First “Let’s Stay Together” and now “Sweet Home Chicago,” did President Obama miss his musical calling?
It was just a month ago when the commander-in-chief channeled Al Green when he was at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. On Tuesday night the president joined the stage with musicians like Mick Jagger, B.B. King and Jeff Beck.
The musical talent performed in the East Room of the White House, and was asked to participant in the musical entertainment. At first the President modestly denied the request, but soon after he decided to become a part of the performance and joined in for his version “Sweet Home Chicago.”
Though he did not sing as much when he channeled Al Green at the Apollo Theater, the time Obama graced the audience with his voice he had a band to back him up. Right now there is only a two-minute clip of In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blueswill, the full version will air on local PBS stations on Monday, Feb. 27, at 9 p.m. ET.
For most of the evening, the President Obama and the country’s First Lady Michelle Obama enjoyed the concert from the audience, mildly dancing in their seats and sometimes even getting up to dance, according to reports from associated press.
Towards the end when the President was thanking everyone for coming to the performance Buddy Guy prodded President Obama to come up to the stage. He told him if he sand Al Green he could also sing at the White House telling him, “You gotta keep it up,” so the President, kind of begrudgingly took the stage and accepted a microphone that was handed to him by Jagger.
After Obama sang a few licks, enough to satisfy his audience, he handed over the mic to B.B. King.
“This music speaks to something universal,” Obama was quoted by the Associated Press. “No one goes through life without both joy and pain, triumph and sorrow. The blues gets all of that, sometimes with just one lyric or one note.”
