Buffett guitarist to take turn in the spotlight

By Jerry Fink

Friday, May 15, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Mac McAnally steps out of his backup role tonight for a solo show before 300 fans at Green Valley Ranch’s Ovation Lounge.

The guitarist and singer will be back with Jimmy Buffett’s 11-member Coral Reefer Band on Saturday before about 18,000 parrotheads at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“When I play my own show, like I’m going to do in Vegas, the only way I can do it is solo, because if one person is onstage with me I turn into a backup man,” McAnally says from his home in Muscle Shoals, Ala. “But if I’m by myself I’ll go ahead and do a show.

“The solo at Ovation is a mishmash of acoustic guitar, storytelling, piano and an occasional guest. For the most part it’s an acoustic solo show, but with Jimmy’s fans there, it ends up being a fairly high-energy acoustic solo show.”

McAnally, 51, recently was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

“I wake up every day with a song in my heart, and then I try to get it” out there, McAnally says. “I am taken aback with this honor.”

He has written or co-written many songs for Buffett in the past 20 years, including “It’s My Job,” “Last Man Standing,” “Changing Channels” and “When the Coast is Clear.” He’s also written for such country and western artists as Alabama, Hank Williams Jr., Ricky Van Shelton, Reba McEntire, Charley Pride and Sawyer Brown. His latest songwriting hit came with an old song, “Down the Road,” which Kenny Chesney made No. 1.

“I wrote that song in 1987, late on Christmas Eve night,” McAnally says. “I was putting stuff together for my kids at 3 in the morning in Sheffield, Ala., and I had to go find some batteries. Later I had couple of hours to kill before the kids got up and looked under the tree so I sat down and wrote this little song called ‘Down the Road,’ about all the hopes and dreams your kids represent for you. I never imagined it being a hit single, I just thought it was a nice thing about my kids.”

With the success of that record and the release of his own single “You First,” McAnally was encouraged to record an album for Toby Keith’s label, Show Dog Nashville. This will be McAnally’s 11th album. His first came out in 1977, and it led him to Buffett.

“I made a little singer-songwriter album. The same people who signed me also signed Jimmy to his first deal and they sent him a copy,” McAnally says. “Jimmy wrote me a letter and said, ‘We’re going to be friends. We’re both from Mississippi, we both are storytellers and we’re going to write songs together.’ ”

They did write together, but McAnally didn’t become a member of the Coral Reefer Band until the mid-’90s. He was too busy raising three daughters to travel much.

“Then one summer he asked me to come out and bring the kids. They were out of school for the summer and so were his,” McAnally says. “I’ve been there ever since. He has a great organization, he treats his people well, he has a great ear for all kinds of music, and he’s a fun guy to work with.”

Buffett has an enthusiastic fan base — to put it mildly.

“ ‘Fan’ is short for fanatic and I don’t know if that adequately defines them,” he says. “You couldn’t ask for a better group of fans.”

While McAnally has worked with superstars, he has never aspired to be one.

“Vince Gill and I used to sing background together. Now he’s a middle-of-the-stage guy, but he and I had the same mind-set growing up,” McAnally says. “We were always looking to the guys who were putting it together. I was always watching the lead guitar player or the high harmony singer. I was not watching the guy in the middle of the stage. I always was more interested in how it was all put together, so that’s why I gravitate more to the side of the stage.”