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Charlie
Daniels
OVERVIEW
Charlie Daniels has a proven recipe for success. "Believe in what you
do. Believe in what you say. The Good Lord will do the rest." That philosophy
has served him well, both personally and professionally. In addition to selling
over 13 million albums, Charlie and his wife, Hazel, have been happily married
for over 30 years. Charlie began honing his writing skills as a child growing
up in North Carolina. He wrote his first story about a "wooley swamp,"
which became the plot to a hit single later in his career. Little did he know
then that his gift for telling stories would help him to collect a Grammy,
multiple Academy of Country Music awards, as well as his recent Dove Award
from the Gospel Music Association, Country Album of the Year, for The Door.
Today, Charlie is still going strong, performing more than 200 dates a year
and delighting his fans with music that spans the generations. "We put
on a show that the whole family can come and enjoy, from grandma to the grandkids,"
Daniels says. "I want every person that comes to one of our shows to
go home feeling better than when they came. That's what it's all about."
With performances ranging from Capitol Hill to a packed coliseum, Charlie
is as comfortable singing at The White House as he is singing at a county
fair. Charlie also takes time out twice a year to host The Charlie Daniels
Talent Roundup on The Nashville Network, a show dedicated to discovering talented
country newcomers. With new album projects on the horizon, Charlie is busier
now than he's ever been. The musical career that has spanned four decades
is showing no signs of slowing down.
BIOAGRAPHY
Charlie Daniels is an artist whose name has become synonymous with creativity,
honesty and integrity. Throughout a career that has spanned more than 30 years,
Daniels has amassed two multi-platinum, one platinum and four gold recordings;
countless hit singles; and sold-out performances across the globe, all the
while transcending musical barriers with his unique country rock style, fueled
by lyrics that cut to the heart of any situation. The same qualities that
have served him well and earned him legendary status in the country and southern
rock formats are providing him with a special platform as Sparrow Records
releases his first Christian project-The Door.
An
Open Door
One of the qualities that has made Charlie one of the most loved and respected
artists in any musical genre is his accessibility. Both as a musician and
as a person, he has always been easy to approach and relate to. That's exactly
what makes The Door such a special project. "I feel like it's a different
kind of album," Charlie states. "I'm not preaching to the choir.
What I want to do is basically talk to the old boy who comes in at five o'clock
Sunday morning hung over and turns the TV on to a church program. Everything
just looks so 'holy' to him. He says, `I can't ever be a part of that. I don't
understand that.' I want to talk to him because Jesus died for him too. In
fact, the song on the album 'Jesus Died for You' says, 'You think that you
can't cope/You may be drunk or hooked on dope/But believe me brother you've
still got hope,'cause Jesus died for you.' That's the theme of this album.
I want to talk to people that nobody talks to."
The
Legacy Continues
In addition to communicating the hope and joy he has found in his relationship
with the Lord, The Door showcases Charlie's incredible musical legacy. A native
of North Carolina, Charlie began developing his musical skills in his teens-learning
to play guitar, mandolin and fiddle-and performing with a local bluegrass
band. He re-located to Washington, D.C. and later to Nashville where he quickly
developed a reputation for his songwriting and instrumental skills. He had
a song recorded by Elvis and soon found himself playing on albums by a variety
of artists including Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Ringo Starr and Marty Robbins,
among others.
Stepping from the background as a session musician and into the spotlight
as a performer, Charlie quickly earned a place as one of the most versatile
artists in the industry. Hits such as "The South's Gonna Do It Again,"
"Long Haired Country Boy,""The Devil Went Down to Georgia,"
"The Legend of Wooley Swamp," "In America" and "Simple
Man" have made him a household name among both country and rock music
aficionados. His legendary Volunteer Jam concerts bear tribute to the versatility
and enigmatic charm of his artistry. Many of the top names in music have traveled
to the event to jam with the king of southern country rock, including Don
Henley, The Allmans, Roy Acuff, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Little Richard,
Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Amy Grant.
The Heart Of The Matter
Charlie has always been an artist with the ability to strike a universal chord
with audiences of every economic and geographical background. The Door is
no different. With straight-ahead high energy country rock propelled by Charlie's
distinctive vocals and tasty fiddle accents, The Door contains the kind of
sound people have come to know and love during his three decades of artistry.
Lyrically, this project reveals the heart of a man who has walked on both
sides of the spiritual tracks and is not afraid to convey the emotional highs
and lows to others. "I've been a believer all my life," he states.
"There has never been a time when I was not. I've never had any doubts
about God. I was raised in a Christian home. I made a commitment back in my
teens. And, of course, I got away from it. I don't know when everything started
kind of falling back in place for me; it's just been kind of a learning sort
of thing. There were a lot of things in my life-and still are a lot of things
in my life- that I try to get straightened out and things that I did that
I don't do anymore. It's an ongoing process."
The songs on The Door explore that process, spoken from the perspective of
a man saved by grace and eager to share the experience. Produced by Ron Griffin
(DC Talk, DeGarmo & Key, Dallas Holm), the project centers around material
written by Charlie and band members Taz DiGregorio, Bruce Brown, Charlie Hayward
and Jack Gavin. The collection also features a new song from southern gospel
legend Joel Hemphill ("Two Out of Three") and a tune Charlie co-wrote
with multiple Grammy Award winner Steven Curtis Chapman ("The Business
of Love"). "'The Business of Love' refers to the division in the
body of Christ," Charlie explains, "about everybody being so denominational
and being bound by that...It's about how wonderful it would be if all the
people that were Christians would just get together. [It says] 'Put your hand
in my hand, we've been fighting long enough/ Let's get on down to God's business/
The business of love.'"
Another cut on the disc that Charlie is particularly pleased with is a 13-minute
tribute to the life of Christ containing "The Chosen One," "The
Birth," "Crucify Him," "Jerusalem's Shame" and "Joy
in the Morning." "I call it the 'Jerusalem Trilogy.' It's the birth,
the death and the resurrection of Jesus," he explains. "I'm really
proud of it; it's the first thing I've done like that in a long time."
The Door also includes "Sunday Morning," which Charlie describes
as "a comparison between going to church on Sunday morning and dealing
with the temptations of Monday." "Praying To The Wrong God"
admonishes people not to put their faith and trust in earthly distractions:
"You've got your mansion out on millionaire's row/ Go all the places
the rich folks go/ Your Bible is a checkbook and your church is a bank/But
you're praying to the wrong God mister/ You're living for your sensual pleasures
and your evil desires/Praying to the wrong God mister/One of these days it's
going to eat your flesh like fire."
The
Bottom Line
With one of the most consistent careers in the music business, Charlie Daniels
is obviously no stranger to earthly treasures, but those things are not what
is most important in his life. His wife of 30 years, Hazel, his son, Charles,
and his relationship with the Lord are the foundations upon which Charlie
builds his life. He has long been outspoken on the subjects he's passionate
about, so the directness and boldness found on The Door should not come as
a surprise. It's the first time, however, that he has released a project that
so directly addresses an audience that he knows needs the message. "We're
pointing to the door," Charlie concludes. "If people could only
hear one song, I would want it to be 'Jesus Died For You.' That's the crux
of the album.
That's what it's all about."
From: http://www.jamsline.com/b_daniels.htm
Charlie Daniels' Letter to the Hollywood Left
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