During Mac McAnally's conversation with Zac Brown for the latest instalment of SiriusXM's RadioMargaritaville, McAnally shares the amusing story of why his good friend, the late Jimmy Buffett, would always be in fits of laughter whenever he called him.

McAnally was one of Buffett's closest buddies and a fixture of the ‘Margaritaville’ icon's Coral Reefer Band, which continues to perform in honour of their former frontman.

McAnally is an encyclopedia of fantastic stories about Buffett - as we were fortunate enough to find out when we interviewed him for Holler in September 2025 - and he offers some more brilliant tales from his time with the Gulf and Western legend here.

During this new episode of Songlines & Stories on SiriusXM's RadioMargaritaville, McAnally reminisces with Brown about how fond Buffett was of FaceTime.

He begins, “For the last three years, he was calling me. He liked to FaceTime. You know this about Jimmy. He was into the FaceTime thing. He would call me at 5:30 in the morning...I'm awake, but I don't really want to FaceTime anybody at 5:30 in the morning, and they don't really want to FaceTime me - except for Jimmy Buffett”.

McAnally goes on, “But every time he called, he was just roaring laughing. When I answered the phone, he was just laughing his ass off every time he called, and I couldn't figure it out. And the last summer that I spent with him, I would go up to Sag Harbor and we would just play music in the summer of ‘23 He would just call like we were in elementary school and say, ‘Can you come to my house and play?’ And we would play guitars and sing, and that's what we did for the summer of ‘23”.

Then, McAnally reveals the moment he finally learned the hilarious reason why Buffett would always be laughing at the start of their calls, “He used Siri to call people, and he had put a space in my name when he typed it into his phone, and he would say, ‘Siri, call Mac’...I heard him do this on his phone. This is why I knew why he'd been laughing for three years. He would say, ‘Siri, call Mac’, and Siri would say, ‘Calling Mac Anally’”.

As Brown attempts to stifle a chuckle himself - and eventually cannot help it - McAnally goes on, “Look, that is funny, but I never knew why he was laughing. You know, for three years he was laughing every time I answered the phone. Now I know!”

It's a seemingly trivial story, but it's these colourful little vignettes and anecdotes about Buffett that highlight what a joyful, uplifting presence he was to be around.

McAnally's fond tales about the ‘Come Monday’ crooner are always permeated by a warm, rose-tinted lustre, with the Alabama native making a point of showcasing his friend's unwavering kindness and unfaltering optimism. It's another reason why we're excited for McAnally to start digging through Buffett's archive of unreleased music, with the ‘Changing Channels’ co-writer explaining to Holler that he has plans to start compiling a posthumous record in tribute to Buffett.

It would mark the follow-up to Buffet's Equal Strain On All Parts, which arrived a few months after his death in 2023 and marked the last full project recorded during his life-time.

Buffett remains a beacon of sun-drenched, lime-tinted light for Parrotheads across the world, with his music serving as a tropically-inspired escape for lots of listeners. And for a fortunate and courageous few, it ends up becoming their real, day-to-day lifestyle.