Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band chatted with Billboard while backstage at the 2023 CMA Awards.
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00:00 We're backstage with Zac Brown.
00:01 You are fresh off the stage.
00:02 You just delivered a gorgeous tribute to Jimmy Buffett.
00:05 Tell us a little bit about what it felt like
00:06 being up on that stage.
00:08 - Being here to honor Jimmy is a big deal.
00:11 I felt his loss tremendously.
00:13 And I think of all of his crew, all of his people,
00:16 just like mine, like all of those people's lives
00:20 revolved around him being there.
00:23 And I don't know, it just hit me really hard
00:25 when I found out.
00:26 So we wrote a song for Jimmy
00:30 and we got to sing a chorus of it here
00:32 called "Pirates and Parrots."
00:33 And getting to put that at the beginning of "Margaritaville,"
00:35 getting to do it with Alan Jackson also was amazing.
00:39 Alan's just one of the best all-time country legends.
00:41 And I feel Jimmy's loss,
00:46 but I also, you can't really miss something
00:50 unless you really love it.
00:51 And how many people love Jimmy
00:53 and how incredible his life was.
00:56 I mean, his stories, I've got really close friends
01:00 that knew Jimmy back in the '70s and late '60s.
01:04 And Jimmy was a tropical gangster.
01:08 - Yeah. (laughs)
01:09 - And one of the best American poets.
01:11 His writing, he's kind of a Mark Twain of our time,
01:14 in my opinion.
01:15 If you'd ever read one of his books or read anything,
01:18 he's so eloquently written.
01:20 So it's an honor.
01:23 It's an honor to get to pay homage to Jimmy
01:25 and get to be here with so many other incredible artists
01:28 and share the space with him.
01:29 And he passed on the torch during "Crossroads"
01:34 when we did "Crossroads" together.
01:35 He gave us the torch.
01:36 So I don't take that lightly.
01:37 And that means a lot now, especially with him being gone.
01:41 - Yeah, of course.
01:42 Was your outfit a surprise?
01:44 Did anyone know that you were gonna pull that tonight?
01:47 - I just thought, what would Jimmy wear?
01:49 You know?
01:50 So yeah, so we went a little beachy with it all,
01:53 but from Jimmy to "The Grateful Dead" to whatever,
01:58 I mean, people can play some amazing music
02:01 in whatever clothes that they happen to be wearing.
02:04 I know everybody's pretty fancy, dialed in,
02:07 but I just love Jimmy was always himself.
02:08 He was always at everyone's service.
02:10 He was there for me, helped me along in my career,
02:14 and I'd have questions,
02:15 and there aren't many people that can answer these questions.
02:18 'Cause you don't wanna take advice from anybody
02:21 that's not doing better than you.
02:22 So finding people that have been through
02:24 such an amazing career and built such an incredible fan base.
02:28 Our fan base, every night we get to play is our award.
02:32 'Cause we're not gonna be Entertainer of the Year
02:34 or Album of the Year and things like that,
02:36 but we get our award every single night, just like Jimmy.
02:40 And I'm proud to be part of something like what he built.
02:45 But following in his footsteps, it's such an incredible life.
02:48 I mean, I have an incredible life.
02:50 He had an incredible life.
02:51 Like I'll take it, I'll take that.
02:53 If that's what we get.
02:55 But so much love to all of his people, all of his crew,
02:59 all of his fans.
03:01 We're gonna be going out with Kenny Chesney next year.
03:05 We're doing a big tour with Kenny.
03:06 So I hope we get a bunch of Parrot Heads coming out
03:09 to see us.
03:10 We're gonna have like four or five hours
03:11 of awesome music for that.
03:12 So excited about that.
03:14 And also we got a live covers album
03:16 that's coming out in like a day or two.
03:19 So, you know, if people haven't seen our band live,
03:23 you don't really understand what we do.
03:24 If you just hear like the radio songs or whatever.
03:28 So I love a curve ball.
03:31 Like I love taking like some Sinatra
03:33 or taking some Rage Against the Machine
03:35 or some Radiohead or something, playing it at our show.
03:38 So we've been filming every show
03:41 or recording every show for the last 15 years.
03:43 So we dug through and picked the first 12
03:47 that we're gonna put out.
03:48 This is volume one from the road
03:50 and a new live covers album coming out in a couple of days.
03:53 So, but if you only know what's on the radio,
03:57 this really shows you like the breadth of what our band does
03:59 'cause it's really about, if you're doing it right,
04:01 you're the worst person in the band.
04:02 'Cause I've got the most incredible band
04:04 and such an honor to get to live with them
04:06 and play music with them.
04:08 - Yeah, there's a lot upcoming.
04:09 I do wanna ask, because you said, you know,
04:11 you've asked Jimmy questions.
04:12 What's the best answer that he gave you
04:14 for something that you've asked?
04:17 - He said, "Nothing good happens after midnight."
04:20 - And is that true?
04:21 - That's very true.
04:22 That's very true.
04:23 - Well, we all better get home soon now.
04:25 - Right, right.
04:26 Totally.
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