A few years ago, Charlie Daniels met legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman. When he introduced himself he said, “Hi, Mr. Perlman. My name’s Charlie Daniels. I’m a fiddle player.” Perlman responded, “We’re all fiddle players.”
Yes, Charlie Daniels was a fiddle player perhaps one of the greatest to ever pick up the instrument. And yet, he was more, so much more. Legend. It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot. Maybe too often. But Charlie Daniels as a man, as a musician and as an entertainer can only be described as legendary.
Daniels passed away this morning at the age of 83. Hit songs? Check. To name a few: “Uneasy Rider,” “The South’s Gonna Do It Again,” “Long Haired Country Boy,” “In America,” “The Legend of Wooley Swamp,” and, of course, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” which was a hit (and a Grammy winning song) BEFORE becoming a crossover smash after it was included in the movie “Urban Cowboy.”
Honors? He has those too. Daniels was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2002, the Grand Old Opry in 2008, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.
Bluegrass, Country, Rock, Southern rock, Blues, Gospel—you name it, he played it.
And play he did. I remember seeing Charlie Daniels play in the Cajundome back in 1997 as part of a Hank Williams Jr. and Travis Tritt show. He didn’t move around quite so much anymore but the energy, voice and fiddle skills had not diminished.
Oh and he was an author too. He wrote several books including most recently, “Let’s All Make the Day Count: The Everyday Wisdom of Charlie Daniels” which was released in 2018.
“Dreams are good and plans are great, but unless they are combined with vision, action and sweat, they are just beautiful thoughts. Get up and go.”
Charlie got up and went for decades and all of us music fans are sure glad he did.
