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\n\tJimmy Buffett<\/a> would have turned 79 this Christmas. Throughout his career, the chief Parrothead earned a reputation for flashy entrances. Jake Owen<\/a> remembers one vividly: Buffett, in flip-flops and Hawaiian shirt, piloting his own plane to Vero Beach, Florida, to give a special performance at Owen\u2019s annual charity concert in the country singer\u2019s hometown.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter Owen performed at a 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria benefit show with Buffett in Tallahassee, Florida, Buffett returned the favor in 2019 and played an acoustic set at the Jake Owen Foundation\u2019s annual fundraiser. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe literally flew his own plane in, landed at Vero Beach airport, got off in flip-fops and a shirt with Mac McAnally, gig bag on his shoulder, and played for the people of Vero Beach,\u201d Owen tells Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s Nashville Now<\/a><\/em> podcast. \u201cAnd then he got back on his airplane and flew himself out of there. Talk about that story, right? \u2018Jimmy Buffett\u2019s gonna stop by for a little bit in his airplane and play some songs\u2026\u2019 To have that kind of memory is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Buffett died<\/a> in 2023, Owen was tapped to sing at the \u201cMargaritaville\u201d legend\u2019s celebration of life concert <\/a>at the Hollywood Bowl in L.A. the following year. Owen says it\u2019s where he and Shooter Jennings, who produced Owen\u2019s new album of traditional country, Dreams to Dream<\/em>, really bonded. \u201cHe\u2019s such a huge Jimmy Buffett fan,\u201d Owen says of Jennings.<\/p>\n \n\tHe also recalls the surreal moments he spent onstage in the closing all-star jam. \u201cI was singing into a microphone looking face to face at Joe Walsh, singing \u2018Let It Be,\u2019 while McCartney played piano, and Snoop Dogg\u2019s smoking a blunt,\u201d Owen says. \u201cOnly Jimmy Buffett could bring these people together and provide this type of unity\u2026 and understanding that music is freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n