Bob Dylan’s ‘uneasy’ meeting with Jimmy Carter – and how the former president put his ‘mind at ease’

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Bob Dylan had an “uneasy” meeting with Jimmy Carter though the former president put his mind at ease rather quickly.

President Carter’s relationship with Dylan and folk music before and during his presidency is documented in Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President. Dylan spoke of his first meeting with the then-Governor of Atlanta and said he was a little anxious about the encounter. President Carter, who shared his love for Dylan and Willie Nelson’s music, occasionally referenced the Mr. Tambourine Man songwriter in political speeches. The pair eventually met when Dylan played a gig in Atalanta with The Band, with the songwriter invited for a meeting with Governor Carter.

Carter said: “Bob Dylan and The Band performed in Atlanta when I was governor, so I invited Bob Dylan and The Band to the governor’s mansion and my sons were very eager to be with The Band and I was honoured because Bob Dylan asked me to go out in the garden for a private conversation with him.

“The only questions he asked me were questions about my Christian faith and what it meant to me, the principles of it.” Dylan also recounted his first meeting with Carter, recalling how the governor reciting his song lyrics put him at ease.

He said: “When I first met Jimmy, the first thing he did was quote my songs back to me. It was the first time that I realised my songs had reached into the establishment realm. I had no experience in that realm. I’ve never seen that side, so it made me a little uneasy. He put my mind at ease by not talking down to me, and showing me he had a sincere appreciation for the songs I had written.

“He’s a kindred spirit to me of a rare kind, the kind of man you don’t meet every day and you’re lucky to meet if you do.” President Carter went on to call Dylan and Willie Nelson some of his “best friends”.

Dylan added it was “impossible to define” Carter, saying: “I think of him as a simple kind of man, like in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song. He takes his time, doesn’t live too fast, troubles come, but they will pass. Find the woman, find love, and don’t forget there’s always someone above. There’s many sides to him. He’s a nuclear engineer, a woodworking carpenter, he’s also a poet. He’s a dirt farmer. If you told me he’s a racecar driver I wouldn’t even be surprised.”