The Charlie Daniels Band is more vocal than ever.

Daniels Performs For The Troops Photo: US DoD

"People Say he's no good, and crazy as a loon", but anyone who can get Yankees to sing "Be proud you're a rebel cause the South's gonna do it again", with enthusiasm, can't be all that crazy.  Yes, he is none other than the straight talking, fiddle playing Charlie Daniels.  Daniels, along with Bruce Brown, Chris Wormer, Taz DiGregorio, Charlie Hayward, and Pat McDonald have been playing music in their own unique style with lyrics has fueled a fire in many Americans hearts for Fifty years.

Fifty years? Yes! In 1959 Charlie Daniels, while heading to California, stopped off in Texas to record a little instrumental song called "Jaguar", produced by Bob Johnston, that was picked up by Epic Records. At Johnston's urging, Daniels moved to Tennessee soon after to try his hand as a session guitarist.  After playing with the likes of Bob Dylan and Marty Robbins, and producing records for The Youngbloods, Daniels broke out and made his own record in 1973 with the Classic hippie song "Uneasy Rider".  Following this with his rebel rousing "The south's Gonna Do It Again" and the laid back drawling "Longhaired Country Boy", The Charlie Daniels Band quickly shot up to Double Platinum Stardom.

Since those early days, Charlie Daniels Band has recorded Over Forty LPs including "Saddle Tramp", "Midnight Wind" and "Windows" going Gold, “Fire On The Mountain","Full Moon", Simple Man" "1994 Super Hits" achieving Platinum or Double Platinum Status, and "Million Mile Reflections", "1983 Decade Of Hits" grabbing the Triple Platinum Crowns from the RIAA.

The Charlie Daniels band style of music is one you can not really peg.  They have hits that are country, southern rock, ballad and folk, and some songs like "The Devil Went Down to Georgia","In America",and "The Legend of Wooley Swamp" are all of those genres combined. And yet even after winning countless awards like the Academy of Country Music's Touring Band of the Year twice and The Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award in 1998, Daniels still felt like an outcast. He finally was able to feel fully accepted as a Country Musician when on January 19th, 2008, Charlie's life long dream became a reality. He was inducted as a full member into the coveted Grand Ole Opry.

Charlie Daniels is a proud American. And by taking his whole show overseas to perform for our troops, he has shown the world he stands by our Military.

Since 2000 Charlie Daniels has vocally taken a stand about the direction his beloved America has taken. In his column called "The Soapbox", Daniels bluntly speaks out and shares his views. Whether you agree with him or not, you must admit, he is as real as anyone can get.

 If you love him, you can catch him on his tour, with three stops in Alabama this year: May 22 in Birmingham, AL at Caldwell Park, June 5 in Enterprise, AL at Bamajam, and November 9 in Fairhope, AL at Oak Hollow Farms.

But, if you don’t, well then..."you can just leave this longhaired country boy alone"