Jimmy Buffett guitarist recalls singer’s final hours: ‘What a hell of a ride … keep the party going’

nypost.com:

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, a guitarist and longtime member of Buffett’s Coral Reefer band, spoke to Fox News Digital about the late singer-songwriter, even sharing some of his final words.“I saw him 24 hours before he was gone,” McAnally said, “and he was smiling wider than his head and saying, ‘What a hell of a ride, keep it going, keep the party going,’ and it’s our intention to do that.”“I didn’t know what to say,” he admitted of that final visit with Buffett, “and I didn’t know if I could talk without crying, but I picked up a guitar and played, and we told a couple of tour stories and laughed.

And he made sure that I knew that he wanted nobody to be sad, and everybody to keep the joy that he started rolling, rolling.”Leading up to his death, Buffett had been “fighting Merkel Cell Skin Cancer for four years,” according to an obituary shared on his website.He’d had to cancel numerous concerts due to his health, but “continued to perform during treatment, playing his last show, a surprise appearance in Rhode Island, in early July,” the obituary read.After decades in the music business, his death had a major impact on countless fans, as well as fellow performers.McAnally, along with Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson and Zac Brown Band, performed a medley of Buffett’s songs at the CMA Awards on Wednesday that included “Margaritaville” and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.”“Every connection I’ve ever had with Jimmy means something to me, because I wouldn’t be here without him,” the guitarist told Fox News Digital.“But this particular night, when we just put out his last album, which he worked so hard on and.