In a new documentary chronicling former President Jimmy Carter’s appreciation of rock ‘n’ roll, the Georgia statesman talks about a night during which his “best friend,” songwriter Willie Nelson, smoked marijuana with “one” of his sons on the roof of the presidential mansion.
“When Willie Nelson wrote his autobiography, he confessed that he smoked pot in the White House,” the 95-year-old Carter said in the trailer for Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President. “And he says that his companion was one of his servants at the White House, it actually was one of my sons.”
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have four children together, three of whom are men.
Nelson previously conceded that it “could have been” one of the Carters’ middle children, James Earl “Chip” Carter III, with whom he smoked marijuana on the roof of the White House, according to GQ. The Los Angeles Times reported that Chip said it happened during a Nelson performance at the White House in the fall of 1980. “In the break, I said, ‘Let’s go upstairs.’ We just kept going up till we got to the roof, where we leaned against the flagpole at the top of the place and lit one up,'” he said.
The documentary, directed by Mary Wharton, highlights performances and visits to the White House by a number of high-profile musicians during the 39th president’s one term in office. Linda Ronstadt, Charles Mingus, Bob Dylan, and a smattering of other musicians visited the White House during Carter’s tenure as commander in chief from 1977 to 1981. At one point in the documentary, Carter recalls how the Allman Brothers Band helped raise money for him when his campaign was in desperate need of cash.
“The Allman Bros. helped put me in the White House by raising money when I didn’t have any money,” Carter said.
