License to Chill (CD - 2004)

Personnel: Jimmy Buffett (vocals, guitar); Jimmy Buffett; J.L. Jamison (vocals, drums, percussion); Clint Black, Tim Bender, Chris Walsh , George Strait, Stan Kellam, Buddy Owen, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Michael Ramos, Mike Utley, Nanci Griffith, Toby Keith, Bill Withers (vocals); Doug Breidenbach (guitar); Doyle Grisham (pedal steel guitar); Tony Brown, Tony Brown (keyboards); Harry Stinson, Rachel Wilson, Jim Photoglo, Nadirah Shakoor, Wes Hightower, Bekka Bramlett (background vocals); Mac McAnally (vocals, guitar, mandolin, background vocals); Al Anderson, Sonny Landreth, Will Kimbrough (guitar); Stuart Duncan (fiddle); Buster Somar (harmonica); Michael Utley, Bill Payne (keyboards); Glenn Worf (bass guitar); Roger Guth (drums); Robert Greenidge (steel drum, timbales); Eric Darken, Ralph MacDonald (percussion).

Audio Mixers: Alan Schulman; Chris Stone.

Recording information: Blackbird Recording Studio, Nashville, TN; Moonee Ponds Studio, Malibu, CA; Palm Beach, FL; Seventeen Grand Recording, Nashville, TN; Shrimp Boat Sound Studio, Key West, FL; Sound Emporium Recording Studio, Nashville, TN; Sound Emprium Recording Studio, Nashville, TN.

Early in the 2000s, Jimmy Buffett experienced one of his periodic revivals thanks to the legions of contemporary country singers indebted to his sunny, relaxed party music. His influence had been bubbling under during the latter half of the '90s, but in 2003 he suddenly was front and center, performing a duet with Alan Jackson on the "Margaritaville"-styled smash "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," while echoes of his music were clearly heard in country's first superstar of the new millennium, Kenny Chesney. Never one to miss an opportunity -- or, as he puts it in the liner notes, "not being one to let a cultural phenomenon pass me by like a misguided comet" -- Buffett decided to go the whole hog and record his own country album, License to Chill, for the summer of 2004. He calls in a lot of favors here, drafting Jackson, Chesney, Toby Keith, Clint Black, George Strait, Martina McBride, Nanci Griffith, and, for a change of pace, Bill Withers, for duets on this generous 16-track album. Usually, such a surplus of guest stars overwhelms the main artist, but that isn't the case here, since everybody bends to fit Buffett's style instead of the reverse. These guests not only give Buffett a straight man for his jokes, but also help focus his musical direction and song selection, since it all feeds into the album's sun-kissed contemporary country direction. Musically, this isn't all that far removed from either his early-'70s work or "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," which is hardly a surprise, but what is surprising is that it's one of the most enjoyable latter-day albums from this notoriously inconsistent artist. There are still some overly silly, even embarrassing moments, such as the frequent tossed-off puns and the cringe-inducing "Simply Complicated," but these are the exceptions on this cheery collection of laid-back country-rockers and beach ballads. Again, the difference on License to Chill isn't the music, but the consistency of the songwriting and the performances, resulting not only in Buffett's strongest record in years, but an album that sits comfortably next to that new Kenny Chesney album, and that means he accomplished exactly what he set out to do. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

As most devoted Parrotheads are well aware, Jimmy Buffett is no stranger to country music. Before he developed his trademark brand of Caribbean-influenced good-time pop, the sun-loving singer paid his dues on the Nashville circuit, eventually recording two albums of accomplished, if not particularly commercially successful, country rock (the best tracks from which were collected on 1994's BACK TO THE BEACH). With LICENSE TO CHILL, Buffett brings the cowboys to the beach, employing the talents of Music City's first-call studio musicians and superstar performers. Buffett's music is so comfortable that duet contributions from artists as diverse as Toby Keith, Nanci Griffith, and Bill Withers all sound perfectly at home. By applying island rhythms to country classics and combining steel of the pedal and drum varieties in a single song, Buffett has once again developed a new hybrid style that could perhaps be called "all-American world music." minimize