Used with permission of CMA Closeup News Service
By Crystal Caviness
Charlie Daniels. Mere mention of the name conjures as many images as the musician has Gold and Platinum albums on the wall - and that's quite a few.
Fiddle player. Unapologetic American patriot. High-energy entertainer. Country artist. Legendary songwriter. Sincere and devout Christian. Southern rocker. Gospel musician. Benevolent humanitarian. International star.
Daniels and the music he makes with The Charlie Daniels Band have long defied easy definition. Neither has his music fit into a neat box with a tidy label.
"I've always been a challenge for record label executives," Daniels said, laughing.
The 68-year-old North Carolina native credits many musical styles, including early influences of Pentecostal hymns, local bluegrass, R&B and Country Music for driving his creative muse during a career now in its fifth decade.
"I've spent a lot of time in clubs in the middle 50s through 1967 when I came to Nashville and even after that, playing what happened to be the popular music of the day. Before the radio stations were so strictly formatted, popular music was Elvis, Marty Robbins, B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Bill Haley and the Comets, Carl Perkins - so many kinds of music of all formats and they all made the charts together.
"Between playing that and hearing it on the radio, I was exposed to so many kinds of music - and then my background - when I got ready to play original music, I just let it all kind of creep in. I was very irreverent as far as musical styles."
Daniels' lack of respect for singular genres may have caused headaches for music business chiefs, but when his first album came out in 1971, the music transcended boundaries in a way that caused The Charlie Daniels Band to be embraced by fans of many musical styles.
While songs "The Devil Went Down To Georgia," "The South's Gonna Do It Again" and "Long Haired Country Boy" made their way into the annals of music history, Daniels and The CDB toured the world, creating a fan base that still keeps them busy performing more than 100 shows a year.
