Kenny Chesney appeared on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show to promote his new memoir “Heart Life Music.” Kenny performed “You and Tequila” live for Howard and spoke about songwriting and getting rejected with his first song. Kenny recalled joining James Taylor and Mac McAnally for the tribute to Jimmy Buffett at the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. Kenny also spoke to Howard about performing with Joe Walsh at a concert where he was physically picked up by a fan.
Kenny Chesney Recalls Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Tribute Performance
Howard Stern: You’re celebrating Jimmy Buffett, which was a hero of yours and you were up there on stage with James Taylor
Kenny Chesney: And Mac McAnally, who was in Jimmy’s band. It was an interesting thing to be at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, on top of that, to be paying tribute to a really good friend of yours that was no longer with us. Jimmy Buffett, and then on top of that, literally I looked over to my left shoulder, and that’s really James Taylor sitting beside you. It was one of those moments where I’m going, wow, I never thought that I would be sitting right here and we were backstage. We were sitting back there warming up, trying to, you know, figure out our parts and stuff and Matt comes up to me and he goes, “Look at this,” and it was a small urn, and he had Jimmy’s ashes in his coat pocket, so Jimmy’s ashes were in Mac McAnally’s coat pocket on stage with us as he was getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Howard Stern: How does he have the ashes?
Kenny Chesney: His daughter Savannah gave it to him, so even after he passed, Jimmy found a way to join the party.
