3 Memorable Moments When Former President Jimmy Carter and Willie Nelson Shared the Stage and Their Lifelong Musical Bond

On June 18, 1978, then-president Jimmy Carter held a White House Jazz Festival to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival. Invitees included Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Katharine Handy Lewis (daughter of W. C. Handy) Handy Lewis, Jo Jones, Clark Terry, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Ron Carter, and Ornette Coleman, along with legendary jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.

During the concert, Carter requested Gillespie’s band play one of his favorites, “Salt Peanuts.” Then Gillespie told the president that he would only play the song if he joined him on stage. A former peanut farmer in Georgia, Carter would take on vocals singing its only staccato lyric: salt peanuts.

This was only the beginning of the new president’s foray into music. The 39th president of the United States (1977-1981), entered the White House during the heyday of outlaw country and Southern rock and befriended the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson—who even smoked pot with Carter’s son James Earl “Chip” Carter on the White House roof in 1980—along the way.

At the time, Carter faced criticism for his musician friends visiting the White House. “There are some people that didn’t like my being deeply involved with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan and disreputable rock and rollers, but I didn’t care about that because I was doing what I really believed,” said Carter. “And the response from the followers of those musicians was much more influential than a few people that thought being associated with rock and roll and radical people was inappropriate for a president.”

[RELATED: Remember When: Willie Nelson Smoked a “Fat Austin Torpedo” Joint With Jimmy Carter’s Son on the Roof of the White House]

Carter’s faith in music stretched far beyond country, folk, and rock. A fan of jazz since his youth, he believed the genre could break through racial barriers. “Jazz was not accepted at the beginning, I believe, because of an element of racism,” said Carter in 1978. “This form of art has done as much as anything to break down these barriers.”

Throughout Carter’s presidency—and long after—music was always part of his and wife of 77 years Rosalyn’s life and they both joined Nelson on stage several times throughout the decades. A lifelong fan and friend of Nelson’s, Carter once said his music also helped him during the later days of his administration.

“I would play Willie Nelson music primarily,” said Carter, “so I could think about my problems and say a few prayers.”

[RELATED: 3 Music Moments That Turned Jimmy Carter Into the “Rock and Roll President”]

“Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother” (1980)

During Nelson’s 1980 visit, Carter invited him to perform on the South Lawn of the White House. Carter and his wife then joined Nelson to sing a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker’s 1973 “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother.” Sadly, there is no available video footage of the performance. Their surprise performances together would continue throughout the ’80s. In 1985 Carter also joined Nelson’s on stage during a concert in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.

“Georgia on My Mind”

There were two songs the Carters never hesitated performing with Nelson: “Amazing Grace” and “Georgia on My Mind.” In 2004, Carter joined Nelson on both songs for a taping of the 2004 CMT Homecoming: Jimmy Carter in Plains. The latter, a Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael composition made famous by Ray Charles in 1969, was the perfect ode to Carter’s home state. The two continued to reunite to perform the song with Carter on harmonica.

“Amazing Grace” with Half of The Highwaymen (2016)

Throughout the years, the Carters would join Nelson on stage to sing “Amazing Grace” at Chastain Park Amphitheatre (now Cadence Bank Amphitheatre) in Atlanta, Georgia. That night, Jimmy and Rosalyn joined Nelson and his former Highwaymen bandmate Kris Kristofferson for a tender rendition of “Amazing Grace.”

The performance marked one of the former president’s final appearances on stage.

Photo: Rick Diamond / Getty Images