The Charlie Daniels Band wowed a near sell-out crowd with a mix of good ol' country music, driving rock 'n' roll and a bit of the blues thrown in for good measure. The concert was a benefit for the Fraternal Order of Police.
Randy Travis and George Strait are often credited with the "new" country music sound, but Charlie Daniels fans realized once again that Daniels was playing the new stuff before Travis and Strait were probably singing at all.Daniels sang "Woolley Swamp," a country song with a driving beat that would rival most hard rock bands. After getting the crowd cranked with a few up-tempo numbers, Daniels decided to get political.
He showed that not only songwriters from the '60s can write political lyrics. Daniels' "America, I Believe in You," is a patriotic song about America's fighting spirit, regardless of what some may say to the contrary.
With lines such as "If it don't say `Made in the U.S.A,' I'm just going to take it back," and "The sun is rising on a better day," Daniels boldly told his audience to stick up for America and pull through the hard times.
He then launched into "Simple Man," a song about solving today's societal problems.
"We tell our kids to just say no, and some pantywaist judge lets a drug dealer go," says one line. Daniels advocates getting tough on crime by hanging drug dealers and tying child abusers where the "bugs and the alligators (can) do the rest."
Following that theme, Daniels told the audience that he believed in standing up for your rights, speaking your mind and using common sense.
"I've got enough sense not to take a personal check from a congressman," he said, and then sang his no-nonsense "If You Don't Like the Way I'm Living, You Just Leave This Long-haired Country Boy Alone."
After rallying the crowd politically and socially, Daniels soothed it back down with "Little Folks Are People, Too," a song about valuing children and the joy they bring to parents' lives. Unlike his previous hard-hitting, penetrating songs, Daniels performed this one with only his guitar as accompaniment.
Daniels closed out the show with a return to traditional country music. His fingers flew across the banjo strings as he and his band performed "Rocky Top."
Daniels called out his opening act, Shawn Camp, for a final fiddle duet, "Be Proud You're a Rebel Cause the South's Going to Rise Again."
The encore, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," brought the crowd to its feet. Daniels added a bit of pizazz to his biggest hit with extended fiddle play and a line dance by himself and members of the band in the middle of the song.
Camp, a newcomer to the country scene, showed he knows country's roots. The opposite of Daniels and his hard-hitting style, Camp stuck with the more common twangy style of country music.
"Calling Me Home" had the soft country feel with a bit of a blues flavor added to it.
Camp also sang a song he wrote, called "Life is a Cornstalk." It doesn't get any more country than that.