Jimmy Buffett - License to Chill

Country music's infatuation with the puka-shell rock of Jimmy Buffett has been one of the genre's less fortunate indulgences. Most of Nashville's hat acts do little more than dip their toe in the water and do nothing to build upon Buffett's signature sounds. That's why License to Chill, which features a plethora of Music City guests (Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Clint Black, George Strait, Martina McBride, Toby Keith) along with Bill Withers and Nanci Griffith, seems like a bad idea. But the album, on which the Key West hedonist performs his favorite "bar gig" songs, as he calls them, often delights. As someone who began his songwriting career in Nashville (and who's also recorded more than half his albums there), Buffett isn't just slumming, as his choice of covers (from such writers as Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Hank Williams, and Jerry Garcia) proves. What could have been little more than a lark, then, ends up being a showcase for Buffett the serious songwriter and song finder. Although he does indulge in the occasional beach-minded thong-writing, Chill is a surprisingly satisfying album aimed less at the Parrothead crowd and more toward an audience who remembers the Buffett of 30 years ago, a man who struggled to make his mark among Nashville's most revered tunesmiths. --Alanna Nash Amazon.com

If you're a Buffet fan

If you're a Buffet fan, you'll enjoy. If you're a country fan, maybe not. JB puts his own style to the songs, hence Buffet fans will enjoy. Some country fans don't like messing with their music, and some reviews definitely didn't like the different spin on well known songs. May 5, 2008

great CD

this is a great cd he even plays a grateful dead tune! you won't be disapointed if you buy this CD! May 5, 2008

FLIP FLOPS AND COWBOY BOOTS ! (Bubba's still in flip flops)

I went to my first Jimmy Buffett concert back in 1978, and I've been to Margaritaville more than a few times, too. I'm also one of the long time Jimmy Buffett fans who likes his Nashville collaboration album, License To Chill (2004). Sure, it's got more of a country sound than is usual for a Jimmy Buffett album, but it's not hard-core country by any stretch. Almost every song has a Parrothead or Jimmy Buffett theme, and Bubba doesn't get lost behind the subtle pedal steel guitars or the country music stars who sing with him. Jimmy Buffett is the star here, and everybody on the album lets him shine. Most of the songs could have fit on any Jimmy Buffett album.

Boats To Build (w/Alan Jackson):
Days precious days roll in and out like waves
I got boards to bend, I got planks to nail
I got charts to make, I got seas to sail

License To Chill (w/Kenny Chesney):
Livin' for the weekend, jumpin' off the deep end
With just enough money to buy a license to chill
...and I believe I will

Trip Around The Sun (w/Martina McBride):
I'm just hanging on while this old world keeps spinning
And it's good to know it's out of my control
If there's one thing that I've learned from all this living
It's that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go

Parrotheads, you don't have to trade in your flip flops for cowboy boots to enjoy this one, just make some minor adjustments to the delicate country/Carribean mix. Bubba sounds like he's having a great time here, and so does everybody else. Boats To Build (w/Alan Jackson) is my favorite song on the album, but Coast Of Carolina and Coastal Confessions are also great. Buffett sings alone on six of the sixteen songs, nine songs are duets, and Jimmy hams it up with Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, and George Strait on Hank Williams' Hey Good Lookin' to start the album.

It took a couple of listens for me to really get over the "intrusion" of all these country music stars on a Jimmy Buffett album, but I've come to like this album quite a bit since that first listen. So forget the cowboy boots and leave your flip flops on, grab a margarita, sit back with your license to chill and Jimmy Buffett's License To Chill, and chill. Summer's almost here! March 26, 2008

Least Fav. Buffett CD

Everyone has their "bad CD", and in MY opinion, this CD is just too twangy and country. I love you Jimmy, but I bought this CD and was not too impressed, so I traded it in for another CD. :( But I have friends who really like this CD, so it is really hit or miss.
March 9, 2008

Not received

I still have not received this item. It needs to be usps to Becky Freeman
P O Box 170 Hanceville, Al 35077 February 15, 2008

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