Jimmy Buffett [ tickets ] will release a new studio album, "Buffet Hotel," on Dec. 8, according to a press release. It will be his first studio album since 2006's "Take the Weather With You."

In a statement, Buffett said he was inspired to write the music on the upcoming release during a recent trek to West Africa to attend the "Festival In The Desert," an annual music fest that takes place near Timbuktu, Mali.

"I actually didn't go to the desert with the pre-conceived notion of returning with an album," Buffett said. "I went looking for stories. ... The story that sparked the song 'Buffet Hotel,' which eventually turned into the title track and name of this album, began the minute we set foot on the patio of the infamous Hotel De La Gare Buffet in the Bamako train station, better known as Le Buffet Hotel." The Buffet Hotel is a colonial-era train station/hotel where the music scene flourished in Mali after its independence in 1960.

Several of the songs from the upcoming release are already mainstays of Buffett's live shows, including "Summerzcool," which he describes as "the quintessential beach song," and "Surfing In A Hurricane," the first surf song Buffett has ever written.

The album, produced by Coral Reefers Mike Utley and Mac McAnnaly, contains 12 new songs plus a 24-page booklet, "Lost In The Sahara - A Desert Memoir From Jimmy Buffett." In the booklet--which contains liner notes for each song--Buffett describes his West African adventures that inspired the album.

Though summer's long gone, Buffett will wrap up 2009 with four more dates on his "Summerzcool Tour": Charlottesville, VA; Toronto; Uncasville, CT; and New York City.