Mac McAnally chatted with Billboard on the red carpet of the 2023 CMA Awards.
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00:00 We're here with Mack McAnally.
00:01 How are you doing tonight?
00:02 - I'm great, and we're here for a good reason.
00:04 You know, it's a beautiful night anyway,
00:06 but we're here for a particularly good reason tonight.
00:08 - We sure are.
00:09 What can you tell us about this incredible
00:11 tribute performance that you are a part of tonight?
00:13 - Well, I can tell you that everybody taking part in it
00:17 loved Jimmy and that he loved everybody
00:19 that's taking part in it.
00:20 And that's easy call because Jimmy loved everybody.
00:22 And he made everybody feel better
00:24 every time he was in front of 'em,
00:26 for his whole life, all the way to the end.
00:28 So the thing we're trying to convey
00:31 is that he was not a fictional character.
00:33 He was really the guy that you thought he was.
00:36 And he's gonna be smiling down on us tonight
00:38 'cause he's gonna hear some people that loved him
00:40 put their hearts right up against the microphone
00:42 and give it all we got.
00:44 - That's amazing.
00:44 The first time you all got together,
00:45 maybe for a rehearsal or before that,
00:47 what was that moment like?
00:49 - It was chill bumps.
00:51 And in my case, it's Kenny and I,
00:53 and we got about halfway through the song
00:56 and we like, are we gonna be able to make it
00:58 through this song?
00:59 And so it's a good thing we rehearsed.
01:02 'Cause we got a better shot now.
01:04 But no, but Kenny said as we were rehearsing,
01:07 he said, "I don't know if I'd be here
01:08 "if it weren't for Jimmy."
01:09 And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here.
01:11 I don't mean just here tonight.
01:13 I mean here in this business.
01:14 You know, he reached out to me when I was 19 years old
01:17 and put me under his wing and I was a bashful kid.
01:20 So I for sure wouldn't have been here without him.
01:24 - I mean, this is an impossible question.
01:27 Is there a favorite memory that comes to mind
01:28 over the years?
01:29 - Oh, there's zillions.
01:30 But when people ask me something along these lines though,
01:33 I just remember he and I went to Walter Reed Hospital
01:37 in DC to play for the wounded veterans.
01:39 And the ones that could congregate came to the auditorium.
01:42 And when we were finished, he said,
01:44 "Who else is here that didn't?"
01:46 And he said, "Well, there's several folks that can't come,
01:48 "can't leave their room."
01:49 And he said, "Let's go."
01:50 And we just got our guitars
01:51 and we went to the individual rooms
01:53 and they got a little Jimmy Buffett concert.
01:56 And he didn't have to do that.
01:58 And nobody asked him to do that.
02:00 He just was like, "These folks gave up something,
02:03 "let's give up something too."
02:04 - Yeah, that's incredible.
02:06 Like I said, one of many, I'm sure, over a lifetime.
02:09 - Oh yeah, there's many.
02:10 He was a Billboard journalist in Nashville.
02:12 - Yes, I do know that.
02:14 And that's one of my proudest fun facts
02:15 about working at Billboard, honestly.
02:17 - That's exactly right, he did.
02:18 And he got to rise up the charts a couple of times
02:22 on Billboard as well.
02:23 So that's a nice set of bookends.
02:25 - Yeah, to rise up the chart
02:26 and then not have to write about that.
02:28 (laughing)
02:29 So we also broke that the band will continue on.
02:32 Tell us a little bit more about what you revealed there.
02:35 - Well, the first thing that's gonna happen
02:38 is a big tribute concert.
02:40 'Cause so many people wanna come
02:41 and honor him and his music.
02:43 And that's gonna happen in late spring.
02:47 And then we don't know exactly the details of what follows,
02:50 but we know he gave us specific instructions
02:53 to keep it rolling.
02:54 And we're gonna figure out how to do that.
02:56 - You don't mess with an instruction from Jimmy.
02:58 - No, he says it, we do it.
02:59 - Exactly.
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