Jimmy Buffett announces Gulf Shores (AL) concert to promote tourism

[Ed Barrow]

On Friday, Gulf Shores officials hinted that they had some big names coming for a summer concert series intended to promote beach tourism affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

By Sunday, chart-topping beach bard Jimmy Buffett had let the cat out of the bag: He'll be playing the beach July 1, a Thursday, and he'll be bringing some friends.

An announcement posted at www.margaritaville.com said that the CMT cable channel will broadcast "Jimmy Buffett & Friends Live from the Gulf Coast" from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. that day. According to the announcement, Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band will be joined by guitarist Sonny Landreth, the Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney, songwriter Jesse Winchester and New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint.

Other details were sketchy Sunday. Buffett's site described the show as "a free musical celebration," while a similar notice at www.cmt.com suggested that ticketing information would be announced soon. Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft had said last week that the beach shows might carry a modest admission fee, which would go to wildlife-related charities.


http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/update_jimmy_buffett_announces.html