Former president Jimmy Carter turns 100 on Tuesday. To rejoice, the humanitarian’s Carter Heart organized a profit live performance in Atlanta this month that additionally showcased his lifelong love of music.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Jimmy Carter turns 100 on Tuesday. He is often called many issues – a peanut farmer from Plains, Ga., a Nobel Prize-winning humanitarian who constructed homes for these in want and the thirty ninth president of the US. Earlier this month, in Atlanta, the Carter Heart held a profit live performance in his honor. This is NPR’s Stephen Fowler.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: If somebody requested you to call a president synonymous with music, Jimmy Carter in all probability would not be the primary one which involves thoughts. There’s Barack Obama and his summer time playlists, Invoice Clinton and his saxophone. However the peanut farmer from Plains has seen a century of moments, each private and political, accompanied by a variety of melodies. So what higher strategy to rejoice the milestone than a musical who’s who to learn the Carter Heart’s mission to, quote, “wage peace.”
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JASON CARTER: My identify is Jason Carter. I am the chair of the…
(CHEERING)
CARTER: It is a good crowd. I am the chair of The Carter Heart Board of Trustees, and I need to welcome you to my grandfather’s one hundredth party.
FOWLER: The gala at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre featured performances throughout genres and generations from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Refrain to The B-52s…
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
THE B-52S: (Singing) Love shack, child. Love shack, child. Love shack, child.
FOWLER: …To DJ D-Good, India Arie and a efficiency from Chuck Leavell and Duane Betts, two members of the Allman Brothers Band.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHUCK LEAVELL AND DUANE BETTS: (Singing) Flip your love my manner. Flip your love my manner, yeah.
FOWLER: Carter backed antipiracy laws as governor of Georgia and have become acquainted with them and different Southern rock musicians of Macon’s Capricorn Data. And Carter’s run for president struck a chord with many musicians. The Allman Brothers held marketing campaign concert events. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Robert Shaw wrote a thousand-dollar examine. And people singer Oscar Model sang the marketing campaign track, “Why Not The Greatest?”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHY NOT THE BEST?”)
OSCAR BRAND: He mentioned his identify was Jenny Carter, and he was working for president. Then he laid out a plan of motion.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER”)
LORETTA LYNN: (Singing) Effectively, I used to be born a coal miner’s daughter.
FOWLER: The evening earlier than he took the oath of workplace as president, his inauguration gala featured performances from artists like composer Leonard Bernstein, Aretha Franklin and longtime household buddy Loretta Lynn.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LYNN: Perhaps individuals will stop speaking in regards to the – or laughing about the way in which I discuss now for the reason that president of the US talks the identical manner.
(LAUGHTER)
FOWLER: Carter’s appreciation for music extends far past hymns and Southern rock songs as a 1978 jazz live performance on the White Home delivered to mild. Everybody from Herbie Hancock to Cecil Taylor to Dizzy Gillespie performed, and the latter invited Carter as much as the stage to carry out the vocals to the tune “Salt Peanuts” as heard on this recording from NPR’s broadcast of the pageant.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
JIMMY CARTER: (Singing) Salt peanuts, salt peanuts. Salt peanuts, salt peanuts.
FOWLER: Carter informed The New York Occasions then that he had been listening to jazz from a younger age and known as it an artwork type that helped break down racial obstacles. All through his life, Carter’s additionally been the topic of many musical odes in many alternative kinds, like Lino Laskey’s disco therapy…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “JIMMY CARTER SAYS YES”)
GENE MARSHALL: (Singing) Can our authorities be competent? Jimmy Carter says sure.
FOWLER: …And this Western-sounding tone poem from Gene Marshall.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “VIVA PRESIDENT CARTER”)
LINO LASKEY: Beloved mates, see Jimmy Carter in workplace. Viva President Jimmy Carter.
FOWLER: It isn’t simply from his temporary time in workplace, both. Think about this 2011 track from Louisiana rapper Lil Wayne, fittingly known as “President Carter,” that makes use of a recreated pattern of Carter taking the presidential oath of workplace.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PRESIDENT CARTER”)
CARTER: I, President Carter, President Carter, President Carter, President Carter…
FOWLER: When Carter’s beloved spouse, Rosalynn, died in late November 2023, her tribute service included a efficiency by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who labored with the Carters on Habitat for Humanity initiatives.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRISHA YEARWOOD: (Singing) Think about there isn’t any heaven. It is easy for those who attempt.
FOWLER: At the same time as well being points within the COVID pandemic led Carter to largely retire from public life, a 2020 documentary known as “Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President” about his love of music was launched, serving as a becoming reminder of practically a century of ardour for one thing deeper than politics.
CARTER: Music is the most effective proof that folks have one factor in widespread.
FOWLER: And he says that is true, quote, “irrespective of the place they stay, it doesn’t matter what language they converse.”
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
YEARWOOD: (Singing) Think about there isn’t any nations.
FOWLER: Stephen Fowler, NPR Information, Atlanta.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
YEARWOOD: (Singing) It is not laborious to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no faith, too. Think about all of the individuals dwelling life…
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