Jimmy Buffett adds spring, summer dates

Jimmy Buffett has mapped out additional spring and summer dates on his "Under the Big Top" tour in support of his latest studio album, "Buffet Hotel."

The trek is set to kick off later this week with a Feb. 20 show in Jacksonville, FL. New dates include a pair of shows each in Mansfield, MA (6/17, 19), near Boston, and Camden, NJ (8/7,10), in the Philadelphia metro area. Buffett currently shows dates lined up through a Sept. 2 and 4 pair of appearances in Bristow, VA. Details are at right.

"Buffet Hotel," the 63-year-old singer/songwriter's latest studio release and first since 2006's "Take the Weather With You", surfaced late last year. In a press statement, Buffett said he was inspired to write the album's music during a recent trek to West Africa to attend the "Festival In The Desert," an annual music fest that takes place near Timbuktu, Mali.

"I actually didn't go to the desert with the pre-conceived notion of returning with an album," Buffett said. "I went looking for stories. ... The story that sparked the song 'Buffet Hotel,' which eventually turned into the title track and name of this album, began the minute we set foot on the patio of the infamous Hotel De La Gare Buffet in the Bamako train station, better known as Le Buffet Hotel." The Buffet Hotel is a colonial-era train station/hotel where the music scene flourished in Mali after its independence in 1960.

Produced by Coral Reefers Mike Utley and Mac McAnnaly, "Buffet Hotel" contains 12 new songs plus a 24-page booklet, "Lost In The Sahara - A Desert Memoir From Jimmy Buffett." In the booklet--which contains liner notes for each song--Buffett describes his West African adventures that inspired the album.