A Plains-spoken Presidential Friendship

A Plains-spoken Presidential Friendship

Singer Willie Nelson and former President Carter may have one of the most unlikely friendships around. After all, what could a country music outlaw have in common with a Sunday School teacher?

Plenty, according to Carter. "We couldn't think of any issue or any major subject on which we've ever had a disagreement," says Carter, who listened to Nelson's music while in the White House. "He and I grew up in the cotton fields. When we were both teenagers, we did blacksmithing, we shoed horses and mules, and we picked cotton. We both come from a very small town. I can't think of anything that separates us."

Carter's hometown of Plains, Ga. (pop. 653), was the beneficiary of that friendship recently when Nelson performed a free concert in front of Carter's old high school. The visit, which included a tour of Carter's childhood home, was filmed for a special, CMT Homecoming: President Carter in Plains, which airs on CMT at 9 p.m. ET Dec. 4.

Nelson's concert was perhaps the town's biggest social event of 2004. "It looks like half the town of Plains is here," Carter told the crowd of 3,000. Nelson sang his recent No. 1 duet with Toby Keith, Beer for My Horses, as well as his standards, Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys and Whiskey River. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, joined Nelson onstage at the show's end to sing Amazing Grace and Georgia on My Mind.

"The town has been very excited about this," says Millie Jennings, 67, of Plains. "I don't remember a concert like this."

Carter was just glad to have the opportunity to catch up with an old friend. He says, "If you could have one person in the world who could be your friend, I couldn't think of a better person than Willie Nelson."

Beverly Keel is American Profile's Entertainment Editor.

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