Symphony on the Prairie
A1A: The Official and Original Jimmy Buffett Tribute Show
Conner Prairie
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The Performance
A1A: The Official and Original Jimmy Buffett Tribute Show was born in 1991 when Lead Vocalist and Guitarist Jeff Pike asked Atlanta Parrot Head Club, PHIP Founder, drummer, and harmonica player, Scott Nickerson to join him in his already successful one-man tribute to Jimmy Buffett. In 1992, the band won a Jimmy Buffett Sound Alike Contest for Margaritaville Records, and the A1A ball started rolling—a ball still rolling 31 years later. From the beginning and throughout the very early years of the band’s formation, Jeff and Scott ensured that Jimmy Buffett and his legal representation approved the A1A brand, the name, and the music they were performing and recording. Through this respectful relationship, A1A was given the approval to be A1A: The Official and Original Jimmy Buffett Tribute Show.
Over the years as the band grew A1A was extremely instrumental in the fundamental building and growth of the International Parrot Head Club community and the Trop Rock Music genre as it is today. They were the first band to repeatedly headline the annual Jimmy Buffett “Meeting of The Minds” Parrot Head Convention and many more landmark national annual Parrot Head Events which formed the building blocks for the Parrot Head Nation as it is today.
In 1994, A1A and The Atlanta Parrot Head Club were invited to take part of Jimmy’s new video, Fruitcakes, which was filmed at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
In 1995, Jeff won a guitar competition, and that allowed him to appear on stage with Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefer Band in Atlanta, Georgia, performing ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise.’ The entire show, including Jeff’s performance, was recorded for the “Jimmy Buffett – Barometer Soup Radio Special,” which still receives regular airplay on Jimmy Buffett’s “Radio Margaritaville Radio.”
A1A has released 5 CDs , played to countless high-profile clients around the world and continue to draw record crowds to their public performances. Members from Jimmy Buffett’s band including Greg “Fingers” Taylor, Mac McAnally, Michael Utley, Robert Greenidge, Peter Mayer, Nadirah Shakoor and Tina Gullickson have all performed with the band over the years. In 2009 Nadirah Shakoor chose A1A to be her back up band to help promote her Mailboat Records Release, Nod To The Story Teller. In 2012, Jimmy Buffett was instrumental in landing A1A in the Lions Gate Major Motion Picture Release What to Expect When You’re Expecting. The band recorded Jimmy’s classic “Why Don’t We Get Drunk,” which was included in the movie and on the soundtrack released by Capitol Records. Recently in 2016, Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally approached A1A with a request that they be Jimmy’s band during a private performance for The World Surf League at The Masters Open in Augusta, Georgia. Not surprisingly, the band was very proud to be Jimmy’s “Coral Reefer Band” for a day.
The energy, musicianship, originality, and excitement that have always surrounded an A1A performance is an experience and a driving force that has helped the band remain the first and foremost and longest running Jimmy Buffett Tribute Show in history.