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When you first glance at the new album by Jimmy Buffet, which will be released on Tuesday, you might think the title is Buffett Hotel spelled like his last name. If you look closer, however, you’ll notice there is just one T.

People ask me, what is the Buffett Hotel? Then I say it’s Buffet. Jimmy’s last name has been pronounced as Buff-ay for a long time instead of Buff-it. I used to get pissed off, Buffett said. Early on in his career his very own record label even misspelled his name on his albums twice. He says even his lawyers sometimes don’t get it right. This has been ongoing, he added.

“Buffet Hotel” is the first studio album to be released by Buffett in three years. When he visited West Africa in 2007 he fell absolutely in love with a train station inside an old beautiful building located in Bamako, Mali called Buffet Hotel de la Gare. It’s the site of where Mali’s musical scene flourished after the country gained independence in 1960. Buffett said, it’s kind of like you’re visiting Africa’s Opry.

While Buffett was in West Africa to attend the Festival In The Desert held each year in Timbuktu, he ended up jamming in the hotel as well as other clubs late into the night. Buffet said, that was 36 hours of some of the greatest musical runs in my whole life. It left a very lasting impression on me. At Margaritaville.com there is a slide show of Jimmy behind the scenes. For die hard Buffett fans, influences of blues from his African trip can be heard on the new album, but “Buffet Hotel” has lots of classic Buffet songs as well, including Summerzcool, a tune Jimmy has played during his concerts this summer.

Jimmy writes in the booklet accompanying the album that he doesn’t imagine himself just growing old and sitting in a deck chair on a cruise ship. He wrote, I would rather get lost while in the Sahara.

Buffett said, I have a new adventure coming up. I will shy away from live ammunition and sand storms. He is off to Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific.

In early 2010 I’ll be there. On Christmas day he will be celebrating his 62nd birthday. Sixty two, that’s a nebulous kind of birthday, Buffett said. I’m just happy I am here and that I feel good. Sixty five will be a big one I think. That isn’t too far away. My goal is just to live in the moment. Early enough I learned how to do that.

Buffett does admit that he has thought of growing old. Recently he saw Leonard Cohen in concert. He said, I want to see 75 and how that looked on stage. Cohen did a good job. I can see myself doing that when I’m 75. That is if people are still wanting to see me. If not, then I will go to the beach.