If there’s such as thing as margarita blenders being at “half mast,” they all should be for the foreseeable future.
The passing of Jimmy Buffett over Labor Day weekend has really rocked the music world. Tributes and thoughtful messages have been pouring in from artists of all genres to pay respect to a musician and artist who lived his dream beach-life and turned it into a illustrious career.
In a statement on Jimmy Buffett’s official website, it was revealed that the coastal music mogul passed away after a multi-year battle with a rare form of cancer:
“Buffett, 76, had been fighting Merkel Cell Skin Cancer for four years. He continued to perform during treatment, playing his last show, a surprise appearance in Rhode Island, in early July.”
Over his 50 year career making music, Buffett often collaborated with country music artists including George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Clint Black, Toby Keith and more. Though some might not consider Jimmy’s beach-themed catalogue country, he always stayed close to the country music genre.
Of course, his most famous and successful country crossover has got to be “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” with Alan Jackson, which released in 2003. However, a more recent collaboration with the Zac Brown Band in “Knee Deep” in 2010 also had a successful run on the country music charts, reaching the number one spot in 2011.
So during a Zac Brown Band concert in New Hampshire over the weekend, it only made sense that the lead man played a Jimmy Buffett song to honor the passing of the group’s close friend. Brown and his band played “Margaritaville,” to an appreciative crowd who happily sang along (and shouted “salt, salt, salt” when they needed to).
The lead singer also opened up about the band’s special connection to Jimmy Buffett and his music that stemmed from their performance together at CMT’s Crossroads concert series. About halfway through the song, Zac Brown stated:
“See back then, we did ‘Crossroads’ with Jimmy Buffett. And on there he said he’d pass the torch on to us. It was one of the greatest honors of my life. We will mourn him and we will celebrate one of the most incredible lives of any artist that I’ve ever seen.
You just hope that you live long enough to make a mark like he did… such an incredible American poet and soul.”
Watch the heartfelt performance of “Margaritaville” below:
And if you wanted to “order another round” of “Margaritaville,” you can also view the CMT Crossroads performance that the Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffett performed back in 2010:
