04-13-2023 Howard Magazine - Flipbook - Page 54
RETRO HOCO
BY MIKE KLINGAMAN Howard Magazine
Singing the night away
When Willie Nelson and Jimmy Carter made music together at Merriweather Post
Country star Willie Nelson, left, sings“Georgia on My Mind”with President Jimmy Carter on stage at Merriweather Post Pavilion on July 21, 1978. MERRIWEATHER
POST PAVILION | HANDOUT
Former President Jimmy Carter’s political
and philanthropic legacy is well known, but his
singing legacy seems to garner less attention.
In 1980, as the chief executive enjoyed a Willie
Nelson concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion,
the country singer stopped the show with a
personal request.
“I’d like to invite the president to come up and
help us sing ‘Amazing Grace,’” he said. So Carter
took the stage and, with Nelson, delivered a duet
that earned rousing applause. It was, the media
reported, the first time that a sitting president
had performed as such in public.
The concert, billed as a fundraiser for Carter’s
reelection campaign, drew 10,000 people, each
of whom paid $10 or $15 to hear Shotgun Willie
sing “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Blue Eyes Crying
54
| Spring 2023 | howardmagazine.com
In The Rain” and other hits. An unabashed fan of
Nelson’s music, the president had collected his
records and even entertained the scruffy artist at
the White House. Asked to headline a fundraiser
in Columbia for Carter, then locked in a tight
race with Ronald Reagan, Nelson agreed.
The commander in chief arrived by helicopter, landing nearby at the farm of James Clark Jr.,
president of the Maryland State Senate. At the
concert, Carter sat up front, flanked by then-Gov.
Harry Hughes and U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes.
The Sun acknowledged the president’s
campaign ploy, musing that he had taken “a
lucrative and exciting ride on Willie Nelson’s
pigtails.”
In 1978, Carter — a onetime Georgia peanut
farmer — attended an earlier Nelson show at
Merriweather, arriving unannounced, having
flown in from Camp David with his wife, Rosalynn. That evening, under the stars, the Carters
stayed for the entire 2-1/2 hour performance
by Nelson and country singer Emmylou Harris,
sitting among a wave of spirited fans dressed
mostly in cowboy shirts and jeans. Sartorially,
only the Secret Service agents stood out.
At one point, in a nod to the then-new president, Nelson broke into a moving rendition
of “Georgia on My Mind,” after which Carter
emerged from the crowd, removed his jacket and
tie, strode onstage and embraced the singer. At
concert’s end, the presidential party drove to the
grounds of Howard Community College where
they boarded their helicopter and returned to
Camp David.