How about a tropical country music throwback?
I’m always in the mood for some Jimmy Buffett, and if Alan Jackson and George Strait are also involved, that only makes it that much better. The trio got together for a concert back in May of 2004, and brought the house down in front of a packed Texas Stadium crowd. All three artists shared the setlist, rotating back and forth between songs from Strait, Jackson and Buffett, and in 2007, the live performance was released as an album.
And let me tell you… I’ll never get tired of Jimmy Buffett’s discography. Songs like “Margaritaville,” “Fins,” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise” (along with the rest of his expansive ocean-themed catalogue) will never go out of style, and the tunes will always keep the spirit of Jimmy Buffett alive and well (RIP JIMMY). Buffett wasn’t exactly considered country music, but the theming of his songs definitely had a lot in common with the country genre.
Plus, he often worked in tandem with country artists, and it would be hard to say that Buffet’s buffet of seemingly effortless songs and songwriting didn’t have somewhat of an impact on country music. The song “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” with Alan Jackson was arguably his most famous crossover with country music, but Jimmy Buffett shared the stage with many other country music stars on various occasions. One of those times that might be overlooked is when Alan Jackson and George Strait joined Jimmy Buffett to perform the aforementioned Texas Stadium concert together.
To paint a picture for you, I was driving back from the golf course earlier today and had my radio tuned to Buffett’s SiriusXM station. Today was one of the better weather days of the year, so I chose to get outside and soak up some sun, and naturally some Jimmy Buffett music worked its way into the plans. I was very pleased when the radio station fired up Buffett, Jackson and Strait’s rendition of “Margaritaville.”
The windows instantly went down, and the vibes went all the way up. From the very first line of the song, “Nibblin’ on spongecake,” my car was transformed into a karaoke bar. Though it was hard to keep up with the song at parts, because I was singing the original lyrics, and Buffett often chose to ad-lib some portions. Like when the live performance got to the chorus, and following, “Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame,” Jimmy hilariously said:
“This is all George Strait and Alan Jackson’s fault!”
I know you’ve probably heard “Margaritaville” a hundred times before, but if you haven’t heard this version before, you’ve got to turn the speakers up and press play. The parts where Strait, Jackson and Buffett all sing the chorus together might be the greatest harmonious moment in music history.
Recency bias? Maybe so… but you listen and try telling me I’m wrong:
Perfection. No notes at all.
I would love to see an actual video of the concert, but they’ve made it very tough to track down. One thing I did come across as I was looking was this beautiful, blast-from-the-past informercial (that randomly includes Troy Aikman) that set out to convince customers to buy the CD of the live concert.
I miss falling asleep on the couch and waking up to infomercials like these:
