Here’s Don Johnson and Stephen Stills Performing for Bill Clinton at a 1993 Inaugural Bash

Also on the bill at the Absolutely Unofficial Blue Jeans Bash For Arkansas: Bob Dylan, The Band, Dr. John and Dickey Betts.

Music Features
Here’s Don Johnson and Stephen Stills Performing for Bill Clinton at a 1993 Inaugural Bash

Did you know that Paste owns the world’s largest collection of live music recordings? It’s true! And what’s even crazier, it’s all free—hundreds of thousands of exclusive songs, concerts and videos that you can listen to and watch right here at Paste.com, from Dizzy Gillespie to The Kinks to The Police to LCD Soundsystem. Every day, we’ll dig through the archive for the coolest recording we have from that date in history. Search and enjoy!

Oh, the Clinton years—a simpler time when sex scandals still got the banner headlines in Washington. When Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992 after 12 years of Republican rule, no one knew the name Monica Lewinsky. They just wanted to watch the totally chill former Governor of Arkansas jam on saxophone.

On Jan. 17, 1993, the President-elect feted his home state with the “Blue Jeans Bash,” an Arkansas-themed party open to Arkansas residents only. The event, held at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., featured a Southern feast (catfish and hush puppies) and tunes courtesy of The Band, Dr. John, Ronnie Hawkins, Clarence Clemens and more. (OK, the performers didn’t have to be from Arkansas, although Hawkins and Levon Helm were.) There were even a couple duets courtesy of Stephen Stills and actor Don Johnson, who was between Miami Vice and Nash Bridges at the time, and served as the evening’s host with his wife, Melanie Griffith.

Johnson, in case you’re wondering, released two albums in the 1980s. Here he is with Stills performing T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday,” made famous by the Allman Brothers.

Let’s also check out this rare recording of Bob Dylan’s “Blue Jeans Bash” performance. The folk legend performed “To Be Alone With You,” from his 1969 album Nashville Skyline, for the Clintons on what had to be one of the more Clinton-esque events of the era. Listen below.

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