Pour One Out for Charlie Daniels

Ya'll, I have really been struggling with this one since the news broke Monday that legendary musician Charlie Daniels passed away from a stroke at age 83. Like Kenny Rogers, I first became aware of Daniels when I was eight years old. We were living in Colorado, my mom was driving me home from either horseback riding or some other lesson, and The Devil Went Down to Georgia came on the radio. I was completely shook. Where had this song been all my life? My mom didn't know what she was talking about, if I'd ever heard that song before I'd never have forgotten. It's still on my Never Ever Skip Under Any Circumstances list. Texting with my best friend about his death on Monday just about broke my heart, and I've honestly been avoiding writing this as long as I could because I didn't want it to be true.

Charles Edward Daniels was born October 28th, 1936 in Wilmington, North Carolina, and pretty much hit the ground running musically as soon as he was able. He formed a rock & roll band straight out of high school in 1955 and had already mastered the guitar, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin. Musically active literally until the very minute he died, his career spanned a whopping 62 years, is a member of 3 different music Hall of Fames (Cheyenne Frontier Days, Musicians, and Country Music) as well as the Grand Ole Opry. He played bluegrass, country, rock, blues, and gospel and did them all extremely well. He helped write songs for musicians like Elvis Presley. He was very outspoken on his love of sports and his political beliefs. He was married to his wife Hazel for almost 56 years and had one son. He was a living legend, and he will be extremely missed.

Below are some of the biggest hits from his time with The Charlie Daniels Band to honor his memory.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia (written by C. Hayward, C. Daniels, F. Edwards, J. Marshall, J. Crain, W. DiGregorio)

The crown jewel of his collection.

The Devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a soul to steal/He was in a bind, he was way behind, and he was willing to make a deal/When he came across this young man sawing on a fiddle and playing it hot/And the Devil jumped up on a hickory stump and said, "Boy, let me tell you what/I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a fiddle player, too/And if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you/Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the Devil his due/I'll bet a fiddle of gold against your soul, 'cause I think I'm better than you"/The boy said, "My name's Johnny, and it might be a sin/But I'll take your bet, and you're gonna regret, 'cause I'm the best that's ever been"/Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard/'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia, and the Devil deals the cards/And if you win, you'll get this shiny fiddle made of gold/But if you lose, the Devil gets your soul

Simple Man (written by C. Daniels, C. Hayward, J. Gavin, T. DiGregorio)

No, not that Simple Man.

I ain't nothing but a simple man/They call me a redneck, I reckon that I am/But there's things going on make me mad down to the core/I have to work like a dog to make ends meet/There's crooked politicians and crime in the street/And I'm madder than Hell and I ain't gonna take it no more/We tell our kids to just say no/And then some panty waist judge lets a drug dealer go/He slaps him on the wrist and then he turns him back out on the town/But if I had my way with people selling dope/I'd take a big tall tree and short piece of rope/I'd hang 'em up high and let 'em swing 'til the sun goes down/Well, you know what's wrong with the world today/People done gone put their Bibles away/They're living by the law of the jungle, not the law of the land/Well, the Good Book says it, so I know it's the truth/An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth/You better watch where you go and 'member where you been/That's the way I see it, I'm a simple man

Long Haired Country Boy (written by C. Daniels)

Yeah, that pretty much sums Charlie up.

People say I'm no good and crazy as a loon/'Cause I get stoned in the morning, I get drunk in the afternoon/Kinda like my old blue tick hound, I like to lay around in the shade/And I ain't got no money, but I damn sure got it made/'Cause I ain't asking nobody for nothing/If I can't get it on my own/If you don't like the way I'm living/You just leave this long haired country boy alone

The South's Gonna Do It Again (written by C. Daniels)

Damn, could he play the fiddle.

Well, the train to Grinder's Switch its running right on time/And them Trucker Boys are cooking down in Caroline/People down in Florida can't be still/When ol' Lynyrd Skynyrd's picking down in Jacksonville/The people down in Georgia come from near and far/To hear Richard Betts picking on that red guitar/So gather 'round, now gather 'round, chill and get down/Well, just get down, chilling, get loud/Well, you can be loud and proud/And you can be proud here and I'll be proud you're a rebel/'Cause the South's gonna do it again and again

The Legend of Wooley Swamp (written by C. Hayward, C. Daniels, F. Edwards, J. Marshall, J. Crain, W. DiGregorio)

Hell yeah, few things are better than a classic country storytelling song.

Well, if you go back into Wooley Swamp, well you better not go at night/There's things out there in the middle of them woods that'd make a strong man die from fright/Things that crawl and things that fly and things that creep around on the ground/And they say the ghost of Lucius Clay gets up and it walks 'round/But I couldn't believe it, I just had to find out for myself/And I couldn't conceive it, 'cause I never would listen to anybody else/No, I couldn't believe it, I just had to find out for myself/There's somethings in this world you just can't explain

In America (written by C. Hayward, C. Daniels, F. Edwards, J. Marshall, J. Crain, W. DiGregorio)

No one could ever deny how much Charlie loved America.

Well, the eagle's been flying slow, and the flag's been flying low/And a lot of people saying that America's starting to fall/Well, speaking just for me, and some people from Tennessee/We've got a thing or two to tell you all/This lady may have stumbled, but she ain't never fell/And if the Russians don't believe that, they can all go straight to hell/We're gonna put her feet back on the path of righteousness, and then/God bless America again

Rest In Peace, Charlie. I hope you got a golden fiddle from a much nicer party than the Devil.