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Charlie Daniels-An American Treasure
In October of 1979 I made my first trip up to Nashville for Country Music
Association week. It was a chance for radio people go interview the and people
behind the music of the number one format preferred by American radio listeners.
I will never forget the week because it was my first time to meet stars like
Hank Snow, Eddy Arnold, Joe Stampley, Connie Smith, the Oak Ridge Boys, Loretta
Lynn, and Ernest Tubb. I had the opportunity of shooting pool with Teddy Wilburn
of the Wilburn Brothers whose program was a Saturday afternoon television staple
in the 1960's. He won because I didn't have very good skills at billiards since
my mother would have had my hide if I was ever caught at Fat Gentry's pool room
on Head Avenue the few times I snuck in there.
It was an unusually cold week in Music City but was the beginning of a warm year
friendship. I met Charlie Daniels one evening getting out of a limo and rushing
into a meeting at the Radisson Hotel on the fringes of Printer's Alley. He
signed a picture for me that I still have. I think that Charlie Daniels took
Country music to a whole new audience with the success of "The Devil Went Down
To Georgia".
In my opinion he was the dean of Southern Rock and his fiddle is as comfortable
playing in front of rock audiences as it is at the Grand Ole Opry. Charlie was
inducted into the Opry on January 29th of this year. It was an emotional time
for Charlie in seeing a life long dream unfold. Watching it on television you
could feel the love Charlie Daniels has for the greatest institution in American
music.
Charlie Daniels a couple of weeks ago came to our 16th annual golf tournament to
benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Over the years I have been fortunate
enough to have had Jeff Foxworthy, Randy Owen of the group "Alabama", Mark
Wills, John Berry, and Montgomery Gentry serve as honorary chairmen of the event
that has brought in millions over the years for a magnificent charity that is
bringing hope and healing to many people touched by blood cancers.
Charlie Daniels has been the honorary chairman of the Rhubarb Jones Celebrity
Golf Classic for the past seven years. He is a pretty good golfer and could
drive a ball from Tallapoosa to Waco. We auction off his bow and this year it
brought in $1,500. The event this year yielded $160,000 that will go to research
to find a cure. Charlie comes to support the cause because he is a genuinely
caring person.
Charlie loves his Lord, his family, his fans, and I know of no one who loves our
nation more than this mountain of a man who was born in the piney woods of North
Carolina about 72 years ago. His trips overseas to entertain the troops are too
numerous to count. He wrote a song called "This Flag Ain't No Rag" that stirs
the hearts of many when they hear it. He also is a noted author with several
books in print that inform and inspire. He has a museum just off Music Row in
Nashville that shows the remarkable history of this incredibly compassionate
patriotic symbol of America.
I have been told that there are people in remote regions of Africa and Asia that
know very little about American music but they know who Willie Nelson, Dolly
Parton, Kenny Rogers, and Charlie Daniels are. Charlie Daniels is an American
icon.
Playing drums behind him a couple of weeks ago at the jam session we have after
the golf tournament was a rush. Tallapoosa was well represented that evening
at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta  by Tallapoosa Police Officer Dana
Rutherford Rampey who got pulled up on stage and sang "Walkin' After Midnight",
the great classic tune from Patsy Cline. Dana knocked it out of the park.
It capped off a great event that we plan to continue in 2009.
Charlie Daniels pledged that he will be back for the 17th Rhubarb Jones
Celebrity Golf Classic next year. If Charlie Daniels tells you a rooster dips
snuff, you can look under a wing for the box.
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