Russ on the Todd Snider list posted this after Will said he was going to Key West, Russ caught up with him on the telephone.
After a couple of days playing phone tag with that alien in Key West I finally hooked up with Will Kimbrough last night. Sparky, your source is correct, they are not going to record “Champion of the World” but they DID record “Piece of Work” yesterday….in one take!! This is actually good for Will(bad for Mr. Owen who co-wrote COTH with Will). And Will IS going to be all over the record…looks like he’ll be on every track. They will finish up this session today and Buffett is taking the players out to dinner tonight and then they’ll probably play at Margarittaville Cafe tonight! Damn! I wish I was in Key West! While discussing what to play tonight it was unanimous with the band to play Piece of Work. Go Will!
This record is apparently Buffett’s answer to Alan Jackson for having Buffett on his record. It will definitely have a country flavor. There will be another session in Nashville the first of the year. Others to be on the record are: Tobey Keith, (Piece of Work), Alan Jackson, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride and maybe Nancy Griffith. I know there will be some Grumpy Old Parrotheads that will be unhappy with the country influences(but they’ll buy it anyway) but with names like the ones on the record will probably get it some country radio play and sells to a lot of fans of the above artists. And Will thinks it will sound more like Buffetts earlier stuff. Probably a very smart move by Buffett. And it won’t hurt Will none either!
Will said to tell everyone on the list hi and that he’s having a ball in Key West and loving working with the session players and Buffett. I think Will was celebrating a bit last night….he was in a very jovial mood and talking a mile a minute. Oh, the record is being produced by Michael Utley and Mac McAnnally Utley told Will that Buffett will probably be looking at his songs in the future! Maybe the Alien has finally landed! Will is looking forward to the new year and writing more and recording his own songsand doing some gigs of his own.