Yes, live music is back, giving us scenes like this one — Kenny Chesney dropping by to sing with Jimmy Buffett.
It happened Monday night when a barefooted Buffett played an unannounced show at the Nashville club Exit/In. Kenny Chesney was a special guest.
Chesney posted a clip “Always a blast being on stage with my friends Jimmy Buffett, Mac McAnally, and the rest of the Coral Reefer Band. Thanks for the invite Jimmy.”
Jimmy Buffett also posted about the evening on his Twitter account. He wrote: “Exit In -Nashville, June 21 Kenny Chesney knows this Mac McAnally song well.”
The two superstars performed songs each knew well. The Tennessean reported that former Vice President Al Gore, a Tennessee native, was in the crowd.
Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney sang Buffett’s signature — Margaritaville. Buffett created that song back in 1977, starting it in Austin and finishing it in Key West. It remains his highest-charting single of his career. So everybody sing the chorus, you know the words.
Kenny Chesney and Buffett Also Sang Back Where I Come From
Chesney and Buffett also performed what became a Chesney classic, Back Where I Come From. McAnally, who joined the two on stage, wrote the song. He recorded and released it back in 1990. Then Chesney recorded a cover of it in 1996 and included the song in his greatest hits album in 2000.
Monday night’s show was a special one for Jimmy Buffett. He opened Exit/In 50 years ago in the most unique way. It’s the first time he’s been back to perform.
According to Exit/In co-founder Brugh Reynolds, Buffett walked in off the street as the club still was under construction.
“He said, ‘Well, I play music,'” Reynolds recalled in a 2015 documentary. “He went and got his guitar. I think he played a few things for us, and so Jimmy Buffett was the first act to ever play the Exit/In.”
Buffett and his band stayed in Nashville for parts of the summer, rehearsing for their upcoming tour. They return to town next month for three shows at Ascend Amphitheater on July 6, 8 and 16.
Meanwhile, the pandemic forced Kenny Chesney to push back his Here and Now Stadium Tour, twice. It’s now set to start next April in Tampa, Fla. He said he decided to wait until 2022 to allow more healing in 2021.
“Like it does for everyone, the idea of music, live music, fills me up,” Kenny Chesney said last week. “Nothing is so in the moment, so completely alive. I want to start 2022 with the awesome rush that embodies everything playing for No Shoes Nation is. We’re calling the tour ‘Here And Now 2022,’ because when we get together, there is only the present – and it’s so electric and good, I know I don’t want it to end. I just want to be 100% there with all of you.”
