Digital Interviews: How did you cultivate an interest in music?

Charlie Daniels: A friend of mine, that I had known for some time, came up one day with an old guitar. I don’t know where he got it, I don’t know how long he’d had it, but he knew about two chords on it. He proceeded to teach them to me, and then we proceeded to go crazy over music. There were a few people around that knew a chord on a guitar here and there, and we would go to them, aggravate them until they taught us what we wanted to know. And I started playing professionally -- of course, there was a lot that went on through those ensuing years, between the time I was 15 to the time I turned about 19.

DI: Garage bands and the like?

CD: Yes and no -- that present day version, my day’s version of a garage band. We didn’t have a garage to rehearse in. We had to aggravate the folks in the house. But I got a chance to play in a beer joint, and that’s how it started.

DI: Your first group was the Jaguars. What kind of music was that?

CD: Copy music. Rock music or popular music of the day, you know, whatever was popular. We played everything from "White Sports Coat" to Bill Haley and the Comets -- whatever happened to be the "in music" at the time.

DI: Did you release a Jaguars record?

CD: I did. It was called Jaguars. In fact, we released a couple of records. The song “Jaguar” was on Epic, but it was a long time ago. [laughs]

DI: In the early '60s, your composition "It Hurts Me" was recorded by Elvis Presley. How did that experience strike you?

CD: I was deeply honored by it. What can you say? All the incredible adjectives you can think of to attach to that experience were very definitely in play.

DI: And you moved to Nashville?

CD: Yes, I went to Nashville in 1967. I had been on the road for a long time and was not really getting anywhere. Bob Johnston, a friend of mine, had taken over Columbia in Nashville. He asked me if I wanted to come down. I did -- thank God I did.

DI: What memories do you have playing with Bob Dylan?

CD: I played on three of Bob Dylan’s albums. I have very pleasant memories, especially the Nashville Skyline album was a real fun album to do. He was in a great mood. He was glad to be in Nashville, where the musicians were very laid back and very creative. We had a lot of fun doing that album. I have nothing but pleasant memories about Dylan.

DI: Who else did you sit in with?

CD: It was mostly...not country people, but rock-type. I didn’t really fit well with what was going on in Nashville at the time. I was too loud, I was too bluesy, I was too “a lot of things.” When somebody like Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan would come to town, I would do a session. I did a few country sessions, but not a lot. I played with Marty Robbins. When Bob [Johnston] had somebody that he felt that I fit in with, he’d give me a call.

DI: When you started the Charlie Daniels Band, were you moving in a rock direction?

CD: Oh, yeah, we were. There was very little country about us at that time. Country music has changed tremendously, so what now is considered country was not considered country at that time. We were doing stuff that probably could have been called country music today, but would certainly have not have fit in at that time. So, it would be more of a rock-type thing.

DI: The single “South’s Gonna Do it Again” first got most people aware of who you were.

CD: It was, actually, that whole album -- that whole Fire On the Mountain album, rather than just the one song. We went in and wrote the songs, and went in and played them, basically. [laughs]

DI: What is your songwriting process?

CD: I don’t have any real “process.” Some people in Nashville go in like an assembly line. They’re able to go and write. My son runs a publishing company. He has writers that come down. They get together in a room with the people that actually make appointments, and write -- which is great. I can’t do that very well. I mean, I’ve tried it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I do more writing by myself than with anybody else. My best thing is sitting around the bus with a guitar, sitting around somewhere with a guitar, and having an idea. You never know where it’d come from. Songwriting is a God-given talent. It’s always there. It needs something to prick around the edges and get it started. It’s not anything that I can just turn on and turn off. If I’m working on something, I can certainly sit down to it. But I can’t just say, “Well, I’m gonna go write a hit song today.” [laughs] I’m not that good.

DI: How did the Volunteer Jam start out?

CD: It started as a live recording session. We were doing the Fire on the Mountain album, and we wanted to do two live cuts. The only place we could draw a crowd of any size was in Nashville, our hometown, because we were just getting started. It was about the only place we had any following that’d amount to anything. Of course, it was a small crowd then, but we did it after the recording was over. Some of our friends came and sat in with us, and it was just so much fun. We said, “Hey, let’s do this once in a while.” We did them every year for a while, then we took it on the road. We’ve done eighteen now, I think.

DI: In the late ‘70s, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” becomes one of the most popular songs of all time. Did you have any idea, when you were putting that together, that it was going to take off the way it did?

CD: Of course not. You can never gauge. I had an idea that it might. AOR Radio was a big thing at the time -- Album Oriented Radio. If they liked something, they may play two or three cuts. So, I had the feeling that maybe it might do well, but I didn’t have an idea that it would do what it did. It was like, “Let’s do two versions of this, just in case.” [laughs]

DI: Were you moving to more of a country sound at this time?

CD: That was 1979. That [song was] a long way from what country was, back at that time. They played the record, but everybody played the record, because it was just that kind of record that could go across the board. As far as actually having anything at all to do with a "country record,” at the time it was not.

DI: Did you help move country music into a harder direction?

CD: If we did, I’m glad we did. But it’s hard for me to see myself in that light, that I was a pioneer or a groundbreaker. I know we were on the cutting edge, as far as a lot of music was concerned, but it’s hard for me to think about it when I think about the other people that have done it. But I guess we were there at least. As far as being responsible for it, I don’t know. The funny thing is, the music that I’m writing now is probably some of the most cutting edge we’ve ever done. The music that I’m thinking about putting on our next album. It’s funny that my mind would be operating that way at this stage of the game. I’ve got stuff coming in my mind that is amazing me.

DI: Your song “Simple Man” expresses a lot of intense feelings. Do you always try to add social themes to your songs?

CD: No, I am very much into entertaining people with my music. If I come across an issue, or something I feel strongly about, and I happen to think of a song that would go in that direction, then I do it. But that’s not what I start out, necessarily, to do. Sometimes I may have an idea for a song -- “Well, I’m going to write about a thing.” Being a Christian, the song “The Martyr” is probably the one that leads mostly in that direction on the [new] album. I had so much admired this young girl, Cassie Bernall, and the other children there [at Columbine]. But she refused to deny her faith, even in the face of death. I think that kind of courage deserves to be remembered.

DI: You’ve also released several entirely Christian albums in the ‘90s.

CD: Oh, definitely.

DI: Is that something you’re going to be continuing?

CD: My next project will be a Christian album, another one. I wrote the songs for the ones you’re referring to, but I want to do some of my old gospel favorites. That’s what my next album’s going to be.

DI: You’ve recently received several awards recognizing you as one of the pioneers of modern country music. Are you honored by that?

CD: Every award I’ve ever received has been very gratifying. The Living Legend Award was extremely gratifying; it was voted on by the fans. It’s just great to be remembered after all these years, to still be a viable part of the music business. So, I’m very deeply honored by all the awards.

DI: Why did you start your own record label?

CD: Well, I just can’t play the game anymore. I’m 63 years old, and I’ve been in the business for 40 years now. I take good advice and direction really well, but I don’t need somebody that finished college two years ago to come in and tell me what I should be recording. I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. It’s just a very honest feeling that I have, that I’m much more in touch with my audience than they are. I should be the one to say what I do. It’s just not done that way anymore in Nashville, and I can’t do it the other way. That’s how our record label came about.

DI: Tell us a little bit about the new Road Dogs album.

CD: I’ve been self-indulgent, especially since we’ve had the record label. [laughs] I’ve been doing things that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I wanted to do all the old fiddle songs over again, so I did Fiddle Fire. I wanted to do a blues album -- I did Blues Hat; in fact, that’s where the name of the label came from. I wanted to do a tribute album to the Southern bands, and I did Tailgate Party. So, it was time for some new music. I said, “Well, time to get busy writing some songs.” Basically, the concept of the album was, “It’s time for some new music. Let’s get busy.” This was the outcome.

DI: Is “Road Dogs” also a reference to being on the road, playing live?

CD: Very definitely. It’s not a thematic album 100-percent. The first song deals with being on the road. The last song, “Sail Away,” deals with being on the road. The rest of it is pretty much straight-ahead music, actually.

DI: You’ve got a great relationship with your audience. People camp out to see you. How does that make you feel?

CD: Well, it makes me feel wonderful. Any accolades that anybody puts toward this band really makes me feel good, because I have devoted such a big part of my life to this band, making it what I want it to be.

DI: What’s in the future?

CD: I’m looking forward, of course, to our next project - the Christian album. Like I said, I’ve got some wild music coming in my head right now, and I want to get that done. I want to do an album of it. It’s going to take a little while to do that. It’s going to be an experimental album. Road Dogs is a straight-ahead album that you walk in and do. This is going to take a little time. A lot of it is going to have to be created in the studio, as we go along. I am looking forward to doing that. It’s a lot of fun to do albums that way. I don’t know when I’ll get it finished, hopefully some time next year. It is going to be different from any album we have ever done.

DI: So does having your own label mean you don’t have to play the game?

CD: I just feel such freedom to do whatever. If a song’s seven minutes or ten minutes long, then so be it -- it’s that long. I don’t have to be concerned about putting a ten-minute song in a three-minute box, if you will. I feel a lot of freedom in getting ready to do what I’m doing. I just thank God I can make a living doing something I enjoy as much as I do playing music.

DI: Any advice for a young musician?

CD: Make sure to be honest with yourself, about if that’s really what you want to do with your life -- to make music. It takes a commitment -- a tremendous, thick-skinned commitment of being the first one to get there and the last one to leave, doing what you want to do even if you have to work twice as hard as anybody else ever did. It’s that kind of commitment. If you don’t have that commitment, if you don’t feel that way about it, it’s better not to start out. Stay home and play on the weekends, and save yourself some grief. Always try to be honest with yourself, about if you’ve got it. If you haven’t got it, don’t torture yourself. If somebody says, “He sounds just like Michael Jackson,” well there’s already a Michael Jackson. You don’t want to sound like Michael Jackson; you want to sound like yourself. The only way you’re ever going to get anywhere, and stay there, is by being your own self.

Then, you’ve got to go somewhere where there is a “music business.” You’ve got to decide, “Hey, this is what I want to do. I am digging my heels in. I’m going to stay here. I’m going to do this, regardless of what kind of commitment it takes, however long it takes, no matter what anybody else says. I believe in me. I believe that I can do this and I’m going to do it.” You know, there is no “yellow brick road.” You want to do it, go do it.” [laughs] It’s going to take some commitment -- a lot of commitment. If you don’t have that commitment, don’t try it.