Review: "Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President"

I like to refer to popular music in whatever else I'm talking about on this blog because popular music is the language with which I speak.  Popular music comes in handy to discuss social or political trends, for example.  Music is also how our 39th President, James Earl Carter, Jr., communicated.

"Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President" is a CNN film exploring how Carter embraced music in conveying his message and his principles as a presidential candidate and as President.  The film is a joyful, energetic look at a side of Carter that many of us forgot exists.  We hear stories from Carter himself, his son Chip, and his former aides - along with commentary from Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Gregg Allman (who died in 2017), and Nile Rodgers about how the President not only liked the music, he understood it.  It's a re-affirming celebration of American music, particularly seventies Southern rock, country and western, rhythm and blues, and jazz.  Even Carter's hairstyle symbolized a new, relaxed attitude reflecting the music he loved; as rock author Nicholas Schaffner once said, Carter in 1976 had as much hair as the Beatles did in 1964.  

Some priceless moments include President Carter providing the vocals at a White House jazz concert while Dizzy Gillespie plays "Salt Peanuts," Aretha Franklin performing "God Bless America" at Carter's 1977 inaugural gala, the story of Carter's deep friendship with the Allman Brothers Band, and a story from Willie Nelson about how he smoked pot with, it later was revealed Carter's son Chip in the White House.  President Carter clearly comes across as the man Nile Rodgers describes in this documentary as a President who saw the world the way musicians saw it.

The film notes, though, that this rock and roll Camelot couldn't last, as the economy soured and American embassy staffers in Iran were taken hostage.  Indeed, the rise of Ronald Reagan - whose greased-back, pre-Elvis hair and his indifference toward newer forms of music signaled a return to a Presidency out of touch with popular culture - pretty much slammed the door shut on this era.  (Reagan at least hosted Frank Sinatra and Marvin Hamlisch at the White House; I can't think of one musical performance ever hosted at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by the outgoing administration of Donald J. Trump.)  But this documentary is still a wonderful time capsule reminding us of what what was and what could be again.

Originally broadcast on January 3, "Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President" re-airs on Saturday, January 9 at 10 Eastern time on CNN. I presume it's also on On Demand.  I think I'll see it again. 😊