Charlie Daniels is 78 years old today. Daniels is a musician known for his contributions to country and southern rock music. He is best known for his number one country hit The Devil Went Down to Georgia, and multiple other songs he has written and performed. Daniels has been active as a singer since the early 1950s. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 24, 2008 and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009. Daniels is a singer, guitarist and fiddler, who began writing and performing in the 1950s. In 1964, Daniels co-wrote It Hurts Me (a song which Elvis Presley recorded) with Joy Byers. He worked as a Nashville session musician, often for producer Bob Johnston, including playing electric bass on three Bob Dylan albums during 1969 and 1970, and on recordings by Leonard Cohen. Daniels recorded his first solo album, Charlie Daniels, in 1971 (see 1971 in country music). He produced the 1969 album by The Youngbloods, Elephant Mountain and played the violin on Darkness, Darkness. During the 1970s, Daniels played fiddle on many of The Marshall Tucker Bands early albums: A New Life. Where We All Belong, Searchin For a Rainbow, Long Hard Ride and Carolina Dreams, In 1975, he had a top 30 hit as leader of the Charlie Daniels Band with the Southern rock self-identification anthem The Souths Gonna Do It Again. Long Haired Country Boy was a minor hit in that year. Daniels played fiddle on Hank Williams, Jr.s 1975 album Hank Williams, Jr. and Friends. Daniels performed in 1979 film The Devil Went Down to Georgia, which reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 in September 1979. The following year, Devil became a major crossover success on rock radio stations after its inclusion on the soundtrack for the hit movie Urban Cowboy. The song is by far Daniels greatest success, still receiving regular airplay on U.S. classic rock and country stations, and is well-known even among audiences who eschew country music in general. Here, Daniels performs “Devil Went Down to Georgia.”
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 09:52:02 +0000