First Look At Disney World’s Revamped Country Bear Jamboree, Including New Nashville-Centric Voice Cast Mac McAnally, Allison Russell and Chris Thile
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The Country Bears have had a makeover. The long-running Country Bear Jamboree attraction at Walt Disney World in Florida is reopening this month after being dark for six months, with a familiar look but a new name, a new script and a new score made up mostly of classic Disney songs sung by Americana musicians including Mac McAnally, Allison Russell, Chris Thile and Emily Ann Roberts.
The newly renamed “Country Bear Musical Jamboree” now has McAnally, a country singer-songwriter who is most widely known for being a decades-long mainstay of Jimmy Buffett’s band, serving as the producer and arranger of all the musical material for the revamped attraction.
He also sings country-fied versions of “Bare Necessities” (from “The Jungle Book”) and “Fixer-Upper” (from “Frozen”) as a member of the voice cast.
Recent Americana Grammy winner Russell is the voice of Teddi Barra, joined by Thile — the Nickel Creek/Punch Brothers member and former “Live From Here” radio host — as Wendell, in a twangy duet of “A Whole New World” (from “Aladdin”).
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