President Barrack Obama joined Willie Nelson, John Fogerty, Common and Mary J. Blige onstage at a tribute concert to honor American troops Thursday (November 6). The group collaborated on an amped-up version of Nelson's "On the Road Again" with the president struggling to sing along.
A Salute to the Troops: In Performance at the White House aired on PBS last night (November 7) and the highlight of the concert came during the final performance of the Red Headed Stranger's classic 1980 tune, The Huffington Post notes. President Obama introduced Nelson, then informed the audience that the singer asked him to join in on the track. "Willie says I'm going to have to sing with him, so I'll try it out," he says in the video below, excellently titled, "yo, what is this."
The musicianship is spectacular and everyone seems to be enjoying the song, but Obama looks like he hasn't heard the track in awhile, if at all. He waves his wife, Michelle, onstage to perhaps take some of the heat off him, but that's difficult to do when you're the POTUS. Either way, he makes it through the performance, and like the rest of us, he marvels at the talent of Nelson (see guitar solo at 1:10).
Following the concert, Nelson spoke to CNN about about Obama and marijuana legalization. "I think I realize how he feels about it," he said. "And I've read some of his books and things about when he was a kid, how he maybe had delved into that matter a little bit. I'm sure he's very understanding of what's going on and he may be happy to see it happening."
The performer added that legalization of the drug might help to mellow the nation out a bit. "Well, I really think stress is the cause of a lot of our problems, and I really believe that the best medicine for stress is pot," he added. "Yeah, I think it would make us get along better all over the world."
