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This Goodly Land

Jimmy Buffett, portrait, with ball cap, cargo shirt

Jimmy Buffett

Dates

December 25, 1946 - present

Other Names Used

  • James William Buffett: full name

Alabama Connection

  • Mobile, Mobile County: childhood residence
  • Auburn, Lee County: education
  • Muscle Shoals, Colbert County: recorded albums at local studios

Selected Works

  • Buffett, Jimmy, and Savannah Jane Buffett. The Jolly Mon. Illus. Lambert Davis. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988. For younger readers.
  • Buffett, Jimmy. Tales From Margaritaville: Fictional Facts and Factual Fictions. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.
  • Buffett, Jimmy, and Savannah Jane Buffett. Trouble Dolls. Illus. Lambert Davis. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991. For younger readers.
  • Buffett, Jimmy. Where is Joe Merchant? A Novel Tale. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992.
  • Buffett, Jimmy. A Pirate Looks at Fifty. New York: Random House, 1998.
  • Buffett, Jimmy. A Salty Piece of Land. New York: Little Brown and Co., 2004.
  • Buffett, Jimmy. Swine Not?: A Novel Pig Tale. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2008.

Literary Awards

  • Alabama Author Award, Alabama Library Association, 1990, for The Jolly Mon

Biographical Information

Jimmy Buffett was born in Pascagoula, Miss., and grew up in Mobile, Ala., where his parents worked for the Alabama Dry Dock & Shipyard Company. He grew up listening to the stories of his grandfather, who had been a boat captain. Buffett read extensively as a boy and enjoyed books like Treasure Island and stories about the real-life pirate Jean Lafitte. He also spent a lot of time sailing. In 1964, Buffett enrolled at Auburn University, but he didn’t enjoy studying and left after a year. He briefly attended Pearl River Junior College in Poplarville, Miss., before enrolling at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Buffett majored in journalism at USM, and, at the same time, performed as a musician in New Orleans part-time. After graduating in 1969, he moved to Nashville so he could pursue his musical career. From 1969 to 1970, Buffett worked as a writer for Billboard Magazine, resigning after he signed a contract with Barnaby Records. He performed whenever and wherever he could, both locally and regionally. The albums he made with Barnaby sold poorly, however, and he left Nashville for Key West, Fla., in 1971.

In Key West, Buffett soaked in the local music culture and began writing songs about Key West events and the people he met. He continued performing locally and on the road. In 1972, Buffett was signed by ABC-Dunhill records. His albums featuring his new “Key West Sound” were successful critically and financially. In 1984, Buffett opened a store and café in Key West, the first of what became a chain of stores selling albums, clothing, and memorabilia. The Jolly Mon, a children’s book written by Buffett and his daughter Savannah Jane, was published in 1988. In 1989, he published Tales from Margaritaville, a collection of stories, some autobiographical and some fictional and based on ideas from his songs. Buffett and Savannah Jane published a second children’s book in 1991, the same year that Buffett started his own record label. His first novel, Where is Joe Merchant?, was published in 1992. Buffett continues to record and perform music and to write. He has homes in Florida and Long Island and pursues his interests in sailing, surfing, flying, and fly-fishing. Since 1981, he has been involved in the campaign to save the Florida manatee, an endangered species.

Interests and Themes

Jimmy Buffett writes stories, both fiction and nonfiction, most with Caribbean settings.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Books

  • Eng, Steve. Jimmy Buffett: The Man from Margaritaville Revealed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.
  • Ryan, Thomas. The Parrot Head Companion: An Insider's Guide to Jimmy Buffett. Secaucus, N.J.: Carol Pub. Group, 1998.

Reference Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

  • "Buffett, Jimmy 1946-." Something About the Author. Vol. 110. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. 21-25.

Reference Web Sites

Location of Papers

  • University of Florida

Photo by Ray Stanyard; courtesy of Little, Brown & Company.

Last updated on 2009-06-24.