Wednesday, June 11, 2003
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Wednesday, June 11, 2003 |
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The Charlie Daniels Band helps kick off Villages Amphitheater's first summer concert series By MICHAEL
BOYLAN How would you classify the music of the Charlie Daniels Band? Country? Western? Rock and Roll? Bluegrass. All of those answers seem to fit. How does Charlie Daniels classify his sound. "It's Charlie Daniels Band music," said the leader of one of the more popular bands in history. Daniels brings his band and their unique mixture of music to Fayetteville's Villages Amphitheater on Saturday, June 14. It will be the first show of their first summer concert series. Charlie Daniels was born in North Carolina and grew up on all forms of music, including country, gospel, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Daniels learned how to play guitar, mandolin and fiddle and, after he graduated from high school, he formed a rock band and hit the road. The band stopped in Texas, recorded "Jaguar" with producer Bob Johnston and a lucrative friendship was formed. The two came together years later and recorded a song, "It Hurts Me," which found its way to the B-side of an Elvis Presley hit. Eventually, Daniels found his way to Nashville, Tenn. and began doing session guitar work with a number of different artists including Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, The Youngbloods and Marty Robbins. In 1973, Daniels released his own album, "Honey in the Rock," which featured the song "Uneasy Rider." In 1975, the album "Fire on the Mountain" was released. The album featured the songs "Long Haired Country Boy" and "The South's Gonna Do It" and went double platinum. In 1979, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," Daniels' biggest hit to date was released. It reached the tops of both the pop and country charts and helped the album, "Million Mile Reflections" go triple platinum. The song also won a Grammy Award and three Country Music Association awards. Over the years, Daniels has released a number of albums that have gone either platinum - "Full Moon," "Simple Man," and "Decade of Hits" - or gold - "Windows," "Saddle Tramp," and "Midnight Wind." The Charlie Daniels Band has also released two Christmas albums and has appeared on a Grammy winning gospel compilation. In addition to the near-constant touring of the band, Daniels has established the annual Volunteer Jam, a show that features a number of Daniels country and rock and roll friends. Daniels has also released the books "The devil Went Down to Georgia" and "Charlie Daniels Soap Box Collection Volume One" The group's most recent song, "This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag" has found success and is available on the group's web site with the purchase of the Soapbox book. The Charlie Daniels Band is made up of Daniels on guitar and fiddle, Taz DiGregorio on keyboards, Charlie Hayward on bass, Bruce Brown on lead guitar, Pat McDonald on drums and Mark "Sparky" Matejka on guitar. Single reserve or lawn seats available. Reserved seating is $25 and lawn seating is $20 in advance. Phone 770-461-6029 or visit Fayetteville City Hall or any Ticketmaster Outlet. www.fayetteville-ga-us.org. For more information on the Charlie Daniels Band, visit www.charliedaniels.com.
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