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As soon as we sat down in the Nashville office of his publicist, I could not resist asking John Carter Cash this question about his terrific new album, Pineapple John<\/em>: \u201c<\/strong>How would you respond to the compliment \u2014 and I do mean this as a compliment \u2014 that this is the greatest Jimmy Buffett record that Jimmy Buffett never recorded?\u201d<\/p>\n John smiled, then laughed out loud, and finally replied: \u201cMan, I don\u2019t know. Thank you very much. That\u2019s about all I can say. For me, it\u2019s a little bit more like Pink Floyd went dancing with Jimmy Buffett. But, yeah, this record has been a journey for me, so I\u2019m honored by that compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n Actually, there\u2019s a Jimmy Buffett vibe all \u00a0throughout Pineapple John<\/em>, which is now available just about everywhere you access your favorite music. But there are lots of other allusions here, like a reference to Gordon Lightfoot\u2019s \u201cThe Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,\u201d and a cover of \u201cJamaican Farewell,\u201d the tune written by Lord Burgess (Irving Burgie) that was a 1950s hit for Harry Belafonte.\u00a0It all comes together in a irresistibly fascinating and immensely entertaining thematic album, with the disparate tunes providing an engrossing narrative arc.<\/p>\n Produced by Cash and Trey Call, Pineapple John<\/em> explores themes of love, loss, redemption, and self-discovery. \u201cThe full album is a reflection of life\u2019s struggles and triumphs,\u201d Cash says, \u201cand I can\u2019t wait to share it with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are some other highlights from my conversation with John Carter Cash, edited for brevity and clarity.<\/p>\n C&I: How did you map all of this out? I mean, what do you think was your overarching theme?<\/strong><\/p>\n John:<\/strong> It started with just around Coronavirus time. My son Jack and I were in the car, and he was just sort of beating on the dashboard with a certain rhythm, and I started \u201cPineapple John.\u201d I started singing that, and then he helped me write a few more lines, and then I wound up writing the song sort of spontaneously.<\/p>\n