By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Grand Mag Music

Almost a year to the date of Jimmy Buffett’s death, and fresh off a three show run with The Coral Reefer Band, one of Buffett’s favorite collaborators is returning to his home town.
Will Kimbrough will headline “Jazz Fest Unplugged” on Sunday, Aug. 25th at The Grand Magnolia in Pascagoula. Tickets are already on sale at www. grandmagmusic.com and at Scranton’s Restaurant.

Kimbrough’s special guest will be Mississippi native Cary Hudson. Other guest artists are expected as well.
“I always enjoy coming back to the Gulf Coast and playing especially in Pascagoula because of my relationship with Jimmy,” Kimbrough said. “I considered him a friend and I always enjoyed our songwriting sessions together. He really was one of a kind. I like coming home and seeing old friends and playing music for people who enjoy it.”
Kimbrough, long considered an “honorary” Coral Reefer Band member, has stepped up even more so in the wake of Buffett’s absence as he was featured with the group on the main stage at Jazz Fest in front of 75,000 people in early May as the band celebrated their long time leader that died on Sept 1st of last year.
That gig got the ball rolling on a Coral Reefer Band mini tour, which hit Orange Beach, Atlanta and Cincinnati in early August before Kimbrough pulls into Pascagoula.

The Mobile native and now Nashville-based singer/songwriter Kimbrough had four co-songwriting credits with Buffett on his penultimate release “Life on the Flip Side” and then produced seven co-writes with both Mac McAnally and Buffett on the Pascagoula natives’ posthumous release “Equal Strain on all Parts”.
Buffett was fond of Kimbrough as well, once stating in an interview “Will is a wonderful throwback to the now bygone era of singer, songwriter, musician and entertainer,” he said. “Instead of substituting technology for talent, he has a unique ability to use modern-day tools to produce lasting lyrics and melodies. On stage, he can charm a crowd whether fronting a band or playing solo. That is why you see his songs on my albums and his face on our stage.”
That makes well over 20 Kimbrough or Buffett/Kimbrough songs that Buffett has recorded on his past 10 albums. And he’ll soon be singing most of them in Buffett’s memory in Buffett’s hometown.