Country music legend Charlie Daniels dies at 83

Country Music legend Charlie Daniels, best known for his monster 1979 hit “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” died Monday of a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 83.

According to a press release from his representatives, the acclaimed Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry member died at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tenn., where doctors determined his cause of death.

Daniels accumulated a slew of accolades and awards during his long career in music, including his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Musicians Hall of Fame and becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He also won a Dove Award for gospel albums and a coveted Grammy Award for best country vocal performance by a duo or group.

While The Charlie Daniels Band had numerous hits and remained a staple in Country music radio, his most enduring hit was a tale of a young man named Johnny who challenged the devil to a fiddle-playing contest and came away with a violin made of gold.

“Few artists have left a more indelible mark on America's musical landscape than Charlie Daniels. An outspoken patriot, beloved mentor, and a true road warrior, Daniels parlayed his passion for music into a multi-platinum career and a platform to support the military, underprivileged children, and others in need,” a statement from Daniels’ representatives reads.

In addition to his music, Daniels was a major advocate for several causes that were close to his heart including supporting the U.S. military with The Journey Home Project, which he founded in 2014 with his manager, David Corlew, to help veterans.

Daniels also worked closely with the Jason Foundation, a Nashville-based nonprofit started by a father who lost his teen son to suicide. Daniels previously said that after looking at the data, he knew he could help veterans and needed to educate people on just how close to tragedy we might be at any given moment.

Just saw him on TV two days ago in Urban Cowboy...

I was seven years old when "The Devill Went Down to Georgia" came out.

Let me tell you - it was a REALLY BIG DEAL whenever it came on the radio because you see there were TWO versions. Both versions were IDENTICAL except there is a line toward the end that is different in each version. The FIRST version says "I told you once you son of a gun" and the second version says "I told you once you son of a bitch" then of course both go "I'm the best there's ever been."

Now the 1st version was cool, no doubt, BUT the second version? Jesus Christ You would be sitting there hoping and pryaing for three or four minutes that he'd say "son of a bitch" on the radio, and when he did you'd be screaming triumphantly inside "Yes! Yes! YES!!!! He said it!!!" Other times you'd be bummed out and disappointed when he said "Son of a gun." I mean it really was a big let down, as these things go anyway at age 7. RIP Charlie.

[Edited 7/6/20 18:27pm]

[Edited 7/6/20 18:28pm]

[Edited 7/6/20 18:29pm]

hardwork said:

I was seven years old when "The Devill Went Down to Georgia" came out.

Let me tell you - it was a REALLY BIG DEAL whenever it came on the radio because you see there were TWO versions. Both versions were IDENTICAL except there is a line toward the end that is different in each version. The FIRST version says "I told you once you son of a gun" and the second version says "I told you once you son of a bitch" then of course both go "I'm the best there's ever been."

Now the 1st version was cool, no doubt, BUT the second version? Jesus Christ You would be sitting there hoping and pryaing for three or four minutes that he'd say "son of a bitch" on the radio, and when he did you'd be screaming triumphantly inside "Yes! Yes! YES!!!! He said it!!!" Other times you'd be bummed out and disappointed when he said "Son of a gun." I mean it really was a big let down, as these things go anyway at age 7

I felt every bit of that. I'm only slightly older than you. I think I was in 6th grade, so around age 11, when it came out.

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

TrivialPursuit said:

TrivialPursuit said:

hardwork said:

I was seven years old when "The Devill Went Down to Georgia" came out.

Let me tell you - it was a REALLY BIG DEAL whenever it came on the radio because you see there were TWO versions. Both versions were IDENTICAL except there is a line toward the end that is different in each version. The FIRST version says "I told you once you son of a gun" and the second version says "I told you once you son of a bitch" then of course both go "I'm the best there's ever been."

Now the 1st version was cool, no doubt, BUT the second version? Jesus Christ You would be sitting there hoping and pryaing for three or four minutes that he'd say "son of a bitch" on the radio, and when he did you'd be screaming triumphantly inside "Yes! Yes! YES!!!! He said it!!!" Other times you'd be bummed out and disappointed when he said "Son of a gun." I mean it really was a big let down, as these things go anyway at age 7

I felt every bit of that. I'm only slightly older than you. I think I was in 6th grade, so around age 11, when it came out.

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

3rdeyedude said:

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

Stay on topic folks

If you want to discuss race, the flag and other political gossip, there's the handy dandy P&R forum.

Thanks

luv4u said:

Stay on topic folks

If you want to discuss race, the flag and other political gossip, there's the handy dandy P&R forum.

Thanks

I am on topic. We are talking about Charlie Daniels. If there's a big diatribe in the OP about his life and the "mark" he left on the world, and all of his causes, then him being a good ol' boy is just as valid. That was part of his life. [Snip - luv4u]

luv4u said:

Stay on topic folks

If you want to discuss race, the flag and other political gossip, there's the handy dandy P&R forum.

Thanks

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

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funkaholic1972 said:

Moderators have final say.
prince.org administrators and moderators reserve the right to edit, relocate and/or remove any message, at any time, for any reason. Consider all editing decisions final. If you don't agree with a decision, you may discuss it with the moderator who made the judgment in private. If you cannot reach resolution with the Moderator in private

Stop sucking up funkaholic1972.

Never thought a violin rocked, but it did

looby said:

funkaholic1972 said:

Moderators have final say.
prince.org administrators and moderators reserve the right to edit, relocate and/or remove any message, at any time, for any reason. Consider all editing decisions final. If you don't agree with a decision, you may discuss it with the moderator who made the judgment in private. If you cannot reach resolution with the Moderator in private

Stop sucking up funkaholic1972.

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

I read his autobiography about a year ago. It was pretty good. My favorite song by CDB is Uneasy Rider.

MickyDolenz said:

I read his autobiography about a year ago. It was pretty good. My favorite song by CDB is Uneasy Rider.

I love autobiographies, I will probably buy and read this one since you said it was good.

JoeBala said:

RIP Charlie Daniels. He co-wrote this Presley song. https://youtu.be/VyQ6RR7oYZ0

That's a beautiful song

RIP Charlie Daniels

Arsenio Hall Show

Marshall Tucker Band’s Doug Gray Opens Up About 50-Year Friendship With Charlie Daniels
by Sterling Whitaker | August 4, 2020 | Taste Of Country

Marshall Tucker Band frontman Doug Gray was as close as brothers with Charlie Daniels over the decades, and he's opening up about his 50-year friendship with the man he calls "the broad shoulders of all of us" after his death at the age of 83.

The friends met as young musicians in Nashville, and over the years, as Daniels built a career with the Charlie Daniels Band and Gray headed up the Marshall Tucker Band, they played more gigs on the bill together with each other than with any other acts they worked with.

CDB's classic hits include "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," "Long Haired Country Boy," "Uneasy Rider," "Simple Man" and more. Marshall Tucker Band are best known for a string of hits that includes "Can't You See," "Heard It in a Love Song" and others. The two bands were slated to tour together again in 2020 on their joint Fire on the Mountain Tour, which took its name from Charlie Daniels Band's platinum-selling 1974 album Fire on the Mountain, as well as Marshall Tucker Band's 1978 hit song by the same title.

Slated to launch in April, the tour was initially delayed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Daniels had planned to get back on the road later in 2020, but the country icon didn't live to see those plans come to fruition; he died on July 6 at the age of 83 after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke, and Gray talked to Taste of Country by phone to share his fondest memories of his longtime friendship with the beloved musician.

Daniels was someone everyone came to when they were going through tough times on or off the road, Gray recalls, buoyed by his rock-solid relationship with his wife, Hazel.

"His ability to make you feel better, not only about yourself, but ... you do 300 dates on the road, a lot of times when you come home, you can't get comfortable at home unless you're off the road a little bit," Gray explains. "We'd all sit in the dressing room at different times and talk about your wife, or your ex-wife, or your wife-to-be, and Charlie was lucky enough to find one in the earlier stages, Hazel, to really make him strong. I watched him, through the years, get stronger."

Gray fondly recalls Daniels as a friend who always made sure that they saw each other when they were on shows together, no matter how career fortunes were going or whose latest record was doing better at any given time. Sometimes that meant popping into each others' meet and greets unexpectedly, which happened any number of times through the years. They would even run into each other while parked at restaurants out in the middle of nowhere, and it wasn't unusual for them to show up on each others' buses for a surprise visit no matter where or when they met.

Underneath Daniels' brash, outspoken public persona, he was a quiet, thoughtful man who often provided an ear for his contemporaries, as well as a rock-solid mentor for countless newcomers to the country music scene.

"He didn't have to go and say a lot. All you had to say was quality stuff," Gray notes of their friendship. "One thing he was, was a humble man. He believed in God, that's for sure, but he was so humble when it came to talking about things that affected other people. Being humble is when you can sit back and watch two people fighting and step in and stop them."

In sharp contrast to Daniels' more reserved personal demeanor, his peers all knew that when he assumed a particular stance on stage, he truly meant business.

"He was a big guy," Gray recalls. "When he'd open his legs wider, that means he was digging in. He was ready to go, and he'd make the concert step up a step taller. A step wider and a step taller. He was the broad shoulders of all of us out there."

The two had been trying to put together the joint Fire on the Mountain Tour for 15 years, Gray recounts. Daniels called him up three weeks before he died, and the old friends excitedly discussed their big plans for the shows in 2020.

"I said, 'Man, this is the best idea we've ever had," Gray recalls. If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, they might have been out on the road together when Daniels died.

"But I'm kinda glad that Charlie was at home when he passed," he says. "I'm just thankful that he had someone to reach out and hold onto, and that was Hazel and Charlie Jr."

Gray was at home early in the morning when he got the call that his friend had died.

"I just had to sit down and cry, because I didn't know what else to do," he admits.

Gray doesn't have any specific plans yet for paying tribute to Daniels on stage, since it's not clear when Marshall Tucker Band or any other artists might be able to resume touring. The Marshall Tucker Band are scheduled to take the stage at Volunteer Jam in 2021, which is carrying on Daniels' legacy as a tribute to the country icon. Chris Janson, Alabama, Ricky Skaggs, Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Mickey Gilley, Johnny Lee and many more are also set to perform. For more details, visit Daniels' website.

"A far as I'm concerned, every night will be a tribute," Gray reflects, adding that though Daniels is gone now, he'll be seeing him again in Heaven, along with other departed friends and colleagues that include Toy and Tommy Caldwell, members of Lynryd Skynyrd, Gregg Allman and more whose bond was "stronger than brothers."

"That circle will never be broken," Gray notes. "What do we really do without them? We have to continue on, because that's all we did, is support each other."

"Now, we've got someone standing behind us, pushing us further along. And that's Charlie."