Ahead of the upcoming Jimmy Buffett tribute at the annual Country Music Awards tonight (November 8), we wanted to take a trip down memory lane and remember when Zac Brown Band performed with Buffett at the CMT Crossroads event several years ago on December 17, 2020.
Videos by American Songwriter
Tonight the late Buffett, who passed away earlier this year, will be honored by Kenny Chesney, Mac McAnally, Alan Jackson, and Zac Brown Band. It was just a few years ago that he was onstage with Brown and company, performing his popular song for a CMT Crossroads moment, “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”
Strumming an acoustic guitar, a grinning Buffett sang barefoot while sporting his signature beach tan. Buffett and Brown shared verses on the song, which has been covered by other artists in the past, including the likes of Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson.
Wrote a commenter on the video shortly after Buffett’s passing, “I feel like I’ve lost a friend. We all have. Thank you Jimmy. You made the world a better place.” Fans can check out a video from that performance with Brown and Buffett here below.
The video will assuredly get some fans extra excited for tonight’s Buffett tribute. Speaking about that upcoming moment, Caroline Jones, who will be sharing the stage tonight for the tribute, told American Songwriter she is greatly anticipating the night.
“He was such a special character,” Jones tells American Songwriter of Buffett. “There will never be another one remotely like him. It’s a real honor. He was a huge part of my career. I really owe the career that I have to him and Zac Brown. So, to be tributing him on the CMA Awards with Zac Brown, Mac McAnally, and Kenny Chesney, I mean, these are all people who have taken me on tour and taken me under their wings.”
Jones will share the stage with bandmates Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, and Mac McAnally during tonight’s CMA Awards to pay tribute to her late mentor Jimmy Buffett. The singer/songwriter attended the 2023 BMI Country Awards in Nashville on Tuesday (November 7) and spoke with American Songwriter about the late singer and the advice he bestowed on her.
“He’s a very deep person, but also a light-hearted person and he had a positive message,” she says of Buffett. “He was able to make a career and a business out of bringing people together which seems to be a dying art and I hope I can carry that on.”
Check out Buffet and Brown here below and check in with American Songwriter all night during tonight’s CMAs for live coverage.
Photo from YouTube
