On Saturday Jimmy Buffett announced a free show in Gulf Shores, Alabama:

To demonstrate support for the people, businesses and culture of the Gulf Coast, CMT will telecast a free musical celebration live from the beach at Gulf Shores, Ala. CMT Presents Jimmy Buffett & Friends Live from the Gulf Coast will air on CMT on Thursday, July 1, from 8-9:30 p.m. ET/PT. Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band will be joined in the concert by his friends Sonny Landreth, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney, Jesse Winchester and Allen Toussaint. A special souvenir tee shirt will also be designed for the concert and sold onlne and at the show. More info coming soon!

We’ll post more info as we get it.

According to Poker News Daily, Jimmy Buffett will be in attendance at Sunday’s NFC Championship game in New Orleans when the Saints host Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings:

Among those in attendance will be 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon.

Moon will be seated in a luxury box in the Louisiana Superdome, home of the Saints, alongside several top-tier names. Headlining the list is singer Jimmy Buffet. Kenny Chesney will also be seated in the same suite as Moon, according to Saints officials.

Jimmy has a close relationship with the Saints and their coach Sean Payton. In 2006 Jimmy sang the national anthem at one of their games. He is partners with Payton and several others in Last Mango Stables, a horse-racing owners group (Saints quarterback Drew Brees is also a partner). Buffett is also an honorary chair of Payton’s Play It Forward Foundation. And when Payton coached the NFC in the 2007 Pro Bowl, he ran a play designed by Jimmy that resulted in an interception.

In November, Jimmy Buffett played a show at Le Select to celebrate their 60th anniversary. While there, Jimmy was thrilled to see himself on the wall next to one of his musical idols:

No award will beat the honour a St Barts bar gave Jimmy Buffett – the owners placed his album poster next to one advertising Bob Marley’s masterpiece Catch A Fire on their wall.

The Margaritaville hitmaker visited Le Select bar during a trip to the Caribbean years ago and was staggered to find his Son of a Son of a Sailor album on the place’s hitlist.

Buffett says, “On the wall there were two posters next to each other – one for Marley’s Catch a Fire, and the other was of my album. They’re still up there.

“I don’t win many awards, and I don’t care, but I take a lot of pride in that spot on the wall.”

New York Magazine has an article that goes into detail on how Jimmy Buffett discovered Ilo Ferreira.

On November 23, Freston and his friend Jimmy Buffett, 62, were there to support Ilo at his sold-out show at Joe’s Pub and his appearance later that night on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, which they’d helped engineer.

“Hopefully, lightning strikes and he gets a musical career,” says Freston. “We’re just trying to give him some exposure.”

How’d they get to know, and fund, him? “It was an amazing set of circumstances,” Buffett says backstage at Joe’s. “Freston gets fired and he doesn’t have his plane and he’s got me all fired up to go to the Festival in the Desert,” in Africa. So they have to take Buffett’s jet. The route to Mali “is from San Juan to Cape Verde,” where they stopped to refuel. Buffett thought, why not check out the local music scene while they were stopping through. “I went, ‘Let’s see if Cesaria Evora is playing; I’ve always been a fan.’”

Also with them was MTV Networks editorial director Bill Flanagan, 54. That night, the Cape Verde culture ministry hosted for Buffett and his traveling companions to showcase performances by the best local musicians, including Ilo. After seeing him play, they all “just looked at each other and said, ‘Man.’ I mean, you see a lot of people, but very few people you think have it,” says Buffett.

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(photo C. Taylor Crothers/FilmMagic)

According to Country Music Tattle Tale, Jimmy Buffett will team up with the Zac Brown Band for an episode of CMT Crossroads, a series that pairs country artists with musicians from other genres. Past episodes have featured Jason Aldean and Bryan Adams, Brad Paisley and John Mayer, Martina McBride and Pat Benatar, and Taylor Swift and Def Leopard.

The taping will reportedly be invitation-only in Nashville next month, with the episode airing in March.

The Zac Brown Band is one of the hottest new acts in country music, winning the 2009 ACM Award for Top New Vocal Duo or Group. They’ve had two number one singles: “Chicken Fried” and “Toes”.

Update – CMT has now confirmed this: “Jimmy Buffett, Zac Brown Band Booked for Next CMT Crossroads”

Watch the video for “Toes” below: