Quality Americana

News broke last week that one of the world’s most beloved songwriters had passed away. 

Jimmy Buffett was privately battling a rare form of skin cancer for the past four years as canceled tour dates left fans hoping for his return. The news shocked many outside of his circle that were unaware how serious his recent hospitalizations were. 

Growing old is “not for sissies,” Buffett said in a letter to fans earlier this year. Buffett also shared a quote from Mark Twain. “Challenges,” he said, “make life interesting,however overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” 

Jimmy Buffet’s Influence on Songwriters

Virginia songwriter Shane Cooley talked about Buffett’s influence in his music on his weekly live stream, and shared a beautiful cover of “A Pirate Looks at Forty” with vocalist for the Midnight Girls Lori Ellen.

“Jimmy was a huge influence upon me as a songwriter, as a storyteller, and just has been a presence in my life since a very young age,” Cooley said. “I wouldn’t be writing songs if not for him.” 

Cooley performed “Son of a Son of a Sailor” to open his livestream and said that he used to sing that song with his father over twenty years ago.

“We had that cassette and we would listen to it all the way back in the old pickup truck,” Cooley said. “It’s amazing to me how these songs are just as much the back of my hand as my own. I don’t really normally perform songs by other artists so it’s just proof in the pudding of how meaningful Jimmy Buffett’s influence has been on my life and a lot of people’s lives.”

Cooley said that Buffett was the basis of how he learned to perform and write songs. His father was a part of the sailing community and Cooley said he was surrounded by many sailor characters in his youth. Cooley said he has come to appreciate Buffett’s songs more and more as he gets older.

“They’re a lot deeper sometimes than they seem,” Cooley said of Buffett’s songs. “They’re incredibly deep wells.”

Shane Cooley Releases First Vinyl

Cooley released his first vinyl this year for the album Forest and just finished a tour with Ellen through the Southwest. Cooley said that he has been a part of the Parrothead family since his first concert as a child. 

“Through some magic and kindness and from a gentleman hitting on my mother I wound up being in the front row at my first concert,” Cooley said as his father laughed in the background. “Dad was real happy about that. We’ve been eating cheeseburgers and listening to Radio Margaritaville all week and crying and having our pirate flags at half mast. I couldn’t even pick up my guitar to play his songs until yesterday and they poured out of me. It really felt like this was an important thing to do and the best I can do to my ability to pay respects to someone that struck such a chord in my life.”

You can find Cooley’s weekly livestream here.

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