DISTRIBUTION – Lee Greenwood and Sara Evans release new singles featuring legendary songwriter, the late President Ronald Reagan.
Reagan may have been busy running for president of the United States in the 1970s and spending time as governor of California, but he still found time to write a few patriotic songs. and record producer Mike Curb, founder and chairman of Curb. Reports.
Curb said he met Reagan in 1974, his last year as governor, at an event for Junior Achievement, a charity that teaches students the concept of free enterprise. The two hit it off and Reagan asked the songwriter if he wanted to help him with his presidential campaign.
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Curb credits California traffic for giving him and Reagan plenty of time to write songs in the '70s, starting with “Together, A New Beginning.”
“And back in the 1970s, there was so much traffic in California that I used to go with them,” Curb told. Fox News Digital. “And a few times, we wrote songs together. One of them was the theme of a 1980 reunion that was played. It was called, 'Together, A New Beginning'. .. many of our recording artists came to the convention. I was in Detroit that year… And that song was sung at the convention.”
Ronald Reagan while running for president. (Getty Images)
Reagan lost the Republican nomination to Gerald Ford in 1976, but Curb says he channeled his disappointment into writing other music.
“And then, we wrote a song called 'God's Got a Big Plan' after he lost the election in '76,” Curb shared. “He was a little down and didn't think he was going to run again. And I said to him, 'God has a bigger plan.' And he said, 'Oh, that's what Nancy says,' and we wrote a song called 'God's Great Plan'… And we wrote a third song, 'We Can Start the World Again,' which is all when it was his. lyrics.”
Many years later, producer Mark Joseph played it to Lee Greenwood, who decided to fix it and change it, “Let's Start the World Again.”
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Greenwood recalled that memorable conversation.
“He said, 'Ronald Reagan and Mike Curb tried to write a song,'” Greenwood told Fox News Digital. “And he sent it to me, and he said, 'It's not actually finished yet.' The idea was to make the whole world, and what a waste, but what a great idea.”
“And I knew Ronald Reagan well, I knew Mike Curb really well – I was on his label for a while, and it gave me a chance to cover that song again,” Greenwood continued. “And I did it for them again, they like it. I recorded this version, and it should be released soon on their latest album from the movie “Reagan”.
Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office. (Noah “Nanea” Hamilton/Rawhide Pictures)
Greenwood wrote a new song, but said he kept some of the lyrics, including the phrase “light of freedom.”
The “Proud to Be an American” singer said The people of Tennessee that he combined Reagan's “altruism” with Curb's “vision” as well as the desire to revive the song as directly related to his knowledge of Reagan's legacy and the many conversations they had about and “how he believed that the United States was the greatest symbol. in the world for freedom.”
“These songs remind generations of what we (fondly) remember about the 'good old days' in American society,” Curb said of the song. “By truly portraying what Reagan was as an entertainer and focused on the middle class, responsible, good and fair who is easy to get along with.”
When asked if he was surprised by Reagan's songwriting skills, Curb pointed out that before Reagan entered politics, he spent many years as a Hollywood star. During his career, Reagan played or starred in more than 50 films. He was the subject of the biopic “Reagan” in 2024, when Dennis Quaid portrayed the 40th president.
Singer and songwriter Lee Greenwood. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“He was an amazing man,” Curb said. “Because, you know, sitting in the backseat with him, it was like sitting with your next-door neighbor. Down to Earth. They look at Reagan as the good old days.”
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“Start the World Over Again” will be released soon, while country singer Sara Evans is expected to release her record “God Has a Greater Plan.”
Fox News Digital's Hannah Lambert contributed to this report.