The Charlie Daniels Band Artistfacts

October 28, 1936 - July 6, 2020
Charlie Daniels was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. He married his wife, Hazel, in 1963, and was with her until his death in 2020 (Daniels died at 83 after having a stroke). The couple had one son, Charlie Daniels, Jr.
In 1962, Daniels co-wrote "It Hurts Me" alongside songwriter Bob Johnston (although Johnston was credited under his wife's name, Joy Byers). Elvis Presley would record and release this song in 1964. In a Songfacts interview, Daniels said he never got to meet Elvis, but he did meet his daughter, Lisa Marie: "I just got to tell her, I said, 'Your dad picked one of my songs. I was a big fan.' But she was just as sweet as she could be. I like meeting people like that who are nice, and she was just a really nice little lady. But she sure is spooky. She had her shades on, and it's just kind of spooky to look at her because she looked so much like Elvis in his younger days."
Daniels got some high-profile work as a session musician; he played bass and guitar on three Bob Dylan albums. He spoke to Melody Maker about the experience: "I did three albums with Dylan, Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning. It was great doing that. Dylan has always treated me very friendly and with the utmost respect and his sessions were always nice and loose. I forgot who he was when I was playing. I just got so wrapped up in the music that playing with Bob Dylan didn't really occur to me. It was just a bunch of guys playing music."

Daniels also recorded and toured with Leonard Cohen. He played the Isle of Wight Festival alongside Cohen in 1970. "That was real nice but we played second to last before Richie Havens came out and closed the show after three solid days of music," he said. "Leonard's music is so fragile that if there are a lot of people hollering and carrying on, you can't concentrate on it properly. If people aren't almost reverently quiet, then it just destroys it and that's what happened at some festival we played in France right after the Isle of Wight."

Daniels explained to Melody Maker why he ultimately quit sessions to pursue his own music: "I was satisfied doing that kind of thing and sessions for a while. There money was real good, and being part of a Dylan album or a Cohen album is always something to be proud of. But I had things of my own that I wanted to do, and you're never happy until you get that done if it's in you to start with."
Daniels released his self-titled debut album, Charlie Daniels, in 1971. However, it was his third album, Honey in the Rock, which spawned his first major hit, "Uneasy Rider." This novelty track reached #9 on the US chart.

Daniels told Songfacts the character in the song was inspired by paranoid hippies. "The movie Easy Rider had not been out very long," he said. "Here we were sitting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with all these long-haired people, and I think a lot of them had the impression that if they were to get two blocks away, that somebody was going to run out with a pair of shears and cut their hair and threaten their life. I was born in the South, and to me this attitude was just kind of funny, and that's where the idea came from. I just took a guy and put him in a fictitious situation, and extricated him. But of course there's no truth to it other than just being around people that kind of had the attitude, a fear of redneck bars."
Daniels organized the first Volunteer Jam in 1974. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, this concert would go on to become an annual event. Artists to have played the Volunteer Jam over the years include Garth Brooks, Billy Ray Cyrus, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Carl Perkins. In 1979, Lynyrd Skynyrd reunited at the event for the first time since the 1977 plane crash that killed three of their members. They performed an instrumental version of "Free Bird" alongside The Charlie Daniels Band.
In 1979, Daniels' song "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" charted at #3 on the Hot 100, crossing from country to pop. The song received the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance that same year. This track features in the film, Urban Cowboy, in which Daniels makes a cameo.
Daniels played the outlaw Cole Younger in The Legend of Jesse James, a 1980 country music concept album based on the American outlaw Jesse James. Other artists who contributed to the album include Levon Helm, who played Jesse James; Johnny Cash, who played Frank James; and Emmylou Harris, who played Jesse James' wife, Zerelda James.
Daniels was not afraid to get political. In 1980, he released "In America," which was inspired by the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Daniels told Songfacts it expresses a "reawakening of patriotism." In 1981, Daniels recorded "Still In Saigon," which is about the plight of the American Vietnam veteran. Daniels said he was proud of the song: "I've always been glad that I did, because it was, I guess, the first song of support for the Vietnam veterans."

In 2003, Daniels published "Open Letter to the Hollywood Bunch" in defense of President George W. Bush's Iraq policy.
In 2002, Daniels made a cameo in the cartoon King of the Hill in the episode "The bluegrass is Always Greener." In 2005, he starred alongside Larry the Cable Guy, Kid Rock, and Hank Williams, Jr. in the music video for Gretchen Wilson's "All Jacked Up."
In 2005, Daniels was named BMI Icon at the BMI Country Awards. In 2008, he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.
Daniels has a park named after him in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, where he lived.
Daniels was a member and supporter of the National Rifle Association (NRA). He has contributed music to NRA compilation albums and also performed at the association's conventions.

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