Charlie Daniels Dies at 84.

 Charlie Daniels has died at 84 years old as a result of a hemohragic stroke at a Nashville hospital. Daniels was known for blending bluegress and country with popular Southern rock.
Charlie Daniels in September 2017

He had a long career.

Born in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1936, Daniels grew up listening to rhythm-and-blues and gospel music through two Nashville area AM stations. In 1954, he assisted Elvis Prestley with writing the song It Hurts Me. Since then he has worked with numerous artists including backing Bob Dylan on three of his late 60s/early 70s records, and the Youngbloods. 

By 1973, Daniels hit the top 10 with the song Uneasy Rider from his third LP, Honey in The Rock (1973). 

The Volunteer Jam

In 1975, after playing guitar and fiddle and singing backing vocals on the Marshall Tucker Band's first few albums, Daniels organized the first ever Volunteer Jam. The annual festival took place for the next 20 years - except for a gap in the 80s. These Volunteer Jams saw notorious artists such as Outlaws, The Allman Brothers Band, and The Marshall Tucker band among others. Even non-Southern musicians, such as Billy Joel, played at the Volunteer Jam. 

Recent years saw younger artists take the stage including Billy Ray Cyrus (who is the father of Miley Cyrus, folks). After a three-year gap in the mid 90s, the Volunteer Jam was first held in 1999 through 2006. In 2015, the 40th Aniversary of the Volunteer Jam was held.

That's not all he was known for.

However, around the same time, Daniels formed the Charlie Daniels Band, who in 1979 had a hit with The Devil Went Down to Georgia, which hit Number 3 on the Bilboard Charts and even won Daniels a Grammy award in the category of Best Country Vocal Performance. A year later, the track found itself crossing over onto rock radio!

In 1993, he hooked up with fiddleist Mark O'Conner to record an updated version of Devil, retitled The Devil Came Back to Georgia. The original version is still spun on classic rock and country stations, but sadly, I have yet to hear it on my local classic rock station.

Not just a musician - an actor!

Folks Daniels was not just known for his hits, but also for his acting roles. In 1999, he lent his spoken voice to the movie Civil War, and in 2002 he starred in two episodes of King of The Hill. He also appeared in commercials - a UPS commercial in 2002 convincing renowned NASCAR driver Dale Jarrett to race the UPS truck and more recently, in 2009, he was featured playing his fiddle in a GEICO commercial!

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In 2005, Daniels was honord as a Broadcast Music, Inc. icon at the 53rd annual Country Music Awards. Since 2008 he has been playing with the Grand Ole Ospry, a weekly country music show in Nashville. He has also been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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