Yes, even Presidents listen to music.
Just after Josh White played at Franklin Roosevelt's inauguration, he released Southern Exposure, an album of 6 anti-segragationist songs including Bad Housing Blues.
Roosevelt heard the album after it caused some anger in the American South and he invited White to the White House for a performance. After the show, they spent a few hours talking about White's life, music and the Jim Crow South. At one point, Roosevelt reportedly asked White if the song Uncle Sam Says was about him. White answered:
Yes Mr. President, I wrote that song to you after seeing how my brother was treated in the segregated section of Fort Dix army camp. . . However that wasn't the first song I wrote to you. . . In 1933, I wrote and recorded a song called `Low Cotton,' about the plight of Negro cotton pickers down South, and in the lyrics I made an appeal directly to you to help their situation.
Read more about Josh White in this article from Living Blues Magazine.
