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Charlie Daniels
was born on Oct. 28, 1936, in Wilmington,
N.C., and raised on a musical diet that
included Pentecostal gospel, local bluegrass
bands and the rhythm & blues and country
music from Nashville's 50,000-watt radio
stations WLAC and WSM.
He graduated from high school in 1955.
Already skilled on guitar, fiddle and
mandolin, Daniels formed a rock 'n' roll
band and hit the road.
While en route to California in 1959, the
group paused in Texas to record "Jaguar," an
instrumental produced by the legendary Bob
Johnston, which was picked up for national
distribution by Epic. It was also the
beginning of a long association with
Johnston. The two wrote "It Hurts Me," which
became the B-side of a 1964 Presley hit. In
1969, at the urging of Johnston, Daniels
moved to Nashville to find work as a session
guitarist.
Among his more notable sessions were the Bob
Dylan albums of 1969-70 Nashville Skyline,
New Morning and Self Portrait. Daniels
produced the Youngbloods' albums of 1969-70
Elephant Mountain and Ride the Wind, toured
Europe with Leonard Cohen and performed on
records with artists as diverse as Al Kooper
and Marty Robbins.
Daniels broke through as a record maker
himself with 1973's hit hippie song "Uneasy
Rider." His rebel anthems "Long Haired
Country Boy" and "The South's Gonna Do It"
propelled his 1975 collection Fire on the
Mountain to double-platinum status.
After recording for the Capitol and Kama
Sutra labels, Epic Records signed him to its
rock roster in New York in 1976. The
contract, reportedly worth $3 million, was
the largest ever given to a Nashville act up
to that time. In the summer of 1979, Daniels
rewarded the company's faith by delivering
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia," which
became a platinum single, topped both
country and pop charts, won a Grammy Award,
earned three CMA trophies, became a
cornerstone of the Urban Cowboy movie
soundtrack and propelled Daniel's Million
Mile Reflections album to triple- platinum
sales levels.
The album's title was a reference to a
milestone in the Charlie Daniels Band's
legendary coast-to-coast tours, which
including two drummers, twin guitars and a
flamenco dancer. The CDB often toured more
than 250 days a year and by this time had
logged more than a million miles on the
road. Transported in a convoy of buses and
gleaming black tractor-trailer rigs, the
band now included a full horn section,
backup singers, a troupe of clog dancers and
sometimes a gospel choir. By 1981, the
Charlie Daniels Band had twice been voted
the Academy of Country Music's touring band
of the year.
Daniels' annual Volunteer Jam concerts,
world famous musical extravaganzas that
served as a prototype for many of today's
annual day-long music marathons, always
featured a variety of current stars and
heritage artists and are considered by
historians as his most impressive
contribution to Southern music. |
