Jimmy’s only real adult job
Jimmy used to joke, working for Billboard Magazine was pretty much the only real adult job he ever had. He worked for Billboard in Nashville from late 1969 into 1970, a surprisingly short chapter in his life considering how many pieces of his writing are still buried in those old issues.
As a longtime Buffett fan, I still love finding pieces of his story that somehow slipped past me. I’ve been listening to the music, reading the books and following this guy for decades, and I honestly had no idea how much of Jimmy’s early writing for Billboard was still sitting out there waiting to be read.
Before Key West, before the Coral Reefers, before Margaritaville, Jimmy was a twenty-something reporter in Nashville writing about the music business while trying to figure out his own place in it.
Thanks to the World Radio History archive, a bunch of those old Billboard issues are still available.
So, naturally, I went down the rabbit hole and here’s what I’ve found so far:
January 24, 1970 — Page 63
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1970/Billboard-1970-01-24.pdf
February 21, 1970 — Page 44
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1970/Billboard%201970-02-21.pdf
March 7, 1970 — Page 38
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1970/Billboard%201970-03-07.pdf
March 28, 1970 — Page 34
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1970/BB-1970-03-28.pdf
April 11, 1970 — Page 59
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1970/BB-1970-04-11.pdf
May 16, 1970 — Page 18
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1970/BB-1970-05-16.pdf
May 30, 1970 — Page 29
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1970/Billboard%201970-05-30.pdf
And here’s the rabbit hole if you want to start digging yourself. Search “Jimmy Buffett” and have fun:
There are supposedly more out there, and I’d love to find them. I’m especially interested in tracking down his writing involving Led Zeppelin, James Brown and the Flatt & Scruggs breakup.
If any of you Knights find something I missed, throw it in the comments with the issue date and page number.
After all these years, it’s still pretty damn cool to discover something about Jimmy I didn’t already know.
Happy hunting.