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Greg “Fingers” Taylor Passes Away

November 24th, 2023


The man whose harmonica playing was heard on many of Jimmy Buffett’s most famous songs in the 70’s and 80’s has passed away. Greg “Fingers” Taylor died Thanksgiving day at the age of 71.

Buffett and Taylor met at the University of Southern Mississippi in 1970. When Buffett formed the Coral Reefer Band, Taylor joined and played with Jimmy for 30 years.

Mac McAnally shared a tribute on Twitter:

The Margarillas shared a link to “Wonder Why We Ever Go Home” from the 1978 live album ‘You Had to Be There’ which showcases Fingers’ beautiful harmonica playing:


Tagged in Coral Reefers

Mac McAnally Posts Tribute to Jimmy

September 25th, 2023


On his social media accounts, longtime Coral Reefer Mac McAnally posted a tribute to Jimmy:

Loss and gain

I am without words for about three weeks now. I usually have too many. The closest thing I ever had to a big brother left this world on Sept. 1. I’ve been comforted by so many beautiful tributes and am grateful for them. It is my intent to offer comfort and tribute in words and music for the rest of my life. I’m just slow getting up to speed. Jimmy would be laughing at me (or IS laughing) for dragging my feet.

What I can say in lieu of the right words that continue to evade is what an honor it is and has been to ride shotgun with a one man fountain of positive energy that saw fit to take me under his wing forty some odd years ago. And to the folks who only knew him from the stage or through the speakers I can tell you he was the same fellow in person that you saw and heard. Trying to help everyone he crossed paths with have the best day possible. Rich folks, poor folks, strangers and friends. Blue and white collars, all religions and political camps. He saw life as a gift to enjoy and his calling was to spread that joy. I’ve never seen anybody do it better.

Godspeed JB


Tagged in Coral Reefers

Mac McAnally Pays Tribute to Jimmy at Show

September 10th, 2023


Longtime Coral Reefer Band member and songwriting collaborator Mac McAnally honored Jimmy on Thursday night at his show with Eric Darken in Nashville, IN. Mac spoke about his final visit with Jimmy and then played two songs in tribute.

Watch below:


Tagged in Coral Reefers

Buffett Makes Surprise Appearance at Mac McAnally Show

July 3rd, 2023


Coral Reefer Band member Mac McAnally had a show in Portsmouth, Rhode Island on Sunday evening and Jimmy Buffett made a surprise appearance where he performed six songs.

From the Providence Journal

The singer-songwriter made an impromptu appearance at Sunset Cove on Sunday afternoon, bringing the crowd to its feet screaming when he appeared on stage.

A video of the concert posted to Facebook shows Mac McAnally, the advertised headliner for the show and longtime member of The Coral Reefer Band, in the middle of singing “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere,” and when he gets to the lyric “At a moment like this, I can’t help but wonder what would Jimmy Buffett do,” Buffett himself showed up with an answer.

“How ‘bout I play it for you,” he said, picking up a guitar.

At the end of the song, Buffett, who was briefly hospitalized in Boston in May and had to postpone a show, said “well, it is good to see an audience, let me tell you that.”

Buffett went on to play for about 45 minutes, according to Arsenault.

Why Jimmy Buffett was there
At this point, you’ve got to be wondering how they pulled whole thing off. Here’s the story.

McAnally is a friend of Sunset Cove owner Mike MacFarlane. He played at Sunset Cove back in 2019, and over a February lunch in Key West, MacFarlane asked if McAnally would come back to play at Sunset Cove again this summer.

The stars aligned so McAnally could come on July 2, which also just so happened to be MacFarlane’s 50th birthday.

In addition to “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” Buffett played six songs on stage. One of them was “A Pirate Looks at Forty” – which he changed to 50 in a nod to MacFarlane’s big celebration.


Tagged in Coral Reefers, Special Appearances

Buffett and Mac Write Theme Song for New Show ‘Barmageddon’

December 6th, 2022


Country artist and television personality Blake Shelton has a new show on USA Network called ‘Barmageddon’ where celebrities compete in pub style games, and Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally wrote the theme song for the show:

Those who tune into “Barmageddon” will hear a lot of music when Blake Shelton and some of his celebrity friends perform at his bar, Ole Red, in Nashville, Tennessee. However, one of the biggest toe-tappers will undoubtedly be the original opening song.

Shelton performs the catchy theme music to “Barmageddon.” While most of what the country singer belts out is great, this song in particular is special because it was written just for him by legendary hitmakers Jimmy Buffett of “Margaritaville” fame and Mac McAnally.

Those two have worked together on many projects in the past; in fact, McAnally has been a member of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band for decades. While they’ve never fully collaborated with Shelton, all three have been in the music business for most of their adult lives and have crossed paths many times.

You can hear a little of the new song in the video below, starting around the 2:10 mark:


Tagged in Coral Reefers, Television