Jimmy Buffett may be gone, but we may not have seen the last of his Coral Reefer Band. “Equal Strain on All Parts,” the last album Buffett recorded before his death on September 1st at the age of 76, was produced by longtime Coral Reefer members Michael Utley and Mac McAnally. Now Utley tells us that there are plans for the band to continue in tribute to its absent leader:
“There is. It's gonna be discussed probably after the first of the year. There's gonna be…I'm not sure, but there's definitely talk about doing something to keep it going.” :12 OC: Keep it going
In a separate interview McAnally added that Buffett “wanted that family to keep rolling. We haven't figured out exactly how to do it, but we love being together too much not to. The privilege of riding shotgun with the thing that was Jimmy Buffett…was a joy every single day, and I will carry that with me forever. So whatever form we get to keep going in, we'll do it.”
Buffett was diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare skin cancer, back in 2019. He was hospitalized last year and went into hospice care during the summer before passing away at his home in Sag Harbor, N.Y.
“Equal Strains…” was recorded earlier this year in Florida and Nashville. It features 14 songs, 11 co-written by Buffett, as well as guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Emmylou Harris, Angelique Kidjo, Will Kimbrough, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and even Buffett's dog Kingston. The album ends with a cover of Bob Dylan's 1976 track “Mozambique.”
Some behind-the-scenes footage from the “Equal Strain…” sessions, including McCartney recording on the track “My Gummie Just Kicked In,” has already been released, with more to come.