Conch Rock!!!

Life on My Terms by Key West Chris Rehm
^enjoy “LIFE ON MY TERMS” while you read the blog!^



CONCH ROCK
What exactly is “Conch Rock” anyway? Simply put, Conch Rock is any music that is written and created in the Conch Republic. The next obvious question is “Where exactly is the Conch Republic?”. Well, geographically the Conch Republic starts in the Dry Tortugas, about seventy miles west of Key West and runs east, through the Marquesas Keys, then on through Key West and up through the archipelago of the Florida Keys, including all the key islands in the Florida Bay, then up U.S. 1 through Key Largo, up the eighteen mile stretch, to the Last Chance Saloon in Florida City. Additionally the keys north of Key Largo; Old Rhoades Key, Elliot Key, Sands Key, and Boca Chita Key are in the Conch Republic as well.
Any music, by any artist, created within these geographic boundaries, is Conch Rock.

An addendum to this follows: As Sir Peter Anderson, Secretary General of the Conch Republic often states, The Conch Republic is a “Sovereign State of Mind”. Because of this, anyone who is in a “Conch Republic State of Mind”© outside the Conch Republic, but is writing a song about the Conch Republic, ..lets say fishing off Islamorada, or hanging out at a bar at a marina in the Keys, what have you, it doesn’t matter if they are in Modesto, California, or Put In Bay, Ohio, so long as they’re writing music about the Conch Republic, they are also producing Conch Rock.




Conch Rock and Trop Rock are, more often than not, one and the same and share the same roots. Conch Rock however, has a much broader definition, as it is any music produced in the Keys, or written about the Keys. Which came first, Trop Rock or Conch Rock? It’s almost akin to asking the chicken or the egg question. Many people credit Jimmy Buffett as the father of Trop Rock, adapting many of his Caribbean influences and blending them with American Rock, Country, and Blues. Of course he was living in Key West when he first started doing so, was he playing Trop Rock, Conch Rock, or both? As previously mentioned, Conch Rock is a bit more flexible in its requirements. Below is an example of a song which is Conch Rock, but not Trop Rock. Enjoy “MILE ZERO”

Mile Zero by Key West Chris Rehm