Billboard has a great read on the making of Jimmy Buffett’s final album Equal Strain on All Parts: “Inside the Making of Jimmy Buffett’s Final Album: ‘He Was So Proud of This One,’ Says Longtime Bandmate Mac McAnally”

“I wasn’t necessarily thinking in terms of this being the last thing he had to say, but I think, in retrospect, he probably was,” says guitarist/songwriter Mac McAnally, who has produced Buffett’s albums with his fellow Coral Reefer Band mate Michael Utley since 1997. “But he never let on. He never surrendered to what was actually happening.”

Buffett, 76, died on Sept. 1 after a four-year battle with skin cancer and lymphoma. “There were people in our organization that didn’t know he was ill,” McAnally says. “He didn’t want anybody feeling sorry for him. He just wanted to be this big ray of positivity that he always was. When I went and said goodbye to him the night before he died, he was still smiling just wider than his face.”

After they finished recording in the summer, Buffett kept tinkering with the sequencing, as McAnally realized the beloved singer-songwriter was rearranging the songs to tell his life’s journey. “When he heard the whole album in sequence, he was so proud of this one in a way that I’ve never seen him be,” McAnally says. “And that may be because he knew it was the last one and he got it right.”

Read the full story here.

The final studio album from Jimmy Buffett is out today. Listen to Equal Strain on All Parts wherever you stream music or get it at Amazon or on vinyl at Mailboat Records.

Track listing:

1. University of Bourbon Street (with Preservation Hall Jazz Band)
2. Bubbles Up
3. Audience of One
4. My Gummie Just Kicked In
5. Close Calls
6. Equal Strain on All Parts
7. Like My Dog
8. Ti Punch Cafe (with Angelique Kidjo)
9. Portugal or PEI (with Will Kimbrough and Lennie Gallant)
10. Nobody Works on Friday
11. Fish Porn
12. Johnny’s Rhum
13. Columbus
14. Mozambique (with Emmylou Harris)

Read USA Today’s review of the album: Jimmy Buffett swings from fun to reflective on last album ‘Equal Strain on All Parts’

At the start of the year, Jimmy Buffett began work on what would become his final album.

From January into the spring, the high-spirited raconteur recorded tracks in Nashville, Tennessee, Key West, New Orleans and Los Angeles, a collection of 11 original songs and three covers, including Bob Dylan’s “Mozambique.”

Now, almost exactly two months after the death of the “Margaritaville” maestro from a rare form of skin cancer, Buffett’s 31st studio album, “Equal Strain on All Parts,” arrives with a bittersweet taste.

It’s comforting to know that even as his health declined, Buffett still turned to music and enlisted friends including Paul McCartney, Emmylou Harris and Angélique Kidjo to romp and croon with him.

But it’s also a somber realization that the raucous concert culture and escapism that Buffett enjoyed with his legions of Parrotheads is but a memory. Hazy for some, joyful for all.

The songs on “Equal Strain” follow Buffett’s careerlong blueprint of swinging from frivolous (Billy Currington’s “Like My Dog” and “Fish Porn,” which he co-wrote with acclaimed satirical novelist Carl Hiaasen) to reflective (“Bubbles Up,” Mary Black’s “Columbus”).

Read the full review here.

At the CMA Awards on Wednesday, November 8th, a quartet of stars will pay tribute to Jimmy Buffett.

The late Jimmy Buffett will be honored with “a very special tribute” from Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Mac McAnally and Zac Brown Band at the upcoming 57th Annual CMA Awards. The Country Music Association (CMA) revealed the news early Wednesday morning.

11-time CMA Award winner Chesney, 10-time CMA Award winner and longtime The Coral Reefer Band member Mac McAnally, 16-time CMA Award winner Alan Jackson and 2023 Vocal Group of the Year nominee Zac Brown Band have each previously collaborated with the “Margaritaville” singer/songwriter so the performance will be profoundly meaningful.

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At this last weekend’s football game between North Carolina State University and Clemson, the NC State Marching Band (the Power Sound of the South) performed a great tribute to Jimmy Buffett.

Watch below:

CMT premiered today the music video for “Bubbles Up” from Jimmy Buffett’s upcoming posthumous album Equal Strain on All Parts.

Buffett wrote the song with Will Kimbrough, and “Bubbles Up” was produced by Michael Utley and Mac McAnally.

The music video for the encouraging, emotional “Bubbles Up” debuts today and was produced by Stan Kellam, who co-directed it with Jeremy Clevenger.

Buffett’s team explained the video features, “Jimmy and what he loved doing. From performance footage in the 70s to more recent days, being on and in the water, playing for fans, flying, each frame holds wonderful memories of a well-lived life. The opening shot is Jimmy filming himself jumping into the water.”

“Bubbles Up” is from Buffett’s posthumous album, “Equal Strain On All Parts,” which will be available Friday.

The video includes footage of Buffett enjoying life, in the water, performing, with friends and doing what he loved to do.

“It brings a smile,” his team commented. “Jimmy was joy.”

Buffett’s team hopes fans are comforted to see the singer and hear his loving, supportive message.

“Just know you are loved, there’s light up above, and the joy is always enough on the road ahead,” they said.” If you loved Jimmy, it’s impossible not to completely lose it. He is missed beyond measure.”