Country music legend Charlie Daniels performed for a packed house at the Merced County Fair on June 16.
Most people remember Daniels for his 1979 hit song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," an energetic ditty about a violin showdown with the Prince of Darkness himself.
Merced Sun-Star reporter Mike North was in the audience during the show, and caught up with Daniels for an interview. Daniels shared his thoughts on his recent music, views on politics and the direction of the country music industry.
Sun-Star: With the age-range of the crowd you drew during your Merced performance June 16, it seems like your music has crossed several generations. Why do you think your music has lasted while other performers seem to fade away?
Daniels: The bottom line is, it's a blessing from the good Lord. I wanted longevity in my career -- that was one of my main things when I started. I didn't want to come in and stay a little while and leave because I did this of course to make a living, but I also do it because I love it. I really enjoy entertaining people and I want to be around for a long time. I put a lot into it. I try to surround myself with really good musicians.
Sun-Star: What's your latest song?
Daniels: It's called "Let 'em Win or Bring 'em Home." I did it the other night. I have such a deep feeling for the military and their people and everything surrounding their lives, I wanted to do something special -- so I wrote this song. We haven't finished a war in 50 years. If you stop and think about it, we did not finish Korea, we did not finish Vietnam, we went to Iraq two times, we're over in Afghanistan -- doing what? I don't know -- I know we're fighting the Taliban, but where are they? They're embedded with people that we're not going to bomb or shoot. Our military people on the ground over there are the only ones who know how to deploy our troops, who know how to do these things and win this war, but they're not being let do it by our politicians. You can't win wars that way. The only people who know how to win wars are the people who fight wars, who have put decades into learning about the art of fighting a war, of what you have to do to win it. Politicians who sit behind desks in Washington, D.C., they don't know. My point in the song is this -- our troops, either let them do their job and win this war and ferret out these people and get rid of them, or bring them back home. It's that simple.
Sun-Star: This sort of patriotic music, this isn't something you're doing all of the sudden, you've been doing this kind of music your entire career, which is more than 50 years.
Daniels: I'm in my 53rd year, and yes, I am an avid, and even rabid, supporter of the military.
Sun-Star: You've been making country music for so long, how has the industry changed?
Daniels: I don't listen to the radio, I really don't. That's not a derogatory statement -- I don't understand the music anymore. A lot of it sounds like the same song over and over again to me. Somebody was probably saying the same thing about my music when I first started, so maybe it's my age.
Sun-Star: You were kind of genre-bending with southern rock and "The South's Gonna Do It (Again)" back in 1975.
Daniels: I never claimed to be country. I never claimed to be anything. I think people kind of categorized my music for 30 or 40 years. But I've never laid claim to a genre. I call it American music. We definitely play country music, but we play jazz and we play rock and we play gospel. I refuse to be categorized because I think that puts blinders on you. You tend to get tunnel vision and you step over 100 good ideas trying to get to one that fits your vision of what you ought to be. People say, "What's your image?" I don't have an image -- I am what I am. I don't want to be known for any more or any less.
Reporter Mike North can be reached at (209) 385-2453 or mnorth@mercedsun-star.com.
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