hemingway before him, found his voice and eventually brought to life the song that would launch Parrot Head nation.
And just where is Margaritaville? It's wherever it's five o'clock; it's wherever there's a breeze and salt in the air; and it's wherever Buffett set his bare feet, smiled, and sang his songs.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
May 9, 2017 -
Formats
-
Kindle Book
-
OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781501132575
- File size: 43163 KB
-
EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781501132575
- File size: 43986 KB
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
February 27, 2017
In his memoir, A Pirate Looks at Fifty (1998), musician Jimmy Buffett reflected on his life; in this biography of Buffett, White has written an entertaining life of the entertainer but hasn’t revealed many new anecdotes. White’s starry-eyed fan’s notes perpetuate the legend of the laid-back, shrimp-eating, beer-guzzling, flip-flop–wearing daydreamer who was nevertheless a canny businessman. Drawing on interviews with Buffett’s friends and fellow musicians, White faithfully chronicles Buffett’s rise to fame and fortune from his childhood in Mobile, Ala., and his short-lived college days in Hattiesburg, Miss., to his unsuccessful forays into Nashville’s music scene and his eventual landing in Key West, where he roamed the bars with writers Thomas McGuane and Jim Harrison. Working chronologically, White (Springsteen: Album by Album) carefully takes readers behind the scenes of every Buffett album, revealing an artist who was always in control, despite his slapdash public persona. White aptly captures an ingenious musician who’s expertly figured out how to spin his music and himself into something that his fans will continually follow. -
March 15, 2017
The Mayor of Margaritaville gets mythic treatment in an adoring chronicle that looks back at his decadeslong career.For many, Jimmy Buffett (b. 1946) endures simply as an icon of midlife escapism, forever grinning behind aviator-style sunglasses, beachwear, and his guitar. Former Oregonian sports and culture reporter White (Springsteen: Album by Album, 2014) further cultivates that legend, locating the beginning of Buffett's unlikely rise to the predilections of a ship-hopping father who once yearned for a life of seafaring adventure. With that tone set, the author explores Buffett's spawning grounds in and around Mississippi and Alabama with equal awe and wonder. When Buffett was born, notes the author, the town of Mobile was known as the -Mother of Mystics.- Making it as a musician in places like Nashville, New Orleans, and Key West was a mystical feat in and of itself. However affable, Buffett was something of a curious oddity in a town enamored with the sort of darkness embodied in the likes of Kris Kristofferson. But as Buffett's pals explain, he always had the right mojo. As musician and talent scout Don Light remembers, - 'the people liked him.' Not just the songs, they liked the singer....' If it was him and guitar, he could talk all evening.' - Fans also liked the freedom that the singer represented. Consequently, he was able to turn his laid-back lyrics and lifestyle into a powerful corporate brand responsible for a slew of chain restaurants, resorts, and assorted merchandise. In White's account, how Buffett actually managed to become a multimillion-dollar mogul is far less important than the legend and lore behind the man. The author's subject, however, is conspicuously absent from the career-spanning chronicle. Many of the direct quotes attributed to the artist are actually taken from various concert stages over the years, and they don't illuminate much outside of demonstrating Buffett to be a likable guy. A feel-good biography for Parrotheads; others may want to pass.COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
-