Chuck Leavell remembers when he and the rest of the Allman Brothers Band heard that Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia wanted to drop by and visit them at Capricorn Studios in Macon in 1973, when Southern rock groups were on the rise.
They figured it was just a photo op.
“In fact, he stayed like two hours,” said Mr. Leavell, a keyboardist who was 21 at the time and had little acquaintance with politics. “He listened. He was really into the music we were doing. He asked questions about the recording process, the state of the music business. He expressed his love for the music.”
That session was the beginning of an enduring relationship between the uptight Southern Baptist and the hard-partying band famous for its iconic slide guitar sound, extended concert jams and hits such as “Ramblin’ Man.” The relationship proved particularly beneficial when Mr. Carter ran for president a few years later and the Allman Brothers were arguably the hottest band in the country.
Looking for help building what seemed a quixotic quest at the time, Mr. Carter enlisted the band as partners in fund-raising at a benefit concert on Nov. 25, 1975, in Providence, R.I.
“First of all, I’m running for president,” Mr. Carter told the crowd at the civic center, most of whom probably had little idea who he was. “Secondly, I’m going to be elected. Third, this is very important: I need your help. Will you help me? Fourth, I want to introduce you to my friends and your friends, the ones who are going to help me get elected along with you, the great Allman Brothers.”
The concert went on to generate a reported $60,000 and provided a cash infusion for the campaign in the Iowa caucuses, which helped propel Mr. Carter to the White House.
“We knew the consequences,” said Mr. Leavell, who was invited by the Carter family to attend Mr. Carter’s state funeral in Washington on Thursday. “It was the first time they had matching funds in a presidential campaign.”
Other Southern rock groups such as the Marshall Tucker Band and Charlie Daniels also performed on behalf of Mr. Carter, but the early tie to the Allman Brothers was seen as pivotal in those critical days.
“We believed in him 100 percent,” said Mr. Leavell, who went on to start his own band after the Allman Brothers broke up and is the longtime principal keyboardist and musical director for the Rolling Stones. “We were hopeful and Carter seemed to offer that hope. He was genuine. You could just tell he meant what he said. There was no B.S. in any of it.”
And he said there was no clash between the famously strait-laced candidate and the members of a band that was anything but puritanical.
“He did not look down upon us or anybody else who might have been doing what we were doing as musicians and artists,” said Mr. Leavell, noting that Mr. Carter did not disavow Gregg Allman even when he got caught up in a drug trafficking trial just before the presidential election. “Carter didn’t disown him. He didn’t throw him out in the back yard. He remained friends with Gregg.”
Besides his remarkable career in music, Mr. Leavell has also become known as a leader in forestry practices and conservation at a plantation on land belonging to the family of his wife, Rose Lane White Leavell, outside Macon, where they hosted Mr. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.
“We rode through the woods and talked about trees and the property,” recalled Mr. Leavell, proud of his long association with the former president and the jump-start the band provided. “He really served as a role model for leaders and politicians.”
