A Special Report

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. — Fresh off a nationwide tour fronting The Coral Reefer Band, both Mac McAnally and Will Kimbrough will be featured in a new live music series in the homeland of Jimmy Buffett this fall, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Both accomplished artists will headline shows at the upcoming “Jazz Fest in OS” series here in Ocean Springs. Tickets for all five shows are already on sale at www.grandmagmusic.com

“Jazz Fest in OS” will feature artists that have been a part of the greatest music festival in the world over the past two decades that will now be showcased in Ocean Springs.

The five part series kicked off with Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band on Sept. 28th, and Johnny Sansone and his All-Star band on Oct. 12th..

This will be one of the final shows of 2025 for both McAnally and Kimbrough, each of whom just navigated the late Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band through a 20-date run supporting the Doobie Brothers.

McAnally, the 10-time and record-breaking Country Music Association “Musician of the Year” and longtime Buffett sideman, will headline the fifth show in the upcoming “Jazz Fest in OS” live music series. “An Evening with Mac McAnally” is set for Fri., Dec. 12th at The Mary C. O’Keefe Theater in Ocean Springs.

McAnally is an old and familiar face in the homeland of his former boss, Jimmy Buffett, but this will be his first appearance in Jackson County in 25 months and his first show ever in Ocean Springs.

He has made repeated trips to the Mississippi over the past 15 years. The long-time right-hand man in Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band will be coming back fresh off of a national tour with the band that he now fronts after supporting The Doobie Brothers on 20 dates all across the country.

“I’m a Mississippi guy,” McAnally said, “I like coming back home and playing my songs. I like playing my own shows in small venues because my music is like a story you would tell to a small room of friends.”

McAnally is a Belmont, Miss., native, and his 10 CMA MOTY Awards is a record in that category.

The multi-talented McAnally is also a member of the Nashville Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and was nominated for a Grammy Award. He was also honored recently with having a star dedicated in his name on the Music City Walk of Fame in downtown Nashville.

In addition to his work with Buffett over the past three decades, McAnally has also written numerous top hits over the years for the likes of Kenny Chesney (“Down The Road”), Alabama (“Old Flame”), Shenandoah (“Two Dozen Roses”), Sawyer Brown (“All These Years”, “Thank God for you”) as well as Steve Wariner (“Crazy World”) and Sammy Kershaw (“Southbound”) among others.

Buffett covered many McAnally songs such as “It’s My Job” and Buffett and McAnally’s rendition of Mac’s song “Back Where I Come From” in Buffett’s live shows quickly became a crowd favorite all over the world. Chesney also had a number-one hit with that song.

The incomparable Kimbrough, a longtime Jimmy Buffett protege, will be heading to his first show ever in Ocean Springs as well.

He’ll headline on Sun., Nov. 9th at Gulf Hills Resort. Showtime is 7:30 p.m.

One of Buffett’s favorite collaborators, the Mobile native and now Nashville-based singer/songwriter had had four co-songwriting credits with Buffett on his penultimate release “Life on the Flip Side” and then produced seven co-writes with both Mac McAnally and Buffett on the Pascagoula natives’ posthumous release “Equal Strain on all Parts”.

Buffett was fond of Kimbrough as well, once stating in an interview “Will is a wonderful throwback to the now bygone era of singer, songwriter, musician and entertainer,” he said. “Instead of substituting technology for talent, he has a unique ability to use modern-day tools to produce lasting lyrics and melodies. On stage, he can charm a crowd whether fronting a band or playing solo. That is why you see his songs on my albums and his face on our stage.”

That makes well over 20 Kimbrough or Buffett/Kimbrough songs that Buffett recorded on his last 10 albums. Kimbrough has stepped up even more so in the wake of Buffett’s absence, as Buffett’s personal choice to fill the void he left behind in the band as Kimbrough was featured with the Corral Reefer Band on the main stage at Jazz Fest in front of 75,000 people just eight months after Buffett’s death.

“I always enjoy coming back to the Gulf Coast and playing because of my relationship with Jimmy,” Kimbrough said. “I considered him a friend and I always enjoyed our songwriting sessions together. He really was one of a kind. I like coming home and seeing old friends and playing music for people who enjoy it.”

After many years as an “honorary” member of the Coral Reefer Band, Kimbrough joined the group full-time after Buffett’s passing after Buffett told the band to add Kimbrough and “keep the party going”. Kimbrough then joined the CRB at Jazz Fest in New Orleans on the main stage in front of 85,000 fans to perform a tribute to their mentor and longtime band leader.