Mac McAnally will release his first live album, ‘Live in Muscle Shoals,’ on Mailboat Records next month.

Recorded live from the Norton Auditorium at the University of North Alabama during the W.C. Handy Music Festival, Mac put together an incredible band of musicians consisting of fellow Coral Reefers (Mac is a member of Buffett’s band) and Muscle Shoals/Nashville session friends in which they captivated the audience.

“Last summer the fine folks in charge of the W.C. Handy Music Festival asked me to play a show that ran the gamut of everything I’ve done,” Mac said. “In live performance you don’t have to look far for imperfections. I look at the imperfections as blessings too,” he added. “W.C. Handy made a career out of mixing influences from his surroundings and expressing them musically. I share that aspiration and hope to merit having shared the bill with his legacy on July 31, 2010 in his hometown of Florence, Alabama,” he added.

The CD includes his hits “Back Where I Come,” (Kenny Chesney), “All These Years” (Sawyer Brown), and “Down the Road,” (Kenny Chesney), as well as a cover of the ‘60s hit “I Heard It through the Grapevine.” A master storyteller, Mac set up each song with an anecdote and those bites of observation and humor which are included on the disc.

The date for Jimmy Buffett’s Phoenix show has been announced:

Thursday, October 20th
Ashley Furniture Homestore Pavilion
Phoenix, AZ

Tickets on sale Monday, September 19th at 10 am through LiveNation.

Tickets for the October 18th show at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado go on sale this morning at 10 am MDT.

You can purchase tickets online at TicketHorse.com or by phone at (866) 461-6556. Also, TicketHorse kiosks are located at all Colorado Dick’s Sporting Goods Stores (credit cards only).

Good luck!

USA Today has an early look at the Margaritaville Casino gaming area that will open at the Flamingo on October 1st.

The $10 million gaming area features 15,000 square feet with 22 table games and 220 slot machines.

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Casino in Biloxi won’t open until next year, but they are already looking to fill positions:

Key jobs are being advertised for Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Casino and Restaurant, which is under construction in East Biloxi, and casino officials hope to fill many of them with local talent.

“We’re just starting to look for these positions,” said Karen Sock, who recently was named general manager of the casino. She said the jobs are being advertised in the Sun Herald and online.

Among the positions that are being reviewed and filled are directors of food and beverage, marketing, human relations, gaming operations and surveillance along with manager of information systems.

Sock said they expect to bring on these managers in January and the bulk of the staff will go to work in April or early May.

In November the casino will launch a web site and begin posting jobs for people to work in the casino and restaurant, Sock said.