Jimmy Buffett fans have something new to toast with a margarita.
Nearly three years after the music icon's passing, Buffett's longtime Coral Reefer Band has revealed that a brand-new posthumous album is complete-and it's packed with previously unheard recordings that have never appeared on a Jimmy Buffett album.
According to Buffett's close friend and collaborator Mac McAnally, the collection pulls together songs recorded between 2003 and the last few years of Buffett's life.
"For the most part, things that have never been out," McAnally said, explaining that some tracks were created for television shows, films, or other special projects but were never included on one of Buffett's official albums.
One of the highlights is "Workin' n' Playin'," originally written as the theme for Buffett's 2015-16 tour. The Coral Reefer Band has already begun performing the song in concert as a touching duet featuring Buffett's original vocal.
The album will also include:
- "Workin' n' Playin'" - originally written for Buffett's 2015-16 tour.
- An unreleased song from Escape to Margaritaville that never made the Broadway musical.
- A song written for Buffett's recurring character Frank Bama on Hawaii Five-O.
- A track briefly heard during Buffett's cameo as a bartender in the 2015 blockbuster Jurassic World.
- Additional previously unreleased recordings spanning more than two decades.
While the album is finished, neither a title nor a release date has been announced.
McAnally says completing the project has been an emotional experience.
"When you hear Jimmy sing you can tell that he's smiling," he said. "I've been listening to that smile for three months finishing this record."
There's more exciting news for Parrotheads.
Buffett's beloved Shrimp Boat Sound Studio in Key West has officially been cleared to operate as both a working recording studio and a tourist attraction, allowing fans to visit the historic space where Buffett created some of his music.
Meanwhile, the Coral Reefer Band continues honoring Buffett on tour, leaving his microphone empty at center stage and one of his guitars waiting in case, as McAnally joked, "he wants to show up."
"We would never propose to replace Jimmy," McAnally said. "It's our mission to remind people of how much joy he put into his music."
He also revealed that Buffett deliberately kept his cancer battle private because he wanted fans to remember the happiness he brought rather than the illness he faced.
For Parrotheads, the next chapter of Buffett's legacy is just beginning-with new music still waiting to wash ashore.
