Mac McAnally reflects on his bond with Jimmy Buffett

From American Songwriter: Mac McAnally Reflects on His Journey and His Bond with Jimmy Buffett

For singer, songwriter, and longtime member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, Mac McAnally, life is a symphony. “I hear music in everything,” he shares with American Songwriter. “I hear melody in nature. It’s always sounded like music to me.” 

Born in the same doctor’s office as Tammy Wynette near Red Bay, Alabama, McAnally recalls the prophecy his grandmother bestowed upon him moments after his birth. “My grandmothers came by and my father’s mom took one look at me and said, ‘He’s got the call to preach,’” McAnally says, a sentiment affirmed by his other grandmother. 

Growing up in Mississippi, the singer’s home was filled with neighbors who would bring their instruments and sing gospel hymns and bluegrass songs. “We entertained ourselves with music,” he says. He’d often accompany his mother to church services three days a week, sitting next to her on the piano bench while she played. “It would feel funny to me to not hear music in my head,” he notes. “Even though I’ve heard melodies in my head all my life, I didn’t think of that as writing music.” 

One night after curfew, the young McAnally sauntered into the local church where he wrote his first song, “People Call Me Jesus.” “I didn’t have the nerve to call that songwriting because there was no effort involved in it. I just played it like I learned it out of a book,” he explains. While that particular song “fell out” quickly, McAnally’s songwriting process is anything but happenstance. “I don’t relent on songs,” he says. “I always want them to be born of inspiration. There has to be some light that turns on for me. I don’t ever really start from scratch and say, ‘I’m making something out of nothing today.’ I always like life to give me the initial nudge. I like the magical element of it too much to give up that. I don’t mind applying the work ethic to the magic.”

The 10-time CMA Musician of the Year recipient has penned such hits as Kenny Chesney’s “Down the Road,” Alabama’s “Old Flame,” and Sawyer Brown’s “Thank God For You.” His most recognizable achievement is his three-decade tenure as part of the Coral Reefer Band, where he played guitar and sang background vocals until Buffett’s death in 2023. 

The two met after Buffett got a copy of McAnally’s self-titled 1977 album he recorded when he was 19. “He wrote me a note and said, ‘We’re both storytellers. We’re both from Mississippi. We’re going to be friends,’” McAnally narrates Buffett’s words. “Jimmy believed in me before I really believed in myself.” That encouraging note blossomed into an enduring working relationship and friendship wherein McAnally co-wrote several songs with Buffett, including “Oysters and Pearls,” the closing track to Buffett’s 1999 album, Beach House on the Moonwhich McAnally released a cover of in April 2024. 

The song has taken on new meaning in the wake of Buffett’s passing from cancer with such lyrics as, It’s something more than DNA that tells us who we are / It’s method and it’s magic, we are of the stars. “He had a more celebratory aspect to [songwriting] and he didn’t mind starting blank or with just a line. I saw a whole other world of how it was possible from how he went about it and learned so much from him,” McAnally says of his friend. “He was fearless about everything all his life. Jimmy had that love for life. To get to stand to the right of that one-man nebula of talent and positive energy for almost four decades was one of the big blessings of my life.” 

McAnally will continue to honor the legacy of his late collaborator by making his headlining debut at the historic Ryman Auditorium on January 31. It was a dream of Buffett’s to headline the Ryman and McAnally’s setlist will highlight songs from his solo career alongside his work with Buffett. 

“I can’t even convey how much it means. It probably means way more at this point in my 60s,” he says. “The fact that it was more of a dream of his than it was of mine, it’s going to be his, too. I’m going to honor us both at the same time. I’m going to give them everything I got.” 

In addition to the Ryman show, the revered musician is embarking on his headlining All the Way Around Tour that continues into early 2025, and is a guitarist on George Strait’s latest album, Cowboys and Dreamers, among other projects. The longevity of McAnally’s career comes down to the mentality he’s harbored since the beginning. “I want to be connected to good work,” he says, offering advice to those hoping to break into the music industry. “Don’t short-sell dreams. Half of the things that I get to do, I had no idea they existed, and I am so blessed that I didn’t discount or discard them before the opportunities revealed themselves. Don’t dream narrow—dream wide.”

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