Jimmy Buffett's Early Daze

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Early Daze

Prior to and thereafter JB made his significant journey to Key West, Florida.

JB on God's Own Truck ...whereapon he seemed to create that magic that calls to the yearning a whole lot of us experience in "looking" for that wild, great escape from the hassles of "normal life."

Jimmy Buffett started out as a small-time folk singer, often playing for his dinner, and ended up creating an incredible "phenomenon" of Parrotheadism that has produced over 30 albums, hundreds of songs, an annual concert tour (second in success only to the Grateful Dead), countless items of merchandise, numerous books, and a chain of restaurants and retail stores.

JB drinking a beer Through all of this Jimmy Buffett has remained very loyal and giving of himself to his fans and followers. People really love this man and the feeling "temporary insanity" that his music and influence gives to them.

Very little is said about his early career though. Many fans consider his earlier material to be his best (some argue loudly in opposition, but it's really a matter of personal taste). It would seem that the details behind the making of albums such as A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, A1A, Living and Dying in 3/4 Time, and Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes would be of interest to many of you.

For that reason, this page is devoted to Jimmy's early career. Partly in order to inform those who would like to know what he did before Songs You Know By Heart and partly for providing a place to detail great information about his early, yet significant accomplishments, crazy life and times and the "stories he could tell." If you'd like to help finishing off this page, please let us know.

Phillips "Phil" Clark, the man who inspired "A Pirate Looks at Forty"

Phil Clark Phil and Vic Latham and I were the bartenders at The Chart Room Bar at the Pier House in 70 and 71 and 72. Our friend Jerry Jeff Walker was living in Coconut Grove with a young woman named Murphy Fernandez, and JJ and Murphy brought this out-of-work picker from Alabama to Key West for R&R in November 71. The first place they brought Jimmy was The Chart Room, and I was the bartender on duty. I handed JB a cold beer and told him, "The first one's free." I think that's when he knew that Key West was the place for him. Anyway, we looked at Phil as some kind of wild Caribbean adventurer because he'd spent a lot of time in the Virgin Islands with characters of dubious repute, and Phil had already been busted for trying to fly some pot in from Jamaica. He had been a bartender in New York, claimed to have dated Lauren Huttton before she was famous, lived with the Mamas and Papas on the beach in St. Thomas, hung out with gun runners and professional gamblers. Phil had plenty of tales to tell, and occasionally one of his old cohorts would breeze through Key West, and would fit the mold of modern-day pirate. Years later, Phil married Murphy Fernandez (she was one of six wives, as I recall, and the wives, eventually, all knew each other!) Sadly, Phil drowned in San Francisco Bay in the mid-1980s. He was hiding from various elements of the law and the bonding profession, bartending in Sausalito under an assumed name. Authenticity Note: this photo of Phil was taken on the bar deck at Louie's Back Yard, next door to the house where Jimmy lived. Phil may well be sitting in the same chair that Jimmy sat in when Jane took the picture for the Havana Daydreamin gatefold. © 1999 Tom Corcoran, All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.

Jimmy Buffett "High Times" article, December 1976

High Times Cover This article is a really intriguing look at the early beginnings of Buffett's career.

It was released in the 1976 Christmas issue although the interview was done around the time of the release of the album, A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean.