When it was announced that a band named "ILO and the Coral Reefer All-Stars" would kick off Bonnaroo's Saturday festivities on its second-largest stage, it seemed nobody had heard of this Ilo kid. But, of course, it's fairly common knowledge that the Coral Reefers are Jimmy Buffett's touring band. Add those facts together (keeping in mind Bonnaroo's past history of pulling off major surprises) and pretty much anybody could've speculated that Jimmy Buffett himself was going to show up. And sure enough, he did.

But while the spotlight was clearly on him as he lead the non-Parrothead crowd through Parrothead anthems that everybody knew by heart, Buffett really came to Bonnaroo with a purpose: to introduce America's most rabid music fans to Ilo Ferreira, an unknown singer-songwriter from Cape Verde, an island off the coast of West Africa. Buffett and several notable colleagues stumbled upon Ferreira on their way to a music festival in Mali several years ago and have since taken the kid under their wing. Buffett's colleagues, by the way, were Island Record's founder Chris Blackwell (whose previous "discoveries" include Bob Marley and U2), powerhouse producer Bill Flanagan and MTV godfather Tom Freston.

"I had decided to make music my profession and I was just getting started on it and suddenly they stopped by my island," Ferriera tells Spinner. "They put together a jam session where we all played and I played a few songs and they liked it and they brought me here. And, well, that's it."

And so begins Ilo Ferreira's music career. First gig? Bonnaroo. Special guest? Jimmy Buffett. Audience? Tens of thousands strong. Making light of how easy he just made life for Ferriera, following the set Buffett joked to Spinner, "I thought it was better than American Idol."

Well....duh.