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'I found my place': Chicago embraced Jimmy Buffett long before 'Margaritaville'

Years before "Margaritaville" established Jimmy Buffett as a bard of the tropical beaches, the singer-songwriter was a folk club regular in a city lapped by the waves of chilly Lake Michigan.

His visits to Chicago in the early 1970s usually took him to Quiet Knight, a Belmont Avenue fixture of the folk scene then thriving in the city. Buffett found Chicagoans receptive to his mix of acoustic guitar ditties and lighthearted storytelling.

"There were just so many good people (in Chicago) doing solo acoustic guitar shows," Buffett told the Sun-Times' Dave Hoekstra in 2011. "The Holstein brothers, Bonnie Koloc, Mike Smith. And those singer-songwriters also had to be comedians and emcees. I had to do that in my early New Orleans days. So meeting all those people in Chicago was a renaissance for me. They were great storytellers, bulls**** artists on stage and performers. I gravitated toward that. I found my place."

• This report was produced in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times. For more, visit chicago.suntimes.com.

  Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers played the first-ever concert at Wrigley Field in September 2005. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com, September 2005
  Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers played the first-ever concert at Wrigley Field in September 2005. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com, September 2005
Jimmy Buffett plays at his restaurant Cheeseburger in Paradise when it opened in Downers Grove in 2003. Daily Herald file photo, November 2003
Jimmy Buffett (third from left) appears on the cover of "Somebody Else's Troubles," a 1972 album by his friend Steve Goodman (seated, with baby). JDC Records via Chicago Sun-Times
Legendary Chicago singer/songwriter Steve Goodman, a friend and collaborator of Jimmy Buffett. Daily Herald file photo
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