Posted on 09/10/2004 6:38:02 AM PDT by SmithPatterson
Nelson visits Carter
Country singer Willie Nelson meets with his friend Jimmy Carter in Plains for a television special and a free concert.
Elliot Minor The Associated Press
PLAINS — Willie Nelson visited his longtime friend former President Jimmy Carter on Thursday for the taping of a television special and a free concert for the residents of Carter's hometown.
The Associated Press Former President Jimmy Carter, left, talks with his old friend, country singer Willie Nelson, on a platform of the railroad depot Thursday in Plains. "We have a long friendship," Carter said, noting that in recent conversations he and Nelson "couldn't think of any issue on any subject on which we disagreed."
Nelson responded: "I've always admired him. He did a great job as president."
After that accolade, Carter who will turn 80 in October, quipped, "It makes me almost want to run again."
About 3,000 people at the concert Thursday night cheered, whistled and danced while Nelson performed.
Despite signs prohibiting alcohol and smoking, Nelson managed to sing of some of those sins in "Whiskey River" and "Whiskey For My Men, Beer For My Horses."
"I'm crazy about the blues," said 62-year-old Bill Skinner of Utica, N.Y. "I should have been born in the South."
Calling Nelson one of the most significant country music performers in his lifetime, Carter said he was impressed that Nelson had maintained his "relationship with working people." Nelson is famous for his "Farm-Aid" concerts to help the nation's farmers.
"I'm still a farmer," Carter said, noting that he grows about 3,000 acres of corn, peanuts and wheat. "I'm in the field every chance I get."
The two were brought together again for a Country Music Television Special titled, "CMT Homecoming: Jimmy Carter in Plains."
CMT spokeswoman Jana Bowen said the special should air in December.
Nelson joined Carter and the CMT crew for a tour of Carter's boyhood home in nearby Archery. Segments were also filmed at other locations that were significant in Carter's life.
"We wanted to get back to the roots of the celebrity, in this case, Jimmy Carter," Bowen said. "Jimmy Carter told us that Willie Nelson was one of his favorite musicians," she said.
CMT invited Nelson to take part and he said "tell me when to be there," Bowen said.
Carter and Nelson said they've sung "Amazing Grace" together in the past, and Nelson sang it again Thursday evening on the grounds of Carter's former high school.
The school is now a part of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site and features displays highlighting Carter's agrarian boyhood, his career as a Naval nuclear submarine officer and his entrance into politics. He served as Georgia's governor before moving into the White House as the nation's 39th president.
Nelson gave a concert in Plains in 1985 and sang "Georgia on My Mind," at a ceremony in Oslo, Sweden when Carter received the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.
" 'Georgia' has been a song I knew," Nelson said. "It's one of my favorites. Ray Charles recorded it first, so some people thought that I had a lot of nerve."
Nelson said Plains, a rustic town of 700, is a "metropolis" compared with his hometown of Abbott, Texas, population 300, but it reminded him of home.
"We have a lot in common," the singer said.
"We both grew up in cotton fields and shoed horses," Carter said. "His selection of music affects my heart."
"So the country singer says to the leftist wuss..."
Willie, Willie, Willie, you just gotta give up them ol' left-handed cigarettes you been puffing on.
They're really beginning to affect your mind.
Back then, Willie was so high most the time, anyone would look like they were doing a good job. Now it seems as if he has gone back to his old ways.
Thus confirming once again that he is still an incredibly naive and foolish man.
Carters favorite song
Smoking weed with Willy....
Maybe they smoked some weed together. willie probably likes peanuts because he was the only president in recent times whose administration didn't go after him as a tax cheat.
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