Jimmy Carter is the only US President to hail from the Peach State and his noted relationship with the Allman Brothers Band has more meaning than some may think, according to band experts.
WGXA spoke with Willie Perkins, the former road manager for the Allman Brothers Band during their 70s renaissance.
He believes that a Nov. 1975 show in Providence, RI. may have been what helped Jimmy Carter the most.
According to Perkins, Carter reached out to Capricorn Records co-founder Phil Walden about wanting to enter the presidential race, but did not have enough money to enter the Iowa caucus.
“We were able to raise $60,000 in seed money,” Perkins said. “And he later credited the band publicly that without that shot of that $60,000 to get him started, he would have never been able to mount a campaign.”
After he won the election, Perkins received a hand-signed letter from Carter on Dec. 14, 1976.
“To William Perkins,” it reads. “I really appreciate your congratulations upon my election… I need your help more than ever during the coming years. With the support of friends like you, we will have a good administration.”
Almost 50 years later, it still hangs on his wall.
“I see it every day,” Perkins said. “It’s a remembrance of him, and it’s a remembrance of how we were able to help him.”
Perkins said that Walden became friends with Jimmy Carter after he was elected as Georgia’s governor.
Kyler Mosely with the Georgia Allman Brothers Band Association added that the friendship extended to members of the band before he ran for president.
“All the band members realized how genuine and honest, down to earth a person Carter was,” Mosely told WGXA. “This guy’s a peanut farmer from South Georgia… he knew what hard work was.”
This led to a slew of benefit shows for the president-hopeful by the ABB and other artists at Capricorn Records like the Marshall Tucker Band.
“The way it worked out, from my understanding, is that when they did these benefits, people buying the tickets actually had to sign off their personal information that that ticket sale was an individual contribution to the carter campaign,” Mosely explained.
Under campaign laws at the time, Mosely said this was completely legal.
While Carter’s legacy in Washington may be mixed among historians, Mosely also believes the tunes of Middle Georgia were a driving force for the 39th President’s win.
“The young folks that were Allman Brothers fans, not only here but all over the country, anybody that was a fan of Marshall Tucker or Wet Willie,” Mosely said. “There was that connection of appeal was the best way to put it.”
And here in Macon, Jimmy Carter’s name still holds a lot of meaning for Willie Perkins.
“He’d been in hospice for quite a while,” Perkins said. “I think it was just another aspect of his character. He just hung on as long as he could and he’s going to be buried with honors here shortly… he was a good man.”
Funeral proceedings for President Carter begin tomorrow in Atlanta before traveling to Washington and back to his hometown of Plains on his day of remembrance on Jan. 9.
WGXA will have coverage from events in South Georgia next Thursday.
