From Cleveland.com: Coral Reefer Band keeps the party going in Jimmy Buffett’s absence
Jimmy Buffett has been gone for two years now, but Margaritaville has hardly been wasting away in his absence.
His Coral Reefer Band, in fact, is still alive and intact — and on the road once again. After starting out with select performances — including at the Keep the Party Going: A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett concert at the Hollywood Bowl during April of 2024 and at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival a month later — the 13-member group is out with the Doobie Brothers, making sure the “Boat Drinks” are still filled and the “Fins” are still to the left and right.
The roster is still populated by longtimers, including Robert Greenridge, steel drummer since 1983. Mac McAnally, who’s been on board since 1994 — who co-produced Buffett’s posthumous album “Equal Strain on All Parts” and played as part of the Buffett tribute at last year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Rocket Arena — is handling lead vocals, joined by longtime bandmate Nadirah Shakoor and newcomers Scotty Emerick and Will Kimbrough, both of whom have co-written songs with Buffett. Mainstay keyboardist and musical director Mike Utley has retired from the road, however, but his son Mick is playing in his stead to keep it all in the family.
The mission, McAnally tells us, is to serve — and even over-serve — the Parrothead faithful, and ensure that Buffett’s legacy is also well-served, even in his absence…
What’s it like having a Coral Reefer Band without Jimmy out front?
McAnally: There’s clearly no replacing him; we leave his (microphone) open in the center of the stage, and his guitar stand. I never took for granted what a blessing that was to stand next to the guy for all those years. But I did make the mistake of thinking Jimmy was immortal. He kinda gave everybody that impression — so I have to blame him a little bit for it, too. Jimmy was like my dad; he was my adventurer. All I had to do was pack a bag and sit next to him and get all kinds of excitement for the rest of my life. And I still will, on his behalf.
He was a one of a kind character, certainly. What’s your sense of what made him that way?
McAnally: Y’know, he just went about filling up his life, and he packed a life like nobody I’ve ever seen. He enjoyed every bit of it, and he spread the joy of it very…evenly, let me say. He didn’t divide people. He wanted everybody he came in contact with to have a better day. I’m a little bit naturally that way, too, but I’m more bashful than Jimmy. I’m not as gregarious as he was, and I benefitted from his generous humanity, and I got to see a lot of people smile that I wouldn’t have seen if I wasn’t standing next to him.
What’s it been like, emotionally, without him there?
McAnally: With the band we had to get some legal stuff ready to (tour), so I was going out and playing my own shows and it kind of fell to me to…not necessarily put closure, ‘cause I don’t want closure on him, but to put a band-aid on a wound that people weren’t expecting after we lost him. So I played a lot of shows in the year following his passing, and I felt like it was a calling. I got to provide a service. And doing it with the band now, I think our honor and our privilege and our responsibility is to remind folks how much joyous music (Buffett) left here for us that’ll go on and to carry forward the fine work that he made his life’s work. As long as there’s folks that want to assemble and be reminded of that, I’m happy to do it, ‘cause they’re great songs.
And there are still plenty of those folks, it seems.
McAnally: As far as us and his crowd, it’s a family reunion. Jimmy built a fan base that wasn’t based on hit records or selling anything in particular — although he was good at selling all kinds of things or you wouldn’t see the whole Margaritaville empire be what it is. But it was really based on a guy you knew was coming to town and was gonna have at least as good a time as you. He was the happiest guy in the building most times we played, and it made people want to come and be connected with that.
How do you think Jimmy would feel about the band going on?
McAnally: He specifically wanted the music to live on. He told us that. And we want the music to live on, and I think there’s a great benefit to humanity for his music to live on. So the prime directive, really, is to honor the legacy that Jimmy did a fine job of building.
What is it about the songs that has given them the longevity they enjoy?
McAnally: He had sort of a literary approach to songwriting. I don’t think his stuff is so attached to a piece of time, so it’s aged very well. I say it in our show, but I think 100 years from now, when people buy boats, they’re gonna come loaded with Jimmy Buffett music, and it’s still going to (be relevant) to getting in a boat and getting out on the water and the feeling that comes with that. That’s a testament to his writing.
Do you have a favorite song?
McAnally: My personal favorite Jimmy song has always been “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” ‘cause that’s the first one that hit me right between the eyes and made me so proud that another guy from Mississippi wrote that and sang that. And I knew I was always gonna sing it even before I knew Jimmy. But I think “Bubbles Up” on that last album is as fine of a song as he ever wrote…and I have a personal connection to that because at the point he wrote that song he was going through the hardest thing he ever went through in his life, and he and Will Kimbrough wrote this beautiful, positive message that not only helped him through that time, but it helps other folks through things in their lives. So maybe that’s a cheating answer to your question; “Pirates” is my favorite Jimmy song, but I love what I consider to be our job to make “Bubbles Up” transition into the positive message that it really is.
What are Jimmy’s vaults like? Are there more songs we might get to hear in the future?
McAnally: There’s a few. There’s not as many as, like, the giant backlog they talk about with Prince. There’s nothing like that. But there’s enough recorded and unreleased to make an album. At some point I’ll go back and see what we have. I wouldn’t want to assemble a project that was just a release for its own sake; some of it he never did what he considered a final vocal, so I wouldn’t want to put anything out that I feel like he wouldn’t be happy with. But there’s definitely some good stuff that’s there, and at some point it’ll get put together.
It seems appropriate that you guys are touring with the Doobie Brothers. I bet there were some Buffett-Doobies gigs together back in the day.
McAnally: That is true. I think it’s a really cool pairing because at various times Jimmy opened for them, and I think they, at point along the way, opened for him. In my case I struggled to play covers of their song because of how awesome their vocals are; when I was a teenager there were Doobie Brothers hits we took a shot at playing, but almost nobody can mimic their vocals. They’re one of the great American rock ‘n’ roll bands that’s ever been, so we`re very honored to try to set the stage for them each night.
You performed at the Rock Hall ceremony, where Jimmy received a Musical Excellence Award. What was the experience like?
McAnally: I’ll tell ya, it was rewarding in that there were 16 artists that were honored, but I will say that when they announced Jimmy, the whole crowd — everybody’s posse that was out front, all the acts — everybody there showed love for Jimmy Buffett. And walking around backstage, every employee at the Rocket (Arena), everybody’s hair stylist and make-up servant and personal attendant and the volunteers all came by and said how deserved and how awesome it was that Jimmy went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So I felt the love for him from literally everybody. He had love going across every income bracket, every political party, every ethnicity — that’s just a testament to the guy.