Mac McAnally: Down the Road

Two-time CMA Musician of the Year, Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, and member of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, Mac McAnally talks to Premier Guide Miami's Daedrian McNaughton about writing six number-one songs, touring with the coolest man alive, and why music turns life's worst moments into something positive.. Premier Guide Miami sat down to find out what that means — and what comes next.

You don't have to be country to know or love the music that Mac McAnally has written over the years. He has written six number-one songs in his career including "Down the Road," performed by Kenny Chesney, toured with Jimmy Buffett, and was recently invited to perform at the LandShark Stadium. This year Mac's career has been a blooming success — he was awarded the CMA's Musician of the Year Award for the second year in a row, released his new album Down By the River, and was named in the Songwriters Hall of Fame 2007 and Mississippi Music Hall of Fame 2008.

Premier Guide Miami had a chance to catch up with the dad of three girls who pretends to be tough but who is really a softie. He shares his experience as a writer, missing his dad, and playing the tambourine on tour with Jimmy Buffett.

PGM: Congrats on your 2nd CMA Award for Musician of the Year.

MM: Well thank you very much. I have been playing so long I don't think about any one year being different from another. I am always playing music, but I have been very blessed over the past couple of years it seems like.

PGM: Most country songs are about pain and heartbreaks. What inspires your writing?

MM: You know what I love most about music? You can take anything and make it positive. A lot of country music is about pain and heartbreak, but it turns into something positive because it becomes a shared experience between the singer and the listener. Something that you went through to get it becomes a positive thing. Music can take the worst aspects of life and turn them around into a positive thing. That's why I wake up thinking about it every morning.

PGM: How does it feel to be traveling and touring with the coolest man on earth?

MM: I do not take it for granted. I cannot tell you how many people are on a waiting list to play tambourine and come along on the road. Some of these people have really good jobs and they are ready to walk away in a second and come out on the road with us. He is the ambassador of fun for the whole country and we really feel it. Even this year with the recession, you wouldn't know there is a recession at a Jimmy Buffett show — people are more intensely having a good time.

PGM: What goals have you set for yourself over the next year?

MM: I am not so much of a goal person as a direction person. If you set a goal and you reach it you potentially get complacent. I just want to get better — a better guitar player, better father, better brother to my sisters, better friend to my friends. I would have never asked to win the Musician of the Year award, and I would have never asked to be put in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Those things have happened, but it's just part of the direction I want to go in.

PGM: Through your hard work, struggles and success, what has been the greatest lesson you have learned?

MM: It's one that I learned very young and it has just been reinforced. My father's version of the golden rule was to treat people how you wanted to be treated. My father wasn't just a great businessman, he was a great man. I've always tried to do that all through life and I've had a wonderful life. Treat people the way you want to be treated — it's very simple and basic but it's manifested into a really enjoyable time here on earth.

PGM: Who do you admire the most?

MM: In my case, my dad. He passed, but I pretty much think about what he would think about the things that are going on in the times that we are living now. I know for a fact if he knew I was paying money for bottled water he would be extremely upset with me. We used to drink water out of a spring out of the ground, so the notion of paying for it would be very foreign to him.

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