Atlanta music jam planned for (almost) 100-year-old Jimmy Carter

ATLANTA — Country music crooners, Southern rockers, hip-hop artists and other musicians have waived their fees to take part in an Atlanta concert to mark Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday and raise funds for one of the former president’s most cherished undertakings.

The Sept. 17 “Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song” event at the Fox Theatre, announced Thursday by the Carter Center, is intended to support the Atlanta-based nonprofit’s peace, health and freedom initiatives around the world.

A number of other events related to Carter’s birthday have been scheduled in Atlanta and his southwest Georgia hometown of Plains, where he remains.

Carter’s 100th birthday is Oct. 1 and just the possibility that he might reach that milestone is stunning to some, given that the nation’s former commander in chief entered hospice nearly 18 months ago, at which time doctors indicated he might have only days to live.

“He has always surprised us,” Paige Alexander, the Carter Center’s chief executive, said this week. “This is one more example of his ability to keep going.”

Deep into his 90s Carter continued to travel the world for the Carter Center, participate in homebuilding projects with Habitat for Humanity, lead Sunday school classes at his home church in Plains, and hunt, fish, swim and stroll with the love of his life, wife Rosalynn Carter, who died last November.

In hospice, though, he’s mostly remained at home in Plains, out of public sight.

Alexander said she hasn’t spoken with him recently. But she’s heard about how he’s doing and there’s been no recent change in his condition.

“He is still the same. He is doing as well as a 99-year-old does. He still watches TV. Still watches Braves games. Not happy about the season.”

Alexander said there is “no chance” that the former president will attend the Sept. 17 musical event in Atlanta. But other Carter family members are expected to be there and the event could be streamed or recorded for him to view later, she said.

Building the event around music is “a tribute to how important music was to President Carter’s life,” she said.

The concert’s lineup includes Chuck Leavell, a keyboardist who has played with the the Rolling Stones and Allman Brothers Band. D-Nice, Drive-By Truckers, Grouplove, Maren Morris, the War and Treaty, Rickey Minor and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus will also perform. Celebrity guests include Killer Mike, Sean Penn and Dale Murphy. Other performers may be added. Tickets are $100 (before fees and taxes) in honor of Carter’s 100th birthday. They are slated to go on sale starting Aug. 5 at 10 a.m. at FoxTheatre.org/JimmyCarter100.

Alexander said Carter shared with her that he viewed music as a unifying force among people. He incorporated music in his campaigns for office, teaming up with popular artists including the Georgia-based Allman Brothers Band. He quoted Bob Dylan in a speech accepting the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1976. And at times joined Willie Nelson onstage.

In Plains, even in recent years, he would sometimes walk around listening to music on a Sony Walkman, Alexander said.

“His CD collection was eclectic,” incorporating numerous genres, she said.

CDs that are part of Carter’s personal collection still sit in stacks in his office at the Carter Center. Among the music: works by J.S. Bach (French Suit No. 5, English Suite No. 3), the Allman Brothers Band, Queen Latifah, Bob Dylan (“Blood on the Tracks” as well as “Together Through Life”), pianist David Osborne, k.d. lang (“Shadowland”), Kathy Mattea (“Love Travels”), Lindsay Rakers Band (Rakers also is a Carter Center staffer in the River Blindness Elimination Program) and Madonna (“Ray of Light”).

Alexander once asked the former president to name his favorite musician. He refused to share that.

His grandson Jason Carter, who chairs the Carter Centers Board of Trustees, said in a news release that “music has been — and continues to be — a source of joy, comfort, and inspiration for my grandfather.”

Beyond the September concert, the Carter Center has launched another activity to honor Carter’s 100th birthday: a new digital mosaic composed of images, videos and messages from members of the public. People can view it and contribute to it by visiting CarterCenter.org/JimmyCarter100.