When the tour bus parked, the sails were unfurled. A year after buying the Euphoria, and with “Margaritaville” behind him, Buffett upgraded to the Euphoria II. At the helm in November 1977—a year after “Popps” and the Coral Reefer Band recorded Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes and changed the game. (© 2017 Tom Corcoran)
Buffett and Mac McAnally, his right hand musician and frequent golf partner, perform at the 2009 memorial service for Buffett’s old friend, newsman Walter Cronkite. (Spencer Platt/POOL-CNP-PHOTOlink.net)
A little Texas in his heart. Buffett with Ray Wylie Hubbard, probably playing Hubbard’s “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother,” at Mother Blues in Dallas in 1975. (Ronald McKeown)
Like “Margaritaville,” the real “Cheeseburger in Paradise” is a state of mind. The 1978 Cheeseburger in Paradise tour, however, was quite real. Backstage at Miami Stadium before a show with Steve Miller and the Little River Band, Buffett (still on crutches), mugs with Keith Sykes (center) and the guy who started it all, Jerry Jeff Walker. (© 2017 Tom Corcoran)
Taking care of business, and business wasn’t bad—even with only one minor hit to his résumé. Buffett checking the count after the show at Mother Blues in 1975. (Ronald McKeown)
Life would be full speed ahead soon enough. Buffett on Staniel Cay in the Bahamas in January 1977, the night he found out “Margaritaville” would be a hit. In a few days’ time, he’d hit the road and leave his boat with his pal Larry “Groovy” Gray. (© 2017 Tom Corcoran)
They don’t know. Or maybe they do. Buffett and producer Norbert Putnam hard, hard, hard at work on Volcano in May 1979 at George Martin’s AIR Studios on the island of Montserrat. (© 2017 Tom Corcoran)
He had a thing for applause. Back in the States, the only thing that mattered were those ninety minutes onstage—and they better be right. Buffett, sweaty and hammering into a downbeat, onstage in 1977, a smoking-hot Coral Reefer Band backing him. (© 2017 Tom Corcoran)
Onstage, that cast was no blast, but off, it was just one more thing to laugh about. In a hotel room in San Francisco, 1978, about to turn in a piece on Antigua’s Sailing Week to Outside magazine. (© 2017 Tom Corcoran)
Back when Jimmy Buffett could still rule his world from a payphone. The original Margaritaville Store, Key West, Florida. A partnership between Buffett and Sunshine Smith, it really was a ramshackle place. (© 2017 Tom Corcoran)
Around the corner from a theater named for Donny and Marie Osmond, and not far from a bar named after gangster Bugsy Siegel, you’ll find the Margaritaville Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. (Author’s photo)
If a number one album packed with country stars wasn’t enough of a sign Jimmy Buffett had finally conquered Nashville, along came the Margaritaville Café on Broadway. (Author’s photo)
The Margaritaville Beach Resort in Hollywood Beach, Florida, rises above the Atlantic Ocean and, with an eye toward every detail, is anything but ramshackle. (Author’s photo)
It’s not the flip-flop and the pop-top that started it all, but it’ll do for a tourist looking for a selfie or two. Hollywood Beach, Florida. (Author’s photo)
Hangin’ with Allen Toussaint. Buffett sat in with the maestro for his set at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2011. What’d they play? Toussaint’s “I’m Gonna Hang with Jimmy Buffett.” (Jason Moore/ZUMAPRESS.com)
Some things never change. The only two people to play on every Jimmy Buffett album since 1973, Buffett and Michael Utley performing after the Jurassic World premiere in Los Angeles in 2015. (Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)