Jimmy Buffett's boat ride to pop music superstardom began in landlocked Nashville with a bottle of Champagne at a long-since-closed restaurant called Julian's in the mid-1970s.

• The iconic singer-songwriter, who carved out a one-of-a-kind corner on the pop music landscape, melding escapist singalongs into a beach-themed business empire, died Friday at 76.

Flashback: Sitting across the table from the singer-songwriter that fateful night was Norbert Putnam, the former bass player in the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, who became a hit-making producer.

• "He ordered me a bottle of [C]ristal, which was my favorite Champagne, so I figured we had at least that in common," Putnam told journalist Dan Daley for SoundonSound.com. "He said he wanted to do something more progressive and he wanted me to do it with him. And he wanted to use his band, the Coral Reefers."

Zoom in: Up to that point, Nashville had not been kind to Buffett, who struggled to achieve commercial success. His early albums fizzled out.

• After a few drinks, Putnam said Buffett's vision of ocean-infused music "didn't sound so bad anymore."
• Putnam told Buffett that if he wanted to make records about the ocean, "you have to get next to the ocean." The duo ventured to Miami at Criteria Studios, brought in a group of world-class musicians and went to work on "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes."
• Anchored by "Margaritaville," the album propelled Buffett's 50-year run of smashing success that coupled his music with a beachy business empire.

The big picture: Though Buffett's stint in Nashville was relatively short, he was at the nexus of almost impossible-to-believe moments that will never be erased from Music City lore.

• In addition to the dinner meeting with Putnam, there was the night at Quad Studios, which grew into the studio where Nashville's non-country artists would record.
• Putnam gathered up a bunch of "drunks" who were hanging around the studio and turned them into the backing choir for Joan Baez's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

Buffett also famously played the first-ever show at the historic Exit/In. He wandered into the club inquisitively, asking what the new club was about.

• Exit/In co-founder Brugh Reynolds recalled in a 2015 documentary how Buffett left the club and returned with his guitar. "I think he played a few things for us, and so Jimmy Buffett was the first act to ever play the Exit/In."
• Buffett celebrated the moment in 2021 when he played a concert marking Exit/In's 50th anniversary.

"He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many," a statement on X says.

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Buffett might have set sail for other shores after his time in Nashville, but he cast a long and consequential shadow on Music Row.

• As Rolling Stone put it, "Jimmy Buffett was your favorite country singer's biggest influence."

State of play: If you've listened to the radio in the last 20-plus years, you know Buffett's beachy vibes shaped a generation of Nashville stars. Every ode to escapism and Friday night party-hopping shares musical DNA with Buffett's anthems.

• Kenny Chesney became one of the genre's biggest stars of all time channeling Buffett on singalongs like "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" and "When the Sun Goes Down."
• Countless others have followed Buffett's lead. (See also: "Some Beach" by Blake Shelton, "One Margarita" by Luke Bryan and "Pontoon" by Little Big Town.)

Alan Jackson famously asked "What would Jimmy Buffett do?" in his 2003 hit "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere." Buffett dueted with Jackson on the track and chimed in for a chorus and banter. It became the third-biggest country hit of the decade, according to Billboard.

• Buffett also featured on Zac Brown Band's 2011 chart-topper "Knee Deep."

What they're saying: Country artists celebrated Buffett's legacy over the weekend. Toby Keith called him a "tremendous influence on so many of us."

• "So goodbye Jimmy," Chesney wrote. "Thanks for your friendship and the songs I will carry in my heart forever."

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⚕️ A new Meharry Medical College dean is pushing for growth amid challenges. (Tennessean, subscribers)

⚖️ A federal judge blocked an East Tennessee prosecutor from enforcing a law restricting drag shows. The law was previously blocked in an earlier case out of Shelby County. (The Associated Press)

Last week's Music Monday playlist of guilty pleasure songs struck a chord with Axios Nashville readers.

• We were so pleased with your suggestions, we decided to bring back the playlist for a second week.
• It feels fitting as we remember Buffett, who always encouraged us to embrace a good time without shame.

We've added picks from Mike R. and Ann Marie O. — plus some extra Buffett classics.

A special thank you to Nate's Aunt Deeann, who reads this newsletter from way up in Indiana, and to our Axios Nashville copy editor Katie for their selections.

• Nate also added two of his all-time favorite guilty pleasures, which he egregiously omitted last week: "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus and "Tangerine Speedo" by Caviar.

Keep the suggestions coming by replying to this email, and be sure to like our playlist on Spotify.