From the Tennessean: Jimmy Buffett, Fairfield Four among quartet inducted at Music City Walk of Fame ceremony
Nashville’s 2024 Music City Walk of Fame ceremony highlighted all corners and eras of the city’s multitude of harmonious legacies.
Honoring Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jimmy Buffett, WSM 650 broadcaster and Grand Ole Opry announcer Bill Cody, Grammy-winning gospel quartet The Fairfield Four and Ryman Hospitality Partners’ Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors Colin Reed satisfied all facets of how, for the past century, Nashville has inspired local, national and global creators to its environs to celebrate music’s inspiration.
The legacy of the late Jimmy Buffett, posthumously inducted by chart-topping country songwriter and Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band guitarist Mac McAnally, provided similar joy for the crowd in attendance.
As a fan dressed appropriately, in a parrot-headed costume watched on amongst hundreds, McAnally discussed how Mississippi native Buffett evolved a sense of self-expression that, from songs like “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” and “Margaritaville” blended Nashville’s outlaw sensibilities with a pop flair that inspired generations of artists from Paul McCartney to Kenny Chesney, among many.
Upon receiving her father’s honor, Buffett’s daughter Delaney delivered a tear-jerking speech that highlighted how he was “a pirate and poet who never took himself too seriously,” whose musical catalog “taught people the tricks to being happy.”
In closing, she quoted Buffett’s 1973 song “He Went to Paris” as an epilogue to her father’s storied life as a singer, songwriter and entrepreneur:
“Some of its magic, some its tragic, but I’ve had a good life along the way.”