“Even After He Passed, Jimmy Found a Way To Join the Party”: How the Late Jimmy Buffett Attended His Posthumous Rock Hall Induction

Jimmy Buffett wasn’t just watching his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction from Heaven, but from inside the room too. The legendary singer, who died in 2023, was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame the following year.

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At the October 2024 ceremony, Kenny Chesney, James Taylor, and Mac McAnally teamed up for a performance. The men sang “Come Monday,” Buffett’s 1974 hit, as a tribute to the late singer.

During a conversation on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show, Chesney revealed how Buffett was intimately involved in that performance.

“We were backstage. We were sitting back there warming up, trying to figure out our parts and stuff, and Mac comes up to me and he goes, ‘Look at this.’ And it was a small urn,” Chesney recalled. “And he had Jimmy’s ashes in his coat pocket.”

“Jimmy’s ashes were in Mac McAnally’s coat pocket on stage with us as he was getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” he added. “So even after he passed, Jimmy found a way to join the party.”

Kenny Chesney Reflects on His Friendship With Jimmy Buffett

While promoting his memoir, Heart Life Music, Chesney reflected on his “surreal” friendship and collaborations with Buffett.

“He taught me it was possible to paint pictures with words,” Chesney told People of Buffett’s impact on his music. “What a gift.”

Buffett was inspiring Chesney long before they had that personal relationship. In fact, before Chesney made it big, he attended one of Buffett’s concerts in Nashville.

“I had just moved to Nashville, and I had no money,” Chesney told the outlet. “It was pouring rain, and I was up in the grass [at Starwood Amphitheater] where you go when you can’t afford a real seat.”

“But that night changed my life because I’d never seen anything like it, for someone to give so much love from the stage and connect with an audience like that,” he added. “I was lying in bed at night going, ‘Wow, I can’t believe what I just saw.”

When they did eventually make it into the studio together, it was a full-circle moment for Chesney.

“This felt so natural, as if hanging around the studio with Jimmy Buffett was no big deal,” Chesney wrote in his book. “I thought about that night at Starwood Amphitheater, where I couldn’t afford a Coke.”

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