Clint Black Shares Memories of Late 'Friend' Jimmy Buffett: 'It's Hard to Think of Him as Gone' (Exclusive)

The country music icon is remembering the famed "Margaritaville" musician and mogul, who died on Sept. 1.

Clint Black is a musical legend in his own right, but he, too, is missing the one and only Jimmy Buffett.

Black, 61, considered Buffett a “friend,” he tells PEOPLE, and Black himself was also just a massive fan.

“I spent a good bit of time around him. I felt like I knew him through all of his music as I listened growing up and read his books, and then got to be around him and found him to be the guy I thought he was,” says Black.

The country crooner toured with Buffett in the summer of 1998 — an experience he’s never forgotten.

“To be invited to go on tour — I was in his band for a summer — and then we recorded together and we wrote a song together. It was, for me, being a Parrot Head, it was like hanging out with Merle Haggard,” Black muses. “It was not one of the things you think, ‘Oh, maybe I'll get to do this one day.’ It just happens.”

Related: Clint Black on 'Sibling' Wynonna Judd: 'She's the Girl in Charge, I Was a Fun Little Nuisance' (Exclusive)

Buffett died on Sept. 1 at the age of 76 after being diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma four years prior.

“It was a bad, bad weekend when I heard the news, me and a lot of my friends, it really brought us down. I listened to his music over that [Labor Day] weekend and since, here and there,” Black recalls.

Though Black says he certainly wasn’t in Buffett’s inner circle, just the knowledge that Buffett was alive and well brought him — like many Parrot Heads — a sense of comfort. Having to adjust to the new reality without the “Margaritaville” maestro in the last month has been challenging.

“I can't always do it,” he admits of listening to Buffett’s music. “Sometimes it's just too much. Just knowing he's there, he's still there, he's still doing his thing, and we can still see him, it's hard to think of him as gone [now]. So it's not always easy to go back and listen to that music, and I got to be ready. I got to be ready to hold the line, and not let it bring me down too much.”

Related: Remembering Jimmy Buffett's Life in Photos

The good news is that Black has season five of his Circle Network TV show Talking in Circles with Clint Black, which premiered last Friday, to look forward to.

He’s also preparing to hit the road in January for seven shows with his wife, Lisa Hartman Black, and their daughter, Lily Pearl Black, for their annual “Mostly Hits & The Mrs.” Tour.

“Well, I don't get homesick when they're out here! It's fantastic, of course, in the show, but really the icing on the cake is having my family with me on tour and then having them come on stage,” he says of the endeavor. “And Lily, I'm so proud of her. I've had to learn how to just be cool on stage and be a guy in the band, let her do her thing and not be a gloating dad over there.”

As for having his wife of 32 years by his side?

"And of course Lisa comes out — and they never let me see their new wardrobe before they come on stage — so Lisa just comes out and knocks my socks off,” Black says. “She sings so well. She's such a pro.”

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