Entertainment
Published November 11, 2023, 12:37 AM ET
Jimmy Buffett’s long-time guitarist Mac McAnally recounted the final hours of Buffett’s life. Getty Images
Jimmy Buffett died in September and several of his favorite artists honored him with a performance at the CMA Awards on Wednesday.
Ahead of the tribute, Mac McAnally, guitarist and longtime member of Buffett’s band Coral Reefer, spoke to Fox News Digital about the late singer-songwriter and even shared some of his final words.
“I saw him 24 hours before he died,” McAnally said, “and he smiled bigger than his head and said, ‘What a hell of a ride, keep it up, keep the party going,’ and that’s our intention.” .” Do that.”
“I didn’t know what to say,” he admitted of that last visit with Buffett, “and I didn’t know if I could talk without crying, but I picked up a guitar and played, and we talked a few tours .” stories and laughed. And he made sure I knew he wanted no one to be sad and for everyone to keep the joy he started going.”
According to an obituary posted on his website, Buffett had “battled Merkel cell skin cancer for four years” before his death.
He had to cancel numerous concerts for health reasons, but “continued to perform during treatment and played his last show, a surprise appearance in Rhode Island, in early July,” the obituary says.
Mac McAnally, a guitarist and longtime member of Buffett’s band Coral Reefer, spoke to Fox News Digital about the late singer-songwriter and even shared some of his final words.AP
After decades in the music business, his death had a major impact on countless fans and fellow artists.
McAnally joined Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson and the Zac Brown Band at the CMA Awards on Wednesday to perform a medley of Buffett’s songs, including “Margaritaville” and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.”
“Every connection I’ve ever had with Jimmy means something to me because without him I wouldn’t be here,” the guitarist told Fox News Digital.
McAnally appears on stage with Kenny Chesney during a tribute to Jimmy Buffett at the 57th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, on November 8, 2023. Getty Images
“But on this particular evening, when we just released his last album, which he worked so hard on and put so much joy and work into… I’m in this tribute with a group of people that he was so loved everyone very much – Jimmy loves everyone – but he personally loved everyone involved in this tribute tonight.”
He continued: “It means the world. So we’re going to spread his music as widely as we can and he’s going to smile at us and we know that.”
Buffett was known for how much he enjoyed life and how much he promoted the idea that others would do the same, and McAnally said that this positivity was reflected in how Buffett wanted his fans to remember him after his death think.
Buffett was known for how much he enjoyed life and how much he promoted the idea of others doing the same.Getty Images for CMT
“He didn’t want anyone to be sad,” he said, “even though at that level you can’t help but lose someone you look up to, but he didn’t want anyone to be sad…we won’t.” be sad tonight.”
“We’re going to send out some love with Jimmy Buffett music, hold our hearts to the microphone and it’s going to work, that’s what I felt,” McAnally said.
When asked what he thought people should remember most about Buffett, McAnally said, “He was just a big rolling ball of goodwill, and it didn’t matter what level you saw him at.” If you If you met him in the supermarket you would think the same thing as if you had seen him on stage all these years.
“He truly was the character everyone thought he was…he smiled at everyone he met every day of his life, including the last.”
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