Eric Church, Maren Morris to Honor Jimmy Carter at All-Star Birthday Concert

From his love of the Allman Brothers Band to the time he quoted Bob Dylan lyrics at the 1976 Democratic convention, Jimmy Carter’s bond with music was undeniable and part of his counter-culture appeal. That connection will be further cemented with “Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song,” a multi-act concert, which brings together country, pop, and hip-hop artists to honor the former president, who turns 100 on Oct. 1.

Scheduled for Sept. 17 at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, the show is slated to include performances by Eric Church, Maren Morris, Drive-By Truckers, the War and Treaty, producer and DJ D-Nice, and keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who was a member of the Allmans when that band raised money for Carter’s campaigns in the Seventies. “Back when Jimmy Carter was running for president, the Allman Brothers played concerts for his campaign because we believed in his vision for hope and change for America,” Leavell said in a statement. “We could never have imagined what a positive impact he would have on the entire world.”

The alt-pop band Grouplove and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus will also be on the bill for “Jimmy Carter 100.” Killer Mike and Sean Penn are scheduled to be among the “celebrity guests” chiming in about his legacy. More musical artists will be announced.

The range of artists, rooted in different styles of American music, reflects Carter’s own sensibility and diverse tastes, as the late Robbie Robertson told RS shortly before his passing last year. When Dylan and the Band were touring together in 1974, Carter, then governor of Georgia, invited them to the governor’s mansion in Atlanta; to Robertson’s surprise, Carter complimented him on the Band’s albums.

“Coming from Canada, one of the things that I noticed in the Mississippi Delta, where this music grew out of the ground, is that when we played down south, there would be people of every age group,” Robertson said. “There’d be old people. There’d be young people. And everybody dancing. This was unheard of up north. But Jimmy Carter was a typical Southern guy who grew up loving music and he was as true as he could be as part of that world.”

Proceeds from the event will go toward the Carter Center, the non-profit, pro-human-rights organization founded in 1982 by Carter and his wife Rosalynn, who died last year. In honor of Carter’s birthday, tickets will be priced at, naturally, $100.