Mac McAnally

Mac McAnally has achieved remarkable accomplishments across numerous roles in the music industry. Over the course of his career, he has put out upwards of twelve solo records that earned praise from reviewers, in addition to placing multiple tracks on the country charts. Numerous prominent Nashville performers such as Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, T.G. Sheppard, Charley Pride, Alabama, and David Allan Coe have interpreted his compositions. In the production booth, he has collaborated with acts like Sawyer Brown, Ricky Skaggs, Restless Heart, and Little Feat. His instrumental contributions appear on tracks by Linda Ronstadt, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, and Amy Grant. Since the 1990s, he has accompanied Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band on international tours. The affectionate, perceptive, and detailed nature of his lyrics first drew notice from reviewers and listeners via his initial self-titled album released in 1997, whereas Live and Learn from 1992 reflected the efforts of an experienced composer who had refined his recording skills, and Down by the River in 2009 demonstrated his ongoing artistic development more than three decades after beginning.

Born on July 15, 1957, in Red Bay, Alabama, Mac McAnally sang regularly in church as a youngster before starting piano lessons at age eight and turning professional within five years. He later added guitar to his skills and, at fifteen, wrote his earliest composition, "People Call Me Jesus." After leaving high school he began working as a session player at Muscle Shoals' Wishbone Studios; during a break one evening on a Hank Williams, Jr. session, McAnally performed several of his own songs, prompting producers Terry Woodford and Clayton Ivey to persuade Williams to cut his tune "I Need You Tonight." He signed with Ariola Records America and delivered his self-titled debut album in 1977, which yielded the crossover single "It's a Crazy World" and led to tours supporting Randy Newman.

Critics lauded the richly literary quality of his songcraft when McAnally followed up in 1978 with No Problem Here on Ariola, then issued Cuttin' Corners two years later on RCA Victor; although those releases did not match the commercial performance of his first effort, he stayed among Nashville's most sought-after writers, supplying material for Buffett ("It's My Job") and Alabama (the chart-topping "Old Flame"). After 1983's Nothin' But the Truth on Geffen, five years passed before he issued another studio album, Finish Lines. During that interval he continued writing hits for Buffett ("When the Coast Is Clear") and Ricky Van Shelton ("Crime of Passion"). The 1990 release Simple Life returned him to the charts with "Back Where I Come From," and a year later he wrote the Steve Wariner smash "It's a Precious Thing."

His second Geffen album, Live and Learn in 1992, produced the minor hits "The Trouble with Diamonds" and "Junk Cars," and he next appeared in 1994 with Knots on MCA. That same year McAnally joined Buffett's Coral Reefer Band on guitar and backing vocals; he soon became Buffett's onstage counterpart and a key member of his studio production team. As a solo artist he remained quiet until Word of Mouth appeared in mid-1999, followed in 2004 by Semi-True Stories on Buffett's Mailboat label.

McAnally entered the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007. Down by the River came out in 2009 on Show Dog Nashville. He returned to Mailboat for Live from Muscle Shoals in 2011, documenting a special performance from the 2010 W.C. Handy Music Festival. That year he also received the Country Music Association Award for Musician of the Year, an honor he earned annually through 2018. A studio album for the label titled AKA Nobody appeared in 2015, succeeded by 2017's Southbound: The Orchestra Project, which featured re-recordings of several signature songs with fresh horn and string arrangements. In 2020 McAnally released Once in a Lifetime, a collection written with intimate, stripped-down settings in mind.