Ten Questions with Charlie Daniels
By Rock Legends Photographer Isaac Rodriguez
Photos by Isaac Rodriguez
(These are edited excerpts from the interview)
Q: The fans from the Rock Legends Cruise have been asking to see you play. Is that something you would consider?
A: We did a cruise one time, and (laughs) we had kind of a bad experience due to weather. It was a rough cruise. I just don’t know, we have to see about that.
Q: What artist past or present that you never played with would you just to get on stage and jam with?
A: BB King, hands down. I’d love to get up and jam with BB.
Q: The inspirational postings that appear on Facebook, do you do that personally?
A: Actually I do it on twitter, it comes up on Facebook. I do one every day, usually some bible scripture and I hope it’s something inspirational that will be encouraging to the people.
Q: What was your embarrassing or funniest moment on stage?
A: I was on stage one time in Washington with my pants unzipped and I didn’t know it.
Q: What music or musician inspired you as an artist.
A: A lot of people inspired me. I started playing when I was fourteen. I wasn’t into country I was into progressive music, especially when I started playing the fiddle. When Carl Perkins, Elvis, Jerry Davis guys came along, I got interested and moved on to the other side, the rock side. I have been inspired by a lot of people, and a lot of styles in the music that we play.
Q: Have you taken an interest in any new fiddle players?
A: I really don’t know. I don’t keep up with things. I live pretty much in my own world out there. I’m really busy just doing what I do. I run into somebody once in a while, or see someone on TV but I really don’t know who they are.
Q: Is there a particular song that is just your favorite to play?
A: I like to play all of them, because I get a chance to play it better tonight than I did last night, and better tomorrow than I played it today. So I enjoy playing all the songs.
Q: Do you have a favorite cowboy hat? Or do you have a collection of cowboy hats?
A: Not really, I usually keep an extra one or so around. I change every summer I get a straw hat and every fall I get a felt hat. If I wear it out or something I’ll get another one. I just get them as I need them. I don’t keep them, I don’t usually keep them. I give them away to charity events or something.
Q: Do you have any new albums or projects in the works?
A: We are recording a new album now, should be out in the spring.
Q: What would you say is the difference between the original Charlie Daniels band and your band of today?
A: Well, just different players. I have not changed players a lot over the years. One of our players got killed in a car wreck a couple of years ago. Tommy Crane was in the band for a long time. I have not changed drummers in about thirteen years now. But I think it’s gotten better. To be honest with you I think this is the best band we have ever had. The players are really good, and the caliber of musicians is really, really high. These guys play really well. So I think it’s gotten better. This band is more capable of playing more different kinds of music and it’s tighter. I just think it’s a better band.
Q: Do you follow any of the new southern rock bands?
A: Not really, I don’t know what’s going on. I am so caught up in what I do. Playing a lot, I write two columns a week for our website. Constantly writing something, I always doing something doing interviews, appearances, recordings, it just takes all my time being me so I don’t know who anybody is.
I would like to thank Paula from the Charlie Daniels organization for scheduling this interview, and a very special thank you to Tom Bell. Without him this interview would have not been possible.
