Charlie Daniels, an American patriot and musician perhaps best known for his hit song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” died on July 6, 2020.

Daniels lived in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, but had numerous connections to Rutherford County and Murfreesboro institutions, including MTSU, particularly the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center, World Outreach Church, and the bluegrass world tied to Uncle Dave Macon Days and Volunteer Jam, once held in Murfreesboro.

Daniels quite likely became the best-known fiddle player in American popular music history, earning membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry.

“Charlie Daniels was one of the finest gentlemen I have ever known,” Randy Travis said. “Charlie, thank you for everything you’ve done for me, your endless support of us, your unconditional love and the sweet memories. It is my greatest honor to be your Country Music Hall of Fame classmate. You will live on forever as my hero, my friend. I love you.”

Daniels’ annual Volunteer Jams brought together a wealth of notable rock, country and blues artists to perform on a shared stage.

“I’ve always loved playing Volunteer Jams through the years,” Bobby Bare said. “Charlie’s been like a brother to me since the early ’70s. He’s one of the greatest, kindest people I’d ever met in my life . . . he surrounded himself with incredible people.”

In the early years of Daniels’ recording career he served as a Nashville session musician, performing guitar, bass and fiddle parts for recordings by Bob Dylan, the Marshall Tucker Band, Hank Williams Jr. and others.

His own Charlie Daniels Band rose to prominence in the 1970s, helping lead the Southern-rock and outlaw country movements.

A public memorial service at World Outreach Church on July 10 included performances by Travis Tritt, Vince Gill, Gretchen Wilson, Trace Adkins and others.

“Every time I was around Charlie I felt like I was standing next to pure country. He sang about faith, patriotism, family and having good, clean fun. I’m so grateful that I got to meet and know a truly great man,” Naomi Judd said.

Friends and supporters have already announced a tribute show to Daniels, set for Feb. 22, 2021, at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Ricky Skaggs, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Marshall Tucker Band, The SteelDrivers, Keb’ Mo’, Charley Pride, Big & Rich, Alabama and many others will participate in this special Volunteer Jam Salute.

In recent years, Daniels posted his thoughts on America, society and politics on the Soap Box section of charliedaniels.com. Some of his posts spoke unapologetically harshly against various political leaders and those he felt stood against the American way.

However, Charlie took a slightly different approach in his final post, made July 3, 2020, wishing the people of the United States a happy Independence Day, capturing some of his favorite characteristics of the country and moments from his life. These words from Daniels, and the news of his passing just days later, have probably brought a tear to the eye of some Americans not commonly apt to cry.

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My Beautiful America – Independence Day 2020

This year, as we celebrate the 244th birthday of the greatest nation the world has ever known, we are beset with many problems, some of our making and some we have no control over.

But, be that as it is, America is still the greatest and I want to express my personal feelings about our beloved country, its magnificence, its beauty and its diverse population.

Wishing all Americans a happy and reflective Independence Day.

My Beautiful America

Have you ever spent the late afternoon,
Watching the purple shadows deepen in the Arizona desert?
Or seen a herd of Elk plow their way
Through waist-deep snow on a cold Colorado dawn?
Did you ever see the sun go down in Hawaii
Or seen the stormy waves break over the rockbound coast of Maine
Or have you ever see an eagle fly up out of the mists of Alaska
Or a big October moon hanging full over the still Dakota badlands?

Have you ever tasted the gumbo in New Orleans, barbecue in Carolina
Or the chicken wings in Buffalo?
Have you ever had Brunswick stew in Macon, or cornbread in Birmingham?
Or briskets slow cook over hill country mesquite wood?

Did you ever drink the water from a gurgling branch in Utah,
Or stand on the mountain above El Paso Del Norte
And see the lights twinkling clear over into Mexico
Did you ever jingle horses in the pre-dawn stillness of a perfect Texas day
And watch their shod hooves kicking up sparks on the volcanic rock?

Or tended a trotline on a foggy Carolina morning,
Or heard the distant love song of a lovesick whippoorwill
On a pristine Tennessee late night?
Have you seen the faces on Mount Rushmore or stood at the Vietnam monument?

Have you ever crossed the mighty Mississippi,
Or been to the Daddy of ’Em All in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Or seen the mighty Vols run out on the football field on a chilly autumn afternoon?

Did you ever see the Chicago skyline from Lake Shore Drive at night
Or the New England foliage in the fall,
Or the summer beauty of the Shenandoah Valley,
Or Indiana covered with new snow?

Did you ever seen a herd of wild horses running free
Across the empty spaces of Nevada?
Or caught a walleyed pike out of a cold Wisconsin stream,
Or marveled at the tall ships docked in the harbor at Baltimore?

Did you ever see the early morning dew sparkling on the bluegrass,
Or the wind stir the wheat fields on a hot Kansas afternoon
Or driven the lonely stretches of old Route 66
Have you ever heard the church bells peal their call to worship
On an early Sunday, in some small town in the Deep South?

Or passed through the Redwood Forest just as the sun was going down
Have you ever been to Boise or Baxley or Beaufort or Billings?
Have you ever passed through Sanford or Suffolk or San Angelo
Have you ever seen the falls at Niagara
The Ice Palace in Saint Paul
Or the Gateway to the West?

This then is America!
The land God blesses with everything
And no Eiffel Tower, no Taj Mahal,
No Alps, No Andes
No native hut, nor Royal Palace
Can rival her awesome beauty,
Her diverse population, her monolithic majesty.
America the Free
America the mighty
America the beautiful

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the republic for which it stands
One nation under God, indivisible
with liberty and justice for all.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, and for the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

— Charlie Daniels