It’s officially Jimmy Buffett Day in Florida! What better day to kick off the 2011 Welcome to Fin Land Tour? And what better place for the opening show to be than the 1-800-ASK-GARY Amphitheatre in Tampa?

The concert will be streamed live on Radio Margaritaville on the web or Sirius 31 / XM 55. Pre-show begins around 7:30 pm ET, and after a short set from Ilo, Jimmy and the band will take the stage shortly after 8.

The show will also be shown at Landshark Landing at the Margaritaville Hotel in Pensacola:

LandShark Landing Beach Bar will show a live stream of Jimmy Buffett’s concert in Tampa! The concert will be shown on a special giant 20′ screen on the beach outside LandShark Landing. All guests are invited to bring chairs and blankets to sit on while they enjoy the concert. There will be preferred seating for guests staying at the Margaritaville Beach Hotel, as well as Parrothead Club members with a badge.

There will be pre- and post- concert entertainment by Captain Josh (3:30p.m. – 6: 30 p.m. and 10 p.m. – midnight), a beach cookout and drink specials! No outside coolers, food and/or drinks will be allowed.

Buffett will continue the tour on Tuesday in Raleigh, Thursday in Charlotte, and Saturday in West Palm Beach. See the full tour schedule here and get tickets now!

Ilo Ferreira, a gifted singer/songwriter/guitarist, was discovered performing in a club in his native Cape Verde by Jimmy Buffett, Chris Blackwell, and Tom Freston, while they were vacationing in West Africa. They were immediately captivated by Ilo and his talent.

“Gather People Together” is Ilo’s debut album and he wrote many of the songs that appear on this CD. Recorded in Cape Verde, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and the U.S., the musicians featured include several members of Buffett’s band, the Coral Reefers – Mac McAnally, Ralph MacDonald, Robert Greenidge, Peter Mayer, Jim Mayer – and Jimmy himself.

Track List

1. I’m Home Again
2. Cara De Crocudill
3. Lifeline
4. Back to You
5. Call My Name
6. God Knows That
7. Dze Bo Me
8. They Won’t
9. Pau Ne Tchuck
10. Gather The People
11. Maré (Bonus Video)

Ilo will be touring with Jimmy this spring and summer. The album was produced by Tony Brown, Mac McAnally, Chris Blackwell, and Will Kimbrough. There are 10 songs, in English and Portuguese, plus the bonus video of the song Maré.

Pre-order the album now at Amazon.com. It will be released on April 19th.

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band have been rehearsing in Austin, Texas for the Welcome to Fin Land Tour which kicks off this Saturday in Tampa.

Margarillas on Facebook has been posting behind the scenes videos of the rehearsals. They’re short but worth checking out.

Visit facebook.com/margarillas to watch the videos.

Will Jimmy Buffett land another number one song? He’ll have his chance this summer as the Zac Brown Band will release “Knee Deep,” a duet with Jimmy, as their next single.

In 2003, Jimmy scored his only number song with “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” a collaboration with Alan Jackson. After the success of that song, Buffett released License to Chill, an album containing duets with several country stars including Toby Keith, Martina McBride, George Strait, and Clint Black, among others.

Buffett’s had three singles on the charts since “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” “Hey Good Lookin'” reached #8 in 2004, “Trip Around the Sun” hit #20 that same year, and “Bama Breeze” reached #58 in 2006.

This isn’t the first time that Jimmy and the Zac Brown Band have partnered up. In December of 2009 they taped an episode of “CMT Crossroads” that aired in March of last year.

The Zac Brown Band is riding high right now. Music legend James Taylor joined them at the ACM Awards last Sunday to perform their latest single “Colder Weather” (Watch Now), and then this past week the single went to number one on the Billboard Top Country Songs chart.

Be sure to check out our sister site Zac Brown Band World.

A caller to WDOK in Cleveland, Ohio told a story recently of Jimmy Buffett funding a trip to the Gulf Coast for a group of middle schoolers.

A Dayton, OH teacher wrote to Jimmy hoping to get a couple of t-shirts to raffle off and raise money for a field trip to an aquarium in Kentucky. Jimmy got in touch with the teacher and paid for the group to travel by bus to Gulf Shores, and funded their condos, meals, and excursions.

Listen to the call below: