Along Key West’s Historic Seaport sits a small, white, weather-beaten building. Thousands of people stroll by it every day without a second glance.
There are no flashing lights. No grand stage. And no admission gate. To most passers-by, it looks like just another waterfront warehouse. But nothing could be further from the truth.
For nearly four decades, this former shrimp icehouse was home to “Shrimp Boat Sound,” one of America’s most respected recording facilities, and also, a creative refuge for Jimmy Buffett.
More than thirty albums were recorded or mixed here as Buffett escaped the pressures of Nashville and LA to create music on his own terms. Shrimp Boat Sound never felt like a commercial recording studio. It felt more like Jimmy’s living room — that is, if your living room was literally “wallpapered” with Platinum Records and a showcase for other vintage memorabilia, including a relic of Jimmy’s seaplane, the Hemisphere Dancer.
News of Shrimp Boat Sound spread throughout the music industry like wildfire. Country music great George Strait became one of the Studio’s biggest champions. Joining him were Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown, Toby Keith, Billy Corgan, Old Dominion, Mac McAnally, and members of the Coral Reefer Band. They all came for more than the island itself— they came to record the old-fashioned way: performing together in the same room instead of assembling tracks one at a time.
At the heart of the studio was John Lynch “JL” Jamison, Jimmy Buffett’s longtime Road and Studio Manager. In 1986, Buffett brought JL to Key West to help open the original Margaritaville before entrusting him with Shrimp Boat Sound.
For nearly forty years, JL welcomed artists, maintaining the legendary 1969 Neve Mixing Console, formerly owned by Gordon Lightfoot, ensured that the music always came first.
After Jimmy’s passing, fans from all over the world transformed Shrimp Boat Sound into a place of pilgrimage, covering the walls with handwritten notes, flowers, photos, guitar picks and thousands of stickers. What began as an expression of grief morphed into one of the most heartfelt tributes Key West has ever witnessed.
Today, Jimmy’s Shrimp Boat Sound studio sits empty. The legendary Neve Console, Jimmy’s personal mic, and every piece of sound equipment were sold. Now a little more than four walls, the building’s future is uncertain.
The story, however, is far from over.
Over Labor Day Weekend, Shrimp Boat Sound is being celebrated during the annual “Just a Few Friends” festival. Walking tours will launch from the studio; plein air artists will capture the famous landmark on canvas, and filmmaker Michael J Kirk will share a behind-the-scenes look at the documentary he’s currently filming: Shrimp Boat Sound: Echoes From the Edge. Key West singer-songwriter Cliff Cody, who recorded the last full-length album there, will also perform his tribute ballad, Rest in Paradise, during the Jimmy Buffett Day Proclamation.
While the studio currently sits silent, a proposed lease would restore Shrimp Boat Sound as a working studio, interactive music museum and small outdoor tropical drink bar. Stay tuned for updates!
Jimmy Buffett once wrote, “Some of it’s magic. Some of it’s tragic.” Standing outside Shrimp Boat Sound today, it’s impossible not to realize that he understood both.
