Dave Albrecht of Parrots of the Caribbean.
For Dave Albrecht, life’s a beach — a place of cheeseburgers in paradise, plundering pirates and salty sailors whose lives ebb and flow with the tide.
He’s the lead singer of Parrots of the Caribbean, the Jimmy Buffett tribute band that has delighted audiences in Columbus, Seymour and all over the country in recent years. The group is scheduled to perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Brown County Playhouse, 70 S. Van Buren St. in Nashville.
For years, band members have closed out a 10,000-fan annual Cheeseburger in Caseville Buffett bash in Michigan.
“I would put us up against anybody,” Albrecht said in a past Republic interview.
There you have it, Parrotheads. A hands-down, bottoms-up claim to No. 1.
Albrecht formed the band in 2000, just about the time that his long-running Blues Brothers tribute band finally began singing the blues about bookings. Oddly enough, though he has been backstage at a Buffett concert, the first time he met the singer and writer came at a book signing, several years before Albrecht launched his latest tribute group.
Though the leader of the band knows his audience leans toward the older crowd bedecked in Hawaiian shirts and parrot regalia, he includes youngsters in his fun. During some shows, he has tossed toy-style percussion instruments their way for them to pound out a Caribbean rhythm.
He has played on floating stages, and alongside more rivers and lakes than he can remember. He has performed from Canada to Japan, and plenty of points in between.
“We get around,” he said, sounding a bit like another beach-oriented group.
Who knows when he might retire from his touring and live a bit more like Buffett, sitting in the warm sand with a chilled drink? When nudged, he has acknowledged that he won’t be quite like the real seafaring singer when he hangs up his captain’s hat.
“I won’t have,” he said, “quite as much money as he does.”
