Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band on Paying Tribute to Jimmy Buffett, Reflects on Their 'CMT Crossroads' Performance, Talks Upcoming Tour With Kenny Chesney & More | CMA Awards 2023 - video Dailymotion

Billboard

Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band chatted with Billboard while backstage at the 2023 CMA Awards.

Transcript

00:00 We're backstage with Zac Brown.

00:01 You are fresh off the stage.

00:02 You just delivered a gorgeous tribute to Jimmy Buffett.

00:05 Tell us a little bit about what it felt like

00:06 being up on that stage.

00:08 - Being here to honor Jimmy is a big deal.

00:11 I felt his loss tremendously.

00:13 And I think of all of his crew, all of his people,

00:16 just like mine, like all of those people's lives

00:20 revolved around him being there.

00:23 And I don't know, it just hit me really hard

00:25 when I found out.

00:26 So we wrote a song for Jimmy

00:30 and we got to sing a chorus of it here

00:32 called "Pirates and Parrots."

00:33 And getting to put that at the beginning of "Margaritaville,"

00:35 getting to do it with Alan Jackson also was amazing.

00:39 Alan's just one of the best all-time country legends.

00:41 And I feel Jimmy's loss,

00:46 but I also, you can't really miss something

00:50 unless you really love it.

00:51 And how many people love Jimmy

00:53 and how incredible his life was.

00:56 I mean, his stories, I've got really close friends

01:00 that knew Jimmy back in the '70s and late '60s.

01:04 And Jimmy was a tropical gangster.

01:08 - Yeah. (laughs)

01:09 - And one of the best American poets.

01:11 His writing, he's kind of a Mark Twain of our time,

01:14 in my opinion.

01:15 If you'd ever read one of his books or read anything,

01:18 he's so eloquently written.

01:20 So it's an honor.

01:23 It's an honor to get to pay homage to Jimmy

01:25 and get to be here with so many other incredible artists

01:28 and share the space with him.

01:29 And he passed on the torch during "Crossroads"

01:34 when we did "Crossroads" together.

01:35 He gave us the torch.

01:36 So I don't take that lightly.

01:37 And that means a lot now, especially with him being gone.

01:41 - Yeah, of course.

01:42 Was your outfit a surprise?

01:44 Did anyone know that you were gonna pull that tonight?

01:47 - I just thought, what would Jimmy wear?

01:49 You know?

01:50 So yeah, so we went a little beachy with it all,

01:53 but from Jimmy to "The Grateful Dead" to whatever,

01:58 I mean, people can play some amazing music

02:01 in whatever clothes that they happen to be wearing.

02:04 I know everybody's pretty fancy, dialed in,

02:07 but I just love Jimmy was always himself.

02:08 He was always at everyone's service.

02:10 He was there for me, helped me along in my career,

02:14 and I'd have questions,

02:15 and there aren't many people that can answer these questions.

02:18 'Cause you don't wanna take advice from anybody

02:21 that's not doing better than you.

02:22 So finding people that have been through

02:24 such an amazing career and built such an incredible fan base.

02:28 Our fan base, every night we get to play is our award.

02:32 'Cause we're not gonna be Entertainer of the Year

02:34 or Album of the Year and things like that,

02:36 but we get our award every single night, just like Jimmy.

02:40 And I'm proud to be part of something like what he built.

02:45 But following in his footsteps, it's such an incredible life.

02:48 I mean, I have an incredible life.

02:50 He had an incredible life.

02:51 Like I'll take it, I'll take that.

02:53 If that's what we get.

02:55 But so much love to all of his people, all of his crew,

02:59 all of his fans.

03:01 We're gonna be going out with Kenny Chesney next year.

03:05 We're doing a big tour with Kenny.

03:06 So I hope we get a bunch of Parrot Heads coming out

03:09 to see us.

03:10 We're gonna have like four or five hours

03:11 of awesome music for that.

03:12 So excited about that.

03:14 And also we got a live covers album

03:16 that's coming out in like a day or two.

03:19 So, you know, if people haven't seen our band live,

03:23 you don't really understand what we do.

03:24 If you just hear like the radio songs or whatever.

03:28 So I love a curve ball.

03:31 Like I love taking like some Sinatra

03:33 or taking some Rage Against the Machine

03:35 or some Radiohead or something, playing it at our show.

03:38 So we've been filming every show

03:41 or recording every show for the last 15 years.

03:43 So we dug through and picked the first 12

03:47 that we're gonna put out.

03:48 This is volume one from the road

03:50 and a new live covers album coming out in a couple of days.

03:53 So, but if you only know what's on the radio,

03:57 this really shows you like the breadth of what our band does

03:59 'cause it's really about, if you're doing it right,

04:01 you're the worst person in the band.

04:02 'Cause I've got the most incredible band

04:04 and such an honor to get to live with them

04:06 and play music with them.

04:08 - Yeah, there's a lot upcoming.

04:09 I do wanna ask, because you said, you know,

04:11 you've asked Jimmy questions.

04:12 What's the best answer that he gave you

04:14 for something that you've asked?

04:17 - He said, "Nothing good happens after midnight."

04:20 - And is that true?

04:21 - That's very true.

04:22 That's very true.

04:23 - Well, we all better get home soon now.

04:25 - Right, right.

04:26 Totally.

04:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band on Paying Tribute to Jimmy Buffett, Reflects on Their 'CMT Crossroads' Performance, Talks Upcoming Tour With Kenny Chesney & More | CMA Awards 2023

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