Jimmy Buffett’s Final Album, ‘Equal Strain on All Parts,’ to Be Released This Fall; Paul McCartney-Boosted ‘Gummie’ Out Now

Chris Willman
·2 min read
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The album Jimmy Buffett was known to have worked on earlier this year has been announced for a fall release. The 14-song “Equal Strain on All Parts” will be out Nov. 3 via the Sun label, with guests including Paul McCartney, Emmylou Harris, Angelique Kidjo and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Three advance tracks were released Friday morning onto DSPs: “Like My Dog,” “Bubbles Up” and “My Gummie Just Kicked In,” the last of which features McCartney on bass.

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Buffett was active in the studio in 2023 and was reported to have completed the album before his cancer recently took a turn for the worse. He died Sept. 1 after battling Merkel cell cancer for years.

Other song titles promised for the set include “University of Bourbon Street,” “Portugal or PEI,” “Fish Porn,” “Nobody Works on Friday” and the title track.

McCartney mentioned his participation on the album on social media after Buffett’s death. ““I was very happy to have played on one of his latest songs called ‘My Gummie Just Kicked In’. We had a real fun session and he played me some of his new songs,” McCartney wrote. “One [new track], in particular, I loved was the song ‘Bubbles Up’. And I told him that not only was the song great but the vocal was probably the best I’ve heard him sing ever. He turned a diving phrase that is used to train people underwater into a metaphor for life when you’re confused and don’t know where you are just follow the bubbles – they’ll take you up to the surface and straighten you out right away.”

The album was produced by Michael Utley and Mac McAnally, longtime members of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band.

With this posthumous release, Buffett has an album on the same imprint that first signed Elvis Presley and other Memphis rockers and R&B legends, although obviously the label has been through many hands since the 1950s.

“It is a privilege to welcome Jimmy Buffett among the legends who have released their music through Sun Records,” said Dominic Pandiscia, chief strategy officer of Primary Wave/Sun Label Group, in a statement. “Jimmy’s music truly stands for something – as does the Sun Records legacy – and having this album join that lineage is a special moment that honors his enduring impact.”

The full track list:

  1. University of Bourbon Street

  2. Bubbles Up

  3. Audience of One

  4. My Gummie Just Kicked In

  5. Close Calls

  6. Equal Strain on All Parts

  7. Like My Dog

  8. Ti Punch Cafe

  9. Portugal or PEI

  10. Nobody Works on Friday

  11. Fish Porn

  12. Johnny’s Rhum

  13. Columbus

  14. Mozambique

Pre-orders for the CD and a two-LP set (with aqua-colored vinyl, naturally) are up on Buffett’s web store.

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