Or Phases and Stages by Willie Nelson."ĭaniels says that he has loved music his whole life. When I’m at home I’ll pull out any Marshall Tucker LP, or The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East or their Eat a Peach, Brothers and Sisters, either of the two Duane Allman Anthologies or Dickey Betts’ album Highway Call. I love some of the off-the-wall old country stuff like Eddy Arnold back when he was kind of country, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves and some old gospel music. “I was influenced by everybody who used to be on Top 40 radio: people like Fats Domino, Little Richard, Elvis Presley and Bill Haley. In 1977, Charlie spoke to Guitar Player magazine about his musical influences. We moved there and then we moved to Wilmington before the school year was over.” So, the year that I was in the seventh grade, I went to school there at Jenkins Junior High. and another in Spartanburg County, near Pauline. “He worked for a plant that had a branch in Wilmington, N.C. One year he landed in Spartanburg, South Carolina, a city that would one day gain acclaim as the home of The Marshall Tucker Band, Marshall Chapman, and Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle. His dad’s work caused Charlie to change schools and cities more often than most. It took some getting used to but this man is so down home sweet and eloquent he puts you at ease right off the bat.Ĭharlie Daniels was born on a blustery fall day, October 28, 1936, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Meeting Charlie Daniels one-on-one without his famous hat is kind of like talking to Liberace in jeans. All around are mementos from his Marshall Tucker Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd friends and there was a press release lying on the desk touting an upcoming tour. The front of his desk is ornately carved with Charlie’s initials. The chairs are cowhide, there are cowboy and Indian relics all around and a beautiful Mexican rug adorns the floor. The decor inside the office building is pure Charlie. After all, Daniels has performed for presidents and various dignitaries but when the man is home, he really wants to feel at home. For some reason or another the sight of the office, a two-story log structure with smoke billowing out from a stone chimney, didn’t surprise me at all. Driving mile after mile along a rural, back country road, I had no idea what to expect. My first encounter with Charlie Daniels, other than a friendly smile or handshake on a couple of occasions throughout the years, took place at his Lebanon, Tennessee business office. For decades he has refused to label his music as anything other than "CDB music," music that helped elect an American president and been popularized on a variety of radio formats. It hasn't been so much a style of music but more the values consistently reflected in several styles that has connected Charlie Daniels with millions of fans. In fact, even his bent for all things Western is Southern because his attire, his lifestyle and his interests are historically related to the Southern working class, fused with the "lone cowboy" individualism of the American West. A Southerner by birth and the son of a hard working lumberjack, Charlie’s music: rock, country, bluegrass, blues and gospel, is quintessentially Southern. His signature "bull rider" hat, his lifestyle on his Tennessee ranch, his love of horses, cowboy lore and the heroes of championship rodeo, Western movies, and Louis L'Amour novels identify him as a Westerner. Not unlike the great state of Texas, Charlie Daniels is a little bit Western and a little bit Southern. A Look Inside the Mind of Charlie Daniels
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