Blake Shelton Pays Tribute to Jimmy Buffett and His Barmageddon Contribution

Blake Shelton was one of many musicians who mourned the passing of tropical rock icon Jimmy Buffett, posting a message to his social media accounts that honored the late great musician. In it, he noted that Buffett wrote the theme song for Shelton’s USA Network game show Barmageddon. 

“Heart broken this morning hearing of Jimmy Buffett's passing,” Shelton posted on X (formerly Twitter) and to his Instagram story over the Labor Day weekend. “What an incredible talent and man. His songs will live on forever. I’ll bet most of y’all don’t know that he wrote the theme song for [Barmageddon] for me about 2 years ago. Raising a glass today to the Son of a son of a Sailer.”

Buffett, known for his typically relaxing songs about island lifestyle like “Margaritaville,” "Son of a Son of a Sailor," and “Cheeseburger in Paradise” along with the Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant chain, died on Sept 1 at age 76 due to skin cancer, according to TODAY.

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Writing the theme song to Barmageddon was just one of Buffett’s many, many accomplishments. The USA Network game show has two celebrities compete against each other in a series of pub games. Shelton, who has some experience with TV from his many years as a judge on the NBC series The Voice, created and produced the series, which premiered in December of last year. Shelton performs the Buffett-penned theme song.

Shelton also opens every episode of the series by performing a cover, and the premiere episode began with his take on Buffett’s most iconic tune, “Margaritaville.” In an interview with USA Insider last year, Shelton explained why Buffet, who he shares a mutual friend with, was the right man for the theme song, having first heard of the series when Shelton reached out for permission to cover “Magaritaville.” 

“Yeah, they can do this song. I love the title of that TV show. That sounds like a good song," Shelton recalled Buffett saying in an email.

"I figured Jimmy Buffett can pull this off if anybody in the world can. It's got to be Jimmy Buffett ... it ends up being perfect,” Shelton continued. “I mean, it really is actually just [a] good, fun song. It gets stuck in your head, and I mean, who else can say that Jimmy Buffett wrote the theme song for the TV show?" 

All eight episodes of Barmageddon’s first season are now streaming on Peacock. The show will return for Season 2.