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Kenny Chesney called him a “songwriting hero.”

Jimmy Buffett described his songs as “the background music of my life.”

Toby Keith said, “There’s nobody more respected, at least when it comes to musicians and people who really know this business.”

For the past three years, the Country Music Association recognized Mac McAnally with Musician of the Year awards.
How does McAnally describe himself?

“I feel lucky considering I’m the third best guitar player in the band,” said McAnally in a phone interview. “I’m probably the third best guitar player on the street where I live in Nashville.”

The 53-year-old songwriter, singer, producer and guitarist will bring his mixture of soul, blues and country to the Princess Theatre Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 25.

During the special event to celebrate The Year of Alabama Music, McAnally will play the Alabama Jammer, a Gibson-created Alabama-shaped guitar in honor of the campaign.

“The Alabama Jammer is circulating the state and is being played by musicians with a link to the state,” said state Tourism Director Lee Sentell. “After the year is over, we will donate it to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.”

Since its unveiling, “American Idol” contestant Bo Bice, Bon Jovi lead guitarist Richie Sambora, country band Little Big Town and rock group 311 have played the guitar.

And next Friday, the one-of-a-kind instrument will land in the hands of McAnally.

“It is a very special event with a well-known local musician,” said Lindy Ashwander, executive director of the Princess. “We are very honored to have Mac coming. It is a perfect way to celebrate the Year of Music.”

McAnally, who splits his time between Sheffield and Nashville, will perform with Mississippi blues harmonica player Greg “Fingers” Taylor, who performed with Buffet, and Jack Pearson, who played electric guitar for the Allman Brothers Band.

“This will be fun for me because they are a couple of my favorite musicians,” McAnally said of Taylor and Pearson. “Who knows what the show will be like? I plan out the first 30 minutes but tend to lose control of my shows after that first half-hour.”

That is because the crowd — a mixture of fans from children to senior citizens who know McAnally’s work as a solo artist, with Kenny Chesney and as a member of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band — will start hollering out requests.

It is a life McAnally’s parents envisioned for the self-described bashful Mississippi boy.

Parents’ support

“Most musicians become musicians against their parents’ wishes,” he said. “I am what my mom and dad wanted me to be.”

The son of a church pianist, McAnally spent most of his spare time at church, performing at services and for funerals and weddings.

“Anytime the door was open, we were in church. We were there at least four days a week,” he said.

At 13, when he played honky-tonks on school nights and left the clubs at 2 a.m., his parents drove him.

And when, at 18, he moved from his small Mississippi hometown (population 1,961) to Muscle Shoals to perform in studios as a session guitarist, his parents supported him.

“I count my blessings pretty well anyway because I am able to make music, but to work with your heroes is amazing,” McAnally said. “It’s hard to list everyone ’cause I don’t want to leave anyone out.”

A partial list includes Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Alabama, Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, Linda Ronstadt, Buffett, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson and Vince Gill.

Blues, soul, country

A border boy — born in Red Bay at the “nearest civilized hospital where one could be born” and raised in Belmont, Miss., where “spare time is the major export” — McAnally’s songs reflect the blues of Mississippi, the soul of the Shoals and the country of Nashville.

“We were late to get television, so my cable growing up was playing music,” he said. “The Mississippi pace of life had a big influence on my songwriting. In a small town you see how everybody’s actions affect everybody else. It made me a more considerate songwriter and person.”

In Nashville, producing albums and songs for Ricky Skaggs, Restless Heart, Chris LeDoux and Sawyer Brown, McAnally exposed his music to a wider audience.

“I see Nashville as a conduit. Nashville is a bigger place and the opportunity to bring my work to the rest of the world is bigger,” he said.

While Mississippi gave him songs and Nashville gave him exposure, Muscle Shoals gave him heart.

“My favorite thing about Alabama music is it has heart that spreads across all kinds of music and genres,” McAnally said. “In Muscle Shoals there is a rich rhythm and blues heritage that has brought about all kinds of rock and roll and pop music.”

With three CMA Musician of the Year Awards, two chart-topping songs, a Grammy nomination, 11 albums and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame, McAnally is still growing, as a musician and a man.

“I’ve never been a goal person as much as a direction person,” he said. “I want to be a better guitar player for the band; I want to be a better father to my children; I want to be a better brother to my sisters; I want to be a better neighbor to my neighbors.”

If you go
What: An Evening with Mac McAnally, featuring Greg "Fingers" Taylor and Jack Pearson


When: Feb. 25, 7:30 p.m.


Where: Princess Theatre Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets: $25, available at the box office, by calling 256-340-1778 or visiting princesstheatre.org.

On the Net www.macmcanally.com




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