|
|
| |
|
RCS Productions books The
Charlie Daniels Band
Contact RCS Productions for booking
The Charlie Daniels Band
in concert.
|
|
|
| XX |
The Early Years
Charlie Daniels was born October 28, 1936 in Wilmington,
North Carolina at the James Walker Memorial Hospital.
He grew up in a family that respected God and knew hard
work was a virtue.
Carlton Daniels, Charlie's dad, passed on a faith in God
and a philosophy of life. "He was an honest, self-reliant
man who loved music and singing, joking and laughing,
good people and good food and his work." His work
was as a lumber man. "He could look at a tree and
tell you within a fraction how many board feet of lumber
it would make after it was cut down," Charlie remembered.
As work for his dad was hard to come by, Charlie moved
around the south a bit as a kid. He lived in Wilmington,
Elizabethtown, and Spartanburg, South Carolina. He graduated
from high school in Goldston, North Carolina in 1955,
but during those years he found a love for music and hunting
with his dad.
His first shot at music came when he was visiting a friend
named Russell Palmer. Russell pulled out a Stella guitar
and played "about two and a half chords." Charlie
was immediately hooked, having wanted to play ever since
he was a small kid listening to the Grand Old Opry on
650-WSM on Saturday nights with his folks.
He practiced a lot, out of necessity. "I never had
what you'd call a natural talent as a musician, so I had
to practice hard on every instrument I ever learned to
play. And if I ever found anyone around town who could
play, I'd bug them until they taught me what they knew."
His practice paid off. Charlie is now a master on not
only the guitar, but the mandolin, fiddle and banjo, as
well.
He was in high school and building a set for the senior
play when he almost ended his music career prematurely
by cutting off the first knuckle of his right ring finger
with a ripsaw. "The first thing I thought of when
I looked down — it hadn't even started bleeding
yet — was thank goodness it was on my right hand
instead of my left. It would be tough picking chords with
a short finger, but I can pick just fine with it."
Charlie and some friends formed a bluegrass band called
The Misty Mountain Boys, and after a few setbacks, got
a regular gig at a radio station playing every Saturday
morning. Eventually the gig got moved to Saturday afternoon
and the band was able to play a few local square dances,
and make about five bucks apiece. Charlie played fiddle
and sang lead vocals.
Charlie's family moved just as The Misty Mountain Boys
were starting to land paying gigs, so when Charlie went
with them, the band fell apart. Charlie wasn't out of
the music business for long and landed a gig back in Wilmington
as a guitar player for a girl named Little Jill that paid
$50 a week. This was big money in the mid-fifties, and
was as much as he earned at his day job. When Little Jill
quit and the bar they played was shut down, the band moved
across the street with Charlie leading the band and started
making $80 a week.
The decision to work full time as a musician and end his
day job as an inspector came out of an economic decision
by the Taylor Colquitt Creosoting Company to lay off workers
in the summer of 1958. There were two people in Charlie's
department that were eligible for the layoff, but Charlie
was not at the top of the list.
Another man who had been there longer than Charlie who
had a family to support was actually picked to be laid
off because he was black. "Simply by virtue of my
being born white, they were going to keep me and lay off
Louis Frost," Charlie recalled. Charlie approached
the foreman and talked him into letting him go and giving
the job to Frost instead. Frost continued working at the
company until retirement, and Charlie went on to pursue
his life as a professional musician.
Life As A Musician
Charlie Daniels' career as a professional musician has
now spanned five decades. Since his start with the Misty
Mountain Boys back in the fifties, he's had numerous hits,
won countless awards and is recognized as a legend in
the music business. The following chronology of his career
is taken from his website, Charlie Daniels.com.
1959: Charlie has by now been in several rock and roll
and R & B groups.
The longest stretch is with the Jaguars (1959-1967). They
record an instrumental single in Fort Worth, Texas. It’s
called “Jaguar”.
Early 60’s: Charlie, raised on country, a fan of
bluegrass, and an adept rock and roll singer and guitarist,
discovers jazz on a visit to Washington, D.C. The Jaguars
begin to play Louis Prima shuffles, “Mack the Knife”,
and “some really jazzy stuff”.
1964: Back to country and rock. Daniels cowrites“It
Hurts Me,” and it’s recorded by Elvis Presley
and put on the flip side of “Kissin’ Cousins”.
1967: Daniels is invited by producer Bob Johnston, who’s
joined CBS Records in Nashville, to try Music City. He
agrees, “I was playing a lot of clubs, and I wanted
to get off the road.” He begins work as a session
player. After being told by producers that he plays too
loud, he joins Johnston on Bob Dylan’s Nashville
Skyline. “It was the first time I felt at home in
Nashville. You experienced a lot of freedom from Dylan.
He liked what I did, and I was very much into what he
was doing.” Charlie and his fiddle go on to other
sessions and other stars, among them Ringo Starr and Marty
Robbins.
1969: Charlie tries his hand as a producer, and when Johnston
gets overloads with work, he suggests Daniels to the Youngbloods.
He produces Elephant Mountain and Ride The Wind, the latter
recorded live at a rock festival in Louisiana and at the
Filmores East and West.
1970: Daniels cuts his first solo album, Charlie Daniels
(Capitol Records). He forms the Charlie Daniels Band and
joins the first wave of Southern Rock bands. The CDB joins
Kama Sutra Records and records Te John, Grease and Wolfman,
named after the band members’ nicknames. “Grease”
was keyboard player Joel DeGregorio, still with the CDB.
Daniels was just “Charlie” on occasion, “the
Fat Boy”.
1972: Their next album, Honey in the Rock, includes “Uneasy
Rider,” a talking bluegrass number which becomes
a hit the following year, reaching #9 in Billboard in
August 1973.
1974: The CDB issues Way Down Yonder, which will be reissued
in
1977 by Epic as Whiskey. Recording Fire On The Mountain,
including “The South’s Gonna Do It Again”,
which hits the Top 30 , and “Long Haired Country
Boy,” which peaks at #56. Daniels decides to record
several songs live in concert and chooses an auditorium
in Nashville. In a nod to the Volunteer State, the CDB
calls the concert the Volunteer Jam and invites friends
from the Allman Brothers Band, the Marshall Tucker Band,
and others to join them. “We had such a good time,
we decided we should do this once in a while.”
1975: CDB issues the Night Rider album. A second Volunteer
Jam in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, will result in an album,
Volunteer Jam.
1976: With the album, Saddle Tramp, the CDB joins Epic
Records. Daniels aligns himself with presidential candidate
Jimmy Carter. “I didn’t think he had a chance.
When I was asked about doing something for him, he was
‘Jimmy Who?’ But he called me one night. I
read some clips about him, and felt good about him. We’d
come out of a catastrophic political time...Carter personified
honesty and goodness.” When ‘Jimmy Who?’
becomes President Carter, the CDB are among the performers
at his inaugural.
1977: The CDB issues two albums, High Lonesome and Midnight
Wind.
1978: More Volunteer Jams results in a two-record set,
Volunteer Jam III and IV.
1979: Million Mile Reflections yields “Devil Went
Down To Georgia”, which reaches #1 and for which
Daniels wins the Grammy for Best Country Vocal.
1980: The CDB appears in the film, Urban Cowboy, another
Jam brings another VJ (VI) album. CDB’s Full Moon
includes “In America”. Daniels’ response
to the Iran hostage crisis and the renewed patriotism
it ignites. The record reached #11 in Billboard. “We’d
just come through the sixties and the backlash of Watergate
and Vietnam,” say Charlie. “I got the feeling
that patriotism was almost dead. But then they took the
hostages. I travel a lot, and everywhere I went, people
were saying, ‘How dare that S.O.B. take our people!
We oughta go over there...’. I never thought I’d
see somebody standing up and saying, ‘Damn, we’re
America man. How dare they do that!”. The CDB also
hit the charts with “The Legend Of Wooley Swamp”.
1981: Yet another VJ and album (VII).
1982: In the Windows album, the CDB’s version of
Dan Daley’s “Still In Saigon” reaches
#22.
1983: The CDB issues a compilation, The Charlie Daniels
Band - A Decade Of Hits.
1985: Me And The Boys album is released.
1987: The Volunteer Jams have continued nonstop since
1977, but a combination of business and financial difficulties
- along with the time and energy required of the CDB staff
- take their toll, and the 13th will be the last for a
few years. The CDB releases its Powder Keg album.
1988: Homesick Heroes is issued out of CBS/Nashville and
results in a Top 10 record on the country charts. “Boogie
Woogie Fiddle Country Blues”.
1990: Simple Man is issued and rises to #2 on the country
charts. The album is ignited by the title single, in which
a simple man (“with simple attitudes,” Daniels
explains) calls for the lynching of drug-dealers and slow
deaths by the way of gators and snakes for murderers,
child abusers and rapists. The song gets Daniels onto
numerous talk shows, where he’s asked to explain
himself. He wrote the song, the says, “out of frustration”.
He’s read about a scandalous case in which a child
was killed by her stepfather. “I know how I feel
about it; I know what I’d like to do. Some of it’s
kind of tongue-in-cheek; it’s a knee-jerk reaction.
I don’t really want to take people out and leave
them in the swamps...But violent crimes - that’s
what that song’s about”. Daniels is also the
subject of a long-form music video, Charlie Daniels: Homefolks
and Highways. The CDB released its first holiday album,
Christmas Time
Down South.
1991: Renegade is released, and Daniels announces the
return of the Volunteer Jam, in May in Nashville. “We
took a three and a half year look at it and feel that
we’re ready to do it again,” says Daniels.
As always, the VJ will provide a stage for a wide mix
of music. Including B.B. King, Steppenwolf, Tanya Tucker,
and, of course, The Charlie Daniels Band.
1992: Charlie Daniels signs a new record deal with Liberty
Records. Daniels says, “I have been a long time
admirer of Jimmy Bowen. I like his style; we both kind
of came to Nashville as renegades... Jimmy runs a different
kind of record company - an energetic record company...
Jimmy wants the Charlie Daniels Band to sound like us
and be what we are. That means an awful lot to us”.
Bowen says, “Charlie Daniels is a trend setter and
an innovator. We at Liberty are proud to have him recording
for us and look forward to a long association.
1993: Liberty Records releases the first Charlie Daniels
album in April, titled, America, I Believe In You, and
commences a tour. Dickies workwear, out of Ft. Worth Texas
signs Daniels as a celebrity spokesman for the second
year and announces their involvement as a sponsor of the
1993 tour.
1994: Charlie Daniels releases his first Christian album
on Sparrow Records, titled, The Door. Produced by Ron
Griffin, the project centers around material written by
Charlie and the band, and includes a cowritten song with
Grammy Award winner Steven Curtis Chapman. “Sunday
Morning”, the first single release to Christian
Country radio takes the #1 slot on the Positive Country
chart. A video is released for the single “Two Out
Of Three”, and is voted Video of the Year for the
Christian Country Music Association. Charlie and Chris
LeDoux celebrate Christmas, cowboy-style, through song
and story at Charlie’s home, Twin Pines Ranch where
“A Wrangler Cowboy Christmas” television special
is taped for TNN with Charlie, Chris, Baxter Black, Diamond
Rio and Lind Davis.
1995: Charlie Daniels is named Cashbox Magazine’s
Best Positive Christian Country Performance by a Secular
Artist for 1994. He receives a Dove Award and a Grammy
nomination for his Christian album, The Door, and inks
another contract to host the nationwide talent search
television show, Charlie Daniels’ Talent Roundup,
on TNN: The Nashville Network. A tour is set with Charlie,
Lynyrd Skynyrd and Travis Tritt.
1996: Charlie’s second gospel album Steel Witness
is released. The Charlie Daniels Band is a featured performer
in the very successful “Southern Thunder Tour’
with Hank Williams Jr. and The Marshall Tucker Band. Charlie
celebrates his 60th birthday with Volunteer Jam XVI -
the first-ever Acoustic Jam - at The Tennessee Performing
Arts Center in Nashville, TN. Guest performers include
John Berry, David Ball, Tracy Byrd, Billy Ray Cyrus, Cledus
T. Judd, Tracy Lawrence, David Lee Murphy, BlackHawk,
Lorrie Morgan, Jimmy Hall and Victoria Shaw. Proceeds
from the Jam Benefit TPAC’s Humanities Outreach
Program (H.O.T.) and the T. J. Martell Foundation for
cancer research. Charlie Daniels: The Roots Remain box
set is released. The three-CD set features some of Daniel’s
classic hits including “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”,
“Long Haired Country Boy” and “Uneasy
Rider”.
1997: Charlie releases Blues Hat, the bands first album
on Charlie’s new label, Blue Hat Records. The first
single features a remake of The CDB smash, “Long
Haired Country Boy” with special guests John Berry
and Hal Ketchum and is nominated for the Country Music
Association’s Vocal Event of the Year. Sony Wonder
releases Charlie’s first children’s album,
By The Light Of The Moon: Campfire Songs and Cowboy Tunes.
1998: Charlie was presented The Pioneer Award by the Academy
of Country Music. It is presented annually to an outstanding
individual who has enhanced country music and contributed
to its growth. Garth Brooks along with congratulatory
messages from two American Presidents, Jimmy Carter and
Gerald Ford and music by Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart
made it a big surprise for Daniels. The Charlie Daniels
Band releases Fiddle Fire / 25 Years of The Charlie Daniels
Band on Blue Hat Records. The first single “Texas”
includes guest appearances by Lee Roy Parnell and Ray
Benson on both the recording and the video.
1999: The Charlie Daniels Band releases Tailgate Party,
released on Blue Hat Records is a collection of songs
that have inspired the band over the years. Charlie takes
his historical Volunteer Jam on the road for the first
time for Volunteer Jam Tour ‘99 with friends Molly
Hatchet, The Marshall Tucker Band and for several dates,
Hank Williams Jr. A charity partnership was developed
between Charlie and Habitat for Humanity and several houses
were built while on tour. Charlie receives the prestigious
Living Legend Award from The Music City News/TNN Awards
show.
Quotes in The Early Years were taken from Charlie's book,
The Devil Went Down To Georgia. You can get a copy of
the book from his website. Chronology is courtesy of CharlieDaniels.com.
Other bio links:
• Barnes and Noble -- This covers a lot of detail
about Charlie, but is dated and has opinions not shared
by CDBFan.com.
• Jamsline -- This came out when The Door album
was released.
• Sparrow Records -- hosted on CDBFan.com -- Publicity
information from the album called How Sweet the Sound.
About CDBFan.com:
The purpose of creating this site is to pay tribute to
the Charlie Daniels Band. This is arguably the best Southern
Rock band that was ever formed, that has outlasted any
other band of it's type. Some people call it country,
others call it rock, but whatever name you address this
band by, they are classic American music personified.
The Charlie Daniels Band was formed around 1973 and has
cranked out more than 35 albums of solid music. The range
of style has hit everything from disco to bluegrass, and
philosophy from polytheism to straight out of the Bible,
God-fearing gospel. No matter the philosophy of the man
that fronts the band, he has been as straightforward and
vocal about his beliefs as a man can be, and you sure
can't knock him for it.
The best known song the band made to date won a CMA and
a Grammy award in 1979, and is still their signature song.
The Devil Went Down To Georgia brought the band into popular
music, and told the story of a young man who beat the
devil in a fiddling contest. Charlie rosined up his bow
and played his fiddle hard for that song and has done
it over 200 a times a year every year since in concert.
|
|
|
For
booking information contact
RCS Productions, Inc. |
 |
|
