Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett rolled out his musical road map of Key West and Stock Island during an unpublicized concert at Margaritaville Thursday night.

Buffett, along with guitar player Mac McAnally, performed a special acoustic show for his employees, friends and fans. Before admitting the general public, Buffett gave his employees and their families front-row seats.

During the show, Buffett paid homage to Sunshine Smith, a Key West resident and his longtime business associate he referred to as his "dear partner." Smith has managed the 62-year-old star's merchandising ventures for decades and oversaw the first Margaritaville in the Key West Bight in the 1980s.

He told Margaritaville employees, who usually have to work during his concerts, that he wanted to make sure they got to see his show while he was in town this time.

"I don't give a s--- if you come to work tomorrow," he joked, saying he understood if they had hangovers on Friday. "I don't care what Sunshine says."

Buffett mainly focused on songs that were written in or about Key West and Stock Island, including "A Pirate Looks at Forty," "Woman Going Crazy on Caroline Street" and "Grapefruit Juicy Fruit," which he called the "national anthem of Stock Island." Buffett also debuted a new song called "We've Got A Lot to Drink About," which he played twice.

"I don't get here as much as I used to," the barefooted singer told the crowd of about 200-plus people before the show. "This is a Key West show tonight. It's free, so we are doing what we want to do."

Buffett's narrative interludes reminisced about his life in Key West, starting at the Stock Island drive-in, winding around to the former Sands Beach Club near Louie's Backyard, and traveling to Caroline Street. His stories also made stops at Fausto's Food Palace for chocolate milk, the Chart Room for a stiffer drink, and the now-defunct Anchor Inn, which he and his Key West friends dubbed the "snake pit."

Before singing "Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season," he recalled sharing an apartment at Louie's Backyard with legendary Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and drinking with employees at the After Deck all afternoon -- and "none of us paid for a drink."

"If you were ever recovering from a hangover and looking at the Gulf Stream, you can relate," Buffett said.

Buffett ended his show by putting his own spin on Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry," by adding his own lyrics about sharing a toke with his old friends in Key West. "I remember when we used to burn at Sunshine's house in Garrison Bight," he laughed.

tohara@keysnews.com