Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
,
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
, pioneering
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculat ...
. He was best known for his number-one country hit "
The Devil Went Down to Georgia
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is a song written and performed by the Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album '' Million Mile Reflections''.
The song is written in the key of D minor. Vassar Clements originally wrote the basic ...
". Much of his output, including all but one of his eight ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
charting singles, was credited to the Charlie Daniels Band.
Daniels was active as a singer and musician from the 1950s until his death. He was inducted into the
Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2002, the
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
in 2008, the
Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum
The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum (MHOF) in Nashville honors all musicians regardless of genre or instrument. The MHOF timeline starts with the beginning of recorded music and inductees are nominated by current members of the American Feder ...
in 2009, and the
Country Music Hall of Fame
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amas ...
in 2016.
Early life
Charles Edward Daniels was born October 28, 1936, in
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...
to teenage parents William and LaRue Daniel.
[ The "s" in Daniels' name was added by mistake when his birth certificate was filled out.][ Two weeks after Daniels had begun to attend elementary school, his family moved to Valdosta, Georgia, commuting between that city and Elizabethtown, North Carolina, before moving back to Wilmington.][ After enduring ]measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
, Daniels would require eyeglasses to see for most of his life afterward, which led to him being bullied by other children at his school.[ Influenced by ]Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
, local bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music
The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as ''traditional music'', ''traditional folk music'', ''contemporary folk music'', ''vernacular music,'' or ...
groups and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
artists that he heard on the radio, as well as Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
films, Daniels began writing and performing songs.[
]
Career
Sideman career and first rock band
Already skilled on guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
, banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
, and mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, Daniels began his music career as a member of the bluegrass band Misty Mountain Boys in the 1950s.[ In the 1960s, Daniels was performing ]rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
. Daniels formed his own band, the Rockets, who later changed their name to the Jaguars after scoring a hit single with the instrumental recording "Jaguar".[ After discovering ]jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
, the Jaguars began performing jazz music, before reverting back to rock and country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
by 1964. During his career as a rock and roll sideman, Daniels also wrote songs for other performers. In July 1963, soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
singer Jerry Jackson recorded Daniels' song "It Hurts Me
"It Hurts Me" is a 1964 Top 40 song recorded by Elvis Presley on RCA Victor. Credited to Joy Byers and Charles E. Daniels, "It Hurts Me" is a ballad that was recorded by Elvis Presley on January 12, 1964.Jorgensen, p.189 It was first released as ...
"; the following year, on January 12, 1964, Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
recorded the better known recording of Daniels' song. The songwriting credits list Charles E. Daniels and Joy Byers as the songwriters, although Byers’ husband, songwriter and producer Bob Johnston, was the actual co-writer with Daniels.[ Johnston encouraged Daniels to move to Nashville in order to get work as a session player, which led to Daniels recording with ]Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
on his 1969 album ''Nashville Skyline
''Nashville Skyline'' is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on April 9, 1969, by Columbia Records as LP record, reel to reel tape and audio cassette.
Building on the rustic style he experimented with on ''Joh ...
'', Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
on his 1970 album ''Beaucoups of Blues
''Beaucoups of Blues'' is the second studio album by the English rock musician and former Beatle Ringo Starr. It was released in September 1970, five months after his debut solo album, '' Sentimental Journey''. ''Beaucoups of Blues'' is very fa ...
'' and Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...
on his 1971 album ''Songs of Love and Hate
''Songs of Love and Hate'' is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Produced by Bob Johnston, the album was released on March 19, 1971, through Columbia Records.
Recording and composition
Cohen reunited with produ ...
'', as well as further sessions with Dylan and Cohen's 1971 tour. Dylan and Daniels found each other creatively invigorating during their recordings together, with Dylan saying that "when Charlie was around, something good would usually come out of the sessions", and Daniels describing the recording sessions with Dylan as "loose, free and, most of all, fun".[ Daniels also produced albums for ]the Youngbloods
The Youngbloods were an American rock band consisting of Jesse Colin Young (vocals, bass, guitar), Jerry Corbitt (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Lowell "Banana" Levinger (guitar and electric piano), and Joe Bauer (drums). Despite recei ...
, including their 1969 album ''Elephant Mountain
''Elephant Mountain'' is an album by the American rock band The Youngbloods, released in 1969. It reached number 118 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.
History
With the departure of member and co-founder Jerry Corbitt, Jesse Colin Young became the ...
''.
Solo career and formation of the Charlie Daniels Band
Daniels released his self-titled debut album in 1970, which helped lay the foundations for Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculat ...
.[ Two years later, Daniels formed the Charlie Daniels Band.][ Daniels scored a Top 10 hit on the '']Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' Pop charts
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tab ...
with "Uneasy Rider
"Uneasy Rider" is a 1973 song written and performed by American singer and multi-instrumentalist Charlie Daniels.Later releases from Charlie Daniels are credited to "the Charlie Daniels Band" including compilations featuring "Uneasy Rider" but ...
", a talking bluegrass song, in 1973.[ The following year, Daniels organized the first ]Volunteer Jam
The Volunteer Jam is a sporadically-held concert series headlined by the Charlie Daniels Band, featuring a multitude of musical acts that perform onstage with the band. It was first held on October 4, 1974, at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashvi ...
concert.[ The same year, the Charlie Daniels Band released the gold selling '' Fire on the Mountain'', followed by the even more successful '' Nightrider'', whose success was spurred by the Top 40 hit single "Texas".][ '' Saddle Tramp'' was also a gold seller, and was the first release by the band to reach the top 10 of the ''Billboard'' Country charts.][
]
In 1977, the Charlie Daniels Band released their most commercially successful album, ''Million Mile Reflections
''Million Mile Reflections'' is the tenth studio album by Charlie Daniels and the seventh as the Charlie Daniels Band, released on April 20, 1979. It is best known for the hit single "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". The title refers to the ban ...
'', which reached number five and was certified triple-platinum. It featured the single "The Devil Went Down to Georgia
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is a song written and performed by the Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album '' Million Mile Reflections''.
The song is written in the key of D minor. Vassar Clements originally wrote the basic ...
", which reached No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in September 1979, and won Daniels the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance.[ The band also attracted a high profile fan in President ]Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
, who used Daniels' song " The South's Gonna Do It Again" as Carter's campaign theme; after Carter's win, the band performed at his 1977 inauguration.[ In 1980, Daniels played himself in the film '']Urban Cowboy
''Urban Cowboy'' is a 1980 American romantic Western film directed by James Bridges. The plot concerns the love-hate relationship between Buford Uan "Bud" Davis (John Travolta) and Sissy (Debra Winger). The film's success was credited for spur ...
'', starring John Travolta, and as a result became closely identified with the revival of country music generated by the film's success. Subsequently, the combination of the success of the more country-oriented song and the decline in popularity of Southern rock led Daniels to shift focus in his sound from rock to country music.[ After the platinum certified '']Full Moon
The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...
'' (1980) and the gold certified ''Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
'' (1982), Daniels would not have another hit album until the 1989 release '' Simple Man'', which earned Daniels another gold album,[ although the title track sparked controversy, as it was interpreted by some as advocating ]vigilantism
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...
, due to lyrics such as "Just take them rascals apists, killers, child abusersout in the swamp/Put 'em on their knees and tie 'em to a stump/Let the rattlers and the bugs and the alligators do the rest," which garnered Daniels considerable media attention and talk show visits.
Later career
In the 1990s, Daniels' albums failed to chart, although he continued to draw audiences as a concert performer well into the 21st century.[ In 1995, Daniels released the first of three Christian albums for ]Sparrow Records
Sparrow Records is a Christian music record label and a division of Universal Music Group.
History
Sparrow Records was founded in 1976 by Billy Ray Hearn, then artists and repertoire (A&R) director at Myrrh Records. Purchased by Thorn EMI in ...
, '' The Door''. In 1999, Daniels was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame
The North Carolina Music Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization and museum in Kannapolis, North Carolina that was created to honor musicians, composers and artists with ties to North Carolina that have made significant impact in the music indus ...
.
The 21st century saw Daniels, who had previously recorded for major labels, predominantly recording for independent record labels.[ In 2003, Daniels received considerable headlines for his pro-]Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
anthem "This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag
"This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag" is a song by American music group Charlie Daniels Band and released as a bonus track on their 2001 album '' Live!''. The song was written solely by Daniels and was released in November 2001 as the first and only si ...
," which Daniels followed with a book entitled ''Ain't No Rag''.[ '']Songs from the Longleaf Pines
''Songs From the Longleaf Pines'' is an album by American musician Charlie Daniels. Released on March, 22, 2005, the album was Daniels' first album to fully focus on bluegrass gospel music, after previously incorporating elements of the two styl ...
'' (2005) marked Daniels' first fully bluegrass and gospel album, and began an association with Koch Records
MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had ...
, who began releasing a series of Daniels' albums which included holiday albums, live albums and theme compilations.[
On October 18, 2005, Daniels was honored as a BMI Icon at the 53rd annual BMI Country Awards. The following year, Daniels played in the backup band for ]Hank Williams Jr.
Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...
's opening sequence to ''Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...
''. In November 2007, Daniels was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
. He was inducted during the January 19, 2008, edition of the Opry. In 2009, Daniels was featured playing fiddle in a commercial for GEICO.
In 2016, Daniels released ''Night Hawks'', an album of Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance ...
music. In October of that year, Daniels became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. In March 2017, HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
announced that Daniels's memoir, ''Never Look at the Empty Seats'', would be released on October 24, 2017. In the late 2010s, Daniels, drummer James Stroud, guitarist Billy Crain and bassist Charlie Hayward formed a new band, Beau Weevils, which debuted on the 2018 album ''Songs in the Key of E'', which Daniels described as being in a "down-home, swampy rock meets funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
with a little taste of Delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta")
* Delta Air Lines, US
* Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19
Delta may also ...
-type of style." On November 6, 2018, Daniels released a book of daily inspirational quotes and stories titled ''Let's All Make the Day Count: The Everyday Wisdom of Charlie Daniels'' through HarperCollins's Thomas Nelson imprint.
Musical style
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
said that Charlie Daniels' self-titled debut album, released in 1970, was a pivotal recording in the development of the Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculat ...
genre, "because it points the way to how the genre could and would sound, and how country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
could retain its hillbilly spirit and rock like a mother." Erlewine described Daniels as "a redneck
''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
rebel
A rebel is a participant in a rebellion.
Rebel or rebels may also refer to:
People
* Rebel (given name)
* Rebel (surname)
* Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution
* American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; ...
, not fitting into either the country or the rock & roll ..but, in retrospect, he sounds like a visionary, pointing the way to the future when southern rockers saw no dividing lines between rock, country, and blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
, and only saw it all as sons of the south."[ The Charlie Daniels Band fused rock, country, blues, and ]jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
; Erlewine described the band's sound as "a distinctly Southern blend" which emphasized improvisation in their instrumentation,[ which was aided by the band utilizing two lead guitarists and two drummers.][ '']The Federalist
''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The co ...
'' said that Daniels' music channeled jazz fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...
, funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
, gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
, and blues. ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said that Daniels' music incorporated elements of country, blues, bluegrass, rock and Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance ...
.[
After the success of "]The Devil Went Down to Georgia
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is a song written and performed by the Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album '' Million Mile Reflections''.
The song is written in the key of D minor. Vassar Clements originally wrote the basic ...
", a single which Erlewine described as a "a roaring country-disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
fusion",[ Daniels shifted his sound from rock to country music. In both Daniels' rock and country recordings, Daniels "helped shape the sound of ]country-rock
Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal ...
". Regarding his musical style, Daniels said "I never claimed to be country"; Daniels described his style instead as "American music", saying that the Charlie Daniels Band played "some of all the music that’s come across in America", particularly country, bluegrass, rock, gospel and jazz. Daniels also said "I refuse to be categorized because I think that puts blinders on you." Daniels' guitar playing was defined as having a "thick, buttery sound" which he achieved by stringing his Les Paul guitars with .10 gauge Gibson strings, and amplifying them through a Marshall cabinet.
Views
Daniels did not endorse any political candidates, and refused to express political views in his concerts.[ Regarding his views, Daniels said, "I do not consider myself political. I can understand why people would say what I write is political. It's not. It's just my feelings. It's common sense to me as an American citizen, which is not only our right, but our duty, really, to express our opinion, if no other way than at least in the voting booth. I don't do that on stage. I don't pay good money to go hear somebody talk about their political beliefs. It's just not part of my show. That is confined to the private part of my life, which I consider my writings on ]Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and nterviews. However, in 1976, Daniels performed at campaign fundraisers for Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
's presidential bid, and at his inauguration in January the following year; Daniels also initially supported the legalization of marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
. In the following decade, however, Daniels expressed views that many considered to be right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
and conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
.[ According to '']Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' writer Seth Cohen, Daniels "frequently captured the pent-up frustrations of many Americans who felt that a “coastal elite” cadre of politicians and activists were moving the country farther away from some of its core values". According to ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', Daniels had "plenty in common with moderates
Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...
and liberals who supported Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
, expressing disgust at Washington gridlock and a fervent belief in term limits for people in Congress so that fresh ideas keep coming." Daniels also supported "the idea that someone can criticize the president’s decision making and not be called anti-American."
Daniels was an outspoken Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
. Regarding the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials
More than 100 monuments and memorials to the Confederate States of America (CSA; the Confederacy) and associated figures have been removed, all but five since 2015. Some have been removed by state and local governments; others have been torn do ...
, Daniels said, "If tearing them down did any good, I’d be all for it. But I don’t see where it does any good."[ Daniels also said that "when we pay attention to political correctness and things that don’t really mean anything, we’re wasting time, energy and political capital by not getting something meaningful done. We spend time chasing rainbows."][ In 2013, following chemical weapons attacks by ]Bashar al-Assad
Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...
, and United States military response, Daniels wrote, "These and other questions need to be answered before any kind of action, bilateral or unilateral is taken. Otherwise, we will be right back in the same old Middle Eastern boiling pot again and I think everybody, doves and hawks alike, have had enough of that."[ After President ]Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's April 7, 2017 military strike against targets in Syria in retaliation for additional chemical weapon deployment, Daniels tweeted: "The world changed yesterday, America will no longer be viewed as a cowering toothless tiger."[ In 2019, Daniels lambasted New York Governor ]Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
for signing the Reproductive Health Act, which legalized abortion until birth under some circumstances, tweeting "Watch the wrinkles on Cuomo's face lengthen as the ramifications of the thousands of murders he has sanctioned come to bear on him. The NY legislature has created a new Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
dedicated to the execution of a whole segment of defenseless citizens. Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
is smiling."
Personal life and death
Daniels married Hazel Juanita Alexander on September 20, 1964. They had one child, a son, Charles Edward Daniels Jr. An avid University of Tennessee sports fan, Daniels enjoyed hunting, fishing, snowmobiling
A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...
, and other outdoor activities. He was a member of the National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
(NRA) and performed on their videos.
Daniels suffered a major arm injury on January 30, 1980, while digging fence post holes on his farm near Mount Juliet. He suffered three complete breaks in his right arm and two broken fingers when his shirtsleeve caught on a spinning power auger. The injury required surgery and sidelined him for four months.
Daniels was successfully treated for prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
in 2001. On January 15, 2010, Daniels was rushed to the hospital after suffering a stroke while snowmobiling in Colorado. He was released two days later. During a doctor visit on March 25, 2013, Daniels was diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
and admitted to a Nashville hospital for a series of routine tests. The tests revealed that a pacemaker was needed to regulate his heart rate. One was put in on March 28, and Daniels was released from the hospital within days.
Daniels died on July 6, 2020, at the age of 83 of a hemorrhagic stroke
A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...
at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee.
Filmography
* ''Heartworn Highways
''Heartworn Highways'' is a documentary film by James Szalapski whose vision captured some of the founders of the Outlaw Country movement in Texas and Tennessee in the last weeks of 1975 and the first weeks of 1976.AllMovie entry for Heartworn Hig ...
'' (1976) ... Himself
* ''Murder in Music City aka The County Western Murders'' (1979) ... Himself
* ''Urban Cowboy
''Urban Cowboy'' is a 1980 American romantic Western film directed by James Bridges. The plot concerns the love-hate relationship between Buford Uan "Bud" Davis (John Travolta) and Sissy (Debra Winger). The film's success was credited for spur ...
'' (1980) ... Himself
* ''Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' (1982) ... Himself (Musical Guest)
* ''The Fall Guy
''The Fall Guy'' is an American action/adventure television series produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981, to May 2, 1986. It starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who moonli ...
'' (1983) ... Himself
* ''The Lone Star Kid'' (1985) ... Vernon Matthews
* ''Murder, She Wrote
''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...
'' (1987) ... Stoney Carmichael
* ''Charlie Daniels' Talent Roundup'' (1994) ... Himself (Host)
* ''King of the Hill
''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
'' (2000) ... Himself (2 Episodes)
* ''18 Wheels of Justice'' (2000) ... Frank Schooler
* ''The Legend Lives On: A Tribute to Bill Monroe'' (2003) ... Himself
* ''Fox NFL Sunday
''Fox NFL Sunday'' is an American sports television program broadcast on the Fox television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under the ...
'' (2005) ''- Super Bowl XXXIX
Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League ( ...
Pregame Show'' ... Himself
* ''Veggietales
''VeggieTales'' is an American Christian media, computer generated musical children's animation, and book franchise created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series sees fruit and vegetable characters retelling ...
'' (2005) ... Himself (Musical Guest) ("Minnesota Cuke and the search for Samson's hairbrush")
* '' Dinner: Impossible'' (2008) ... Himself
* ''Poliwood'' (2009) ... Himself
* ''A Twin Pines Christmas'' (2009) ... Himself
* ''Sweet Home Alabama: The Southern Rock Saga'' (2012) ... Himself
* ''Iron Will: Veterans Battle With PTSD'' (2016) ... Himself
* ''Floating Horses: The Life of Casey Tibbs'' (2017) ... Himself
* ''Country Music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
'' (2019) ... Himself
Discography
References
External links
*
*
Charlie Daniels interview at AwaitingTheFlood.com
Charlie Daniels interview at CountryMusicPride.com
Charlie Daniels
at Broadcast Music, Inc.
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 20.6 milli ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Charlie
1936 births
2020 deaths
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American violinists
American Christians
American country rock musicians
American country rock singers
American male actors
American male guitarists
American male singer-songwriters
American multi-instrumentalists
American rock guitarists
American session musicians
American Southern Rock musicians
Baptists from North Carolina
Capitol Records artists
Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
Epic Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Grand Ole Opry members
Guitarists from North Carolina
Kama Sutra Records artists
Liberty Records artists
Members of the Country Music Association
People from Chatham County, North Carolina
People from Wilmington, North Carolina
Reprise Records artists
Singer-songwriters from North Carolina
Southern Baptists
Southern rock fiddlers
Sparrow Records artists
Tennessee Republicans
The Charlie Daniels Band members