Jimmy Carter was 52 when he started his presidency. But he embraced the music of the next generation: rock and soul.
He counted Bob Dylan among his close friends. The Allman Brothers kick-started his presidential campaign with fund-raising concerts. Aretha Franklin made her first appearance at a presidential inaugural when she sang “God Bless America” for Mr. Carter in 1977.
Willie Nelson, who became another of Mr. Carter’s longtime friends, smoked marijuana — with Mr. Carter’s son Chip — when he stayed overnight at the White House. The Carter administration clearly had loosened up Washington formality.
Mr. Carter’s musical connections were a confluence of strategy, generational change and forthright appreciation. As a Southerner who grew up in an era of segregation, he understood firsthand how music could draw together disparate constituencies and open lines of communication. Across class, race and culture, his politics strove to be inclusive. Music helped.
While he was governor of Georgia, Mr. Carter found an ally in Phil Walden, who founded Capricorn Records, the Macon, Ga., label that was a crucible of 1970s Southern rock. Capricorn’s roster, including the Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker, provided crucial early support, and some youth credibility, for Mr. Carter’s presidential campaign. So did other hitmakers like Jimmy Buffett, Charlie Daniels and John Denver. Mr. Carter, unlike some politicians in the 1970s, was willing to be seen with longhaired hippie types.
And each of the seven battleground states that will probably determine the outcome of the election is just about as narrowly divided — or even more so.
1000 free spins no depositBut Mr. Carter’s ties to music went beyond expediency. Brought up as a Southern Baptist, he soaked up the gospel songs that are a foundation of 1960s and 1970s soul, country and rock. Although he was born in 1924, well before the rock ’n’ roll era, Mr. Carter bonded with his children through their favorite music. And by all accounts he was a genuine fan.
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