A Conversation with Charlie Daniels – HuffPost 4.2.14
Mike Ragogna: All right, Charlie, you have a new album, Off The Grid: Doing It Dylan. Why, Charlie? Why now? Why Dylan? What’s going on here!
Charlie Daniels: [laughs] Well, let me give you just a little thumbnail sketch here of what happened. There was a TV show called Hell On Wheels that we were asked to do some music for and we had to revert back to influences that were around the eighteen hundreds when the show was set. We did an acoustical thing, and we had never done that before. All along in the history of the Charlie Daniels band we had never done an acoustical thing and we were so taken with the results we decided, “Let’s do an album.” What better way than doing a Dylan album? I’ve been a big Dylan fan for so many years and have a history with him, some work I did back in the sixties, it just seemed like an idea whose time had come. Our criteria for doing it was to pick songs that we could kind of put our mark on. I didn’t want to copy Dylan’s arrangements or the arrangements of other people who had done his work had done, so if we came across a song that we didn’t feel we could put our mark on we just moved on to something else, which was no problem because you never run out of material with Dylan.
MR: You kick the album off with “Tangled Up In Blue,” which is my favorite Dylan composition, and you tackled it like it was a Charlie Daniels song.
CD: That’s the way we did all the songs. We tried to do them all that way. If you listen to the tunes on our album and then any way it’s been done before, there have to be some similarities because it’s the same song. But basically, it’s a whole new treatment of the tunes. That’s what I was trying to accomplish when I did it. I just sat in the studio with my guys in the band and said, “Let’s try this, let’s try that,” and just put it together and kept on until we found something we liked.
MR: Yeah, and you have your sense of humor intact, like you can feel it beneath your take on “Quinn The Eskimo.”
CD: I don’t know what that song means, but it’s a nice song to do. In fact, there are quite a few songs on there where I don’t know what they mean but I don’t think it’s that important with the Dylan stuff; it’s just Dylan. What else can you say? He’s one of a kind.
MR: And “Gotta Serve Somebody” is another one that’s got your thumbprint on it now.
CD: You’re making me feel good. That’s exactly what we were trying to do and I’m glad you perceive it as such.
MR: How do you view your music these days? What is your musical mission statement?
CD: I don’t have any particular genre of music that I’m trying to push or to do or anything. I’m seventy-seven years old, I have been doing this for fifty-six years, I have done a lot of different kinds of music in my life, I enjoy some of all of it, and what I’m doing now is just picking projects. This is the first record of new music we’ve had out since 2007, I think. It’s just a matter of finding a project that we can do something unique with. Every year, I used to go and do an album, which was fine, I love doing it and it was part of what we had to do for the record company. It was a pressure-type thing and I operate well under pressure. It wasn’t the pressure that bothered me, but now… Well, one thing I’ll tell you about me that you never would have guessed… A member of my band and I have been working on a symphony for a long time that I hope to bring to fruition one of these days. It’s a long way from finished, but our parameters go that far. If it’s something I feel, like a bluegrass album’s the best thing we’ve got to do, I come up with an idea, something unique, something a little different, that’s what I’m interested in doing these days.
MR: You’ve contributed to pop culture, especially with “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” If you look at that recording all these years later, what was the magic behind it?
CD: I wish I knew, Mike. I’d do it again. I’ve had ample opportunities to answer the same question you’re asking me right now, and the honest truth about it is I don’t know except that the story is timeless. People tend to like story songs, the story will never go out of style, we’re into our third generation now. It’s got a novelty effect with the fiddle and the battle between the devil and Johnny; it’s a really unique piece of work that just came about. But basically, it was just a matter of need. We were doing an album and didn’t have a fiddle tune and decided we needed a fiddle tune, so we went in and wrote one. Some of the best things happen kind of off the cuff sometimes. Insofar as what did happen, I don’t know exactly what it was, but I sure am glad it did.
MR: It was great because you also hint at elements of the Crossroads story, only instead of applying it to the blues, it was to the fiddle, which is awesome.
CD: Well, I’m a Christian, so when people say it’s some kind of demonic thing–it’s not, it’s just a fun song. I’ve played that song a million times and the devil will still never win.
MR: One of my favorite songs on that album was “Mississippi.” I love that recording.
CD: I like it too. I like the state of Mississippi, being a Southerner, but I like it on account of the mellower side. It’s something that comes out every once in a while, as I said I have a wide taste in music but at the same time I have the ability to ride a wide range of music. Like we were discussing earlier, I don’t know what I’m going to do next, there’s just no telling. I may do a jazz album, I don’t know. I’ve got the musicians capable of doing it, we play jazz, if we write enough stuff that’s worthwhile to make an album we might do it, you never can tell.
MR: Would that follow your symphony?
CD: It would probably proceed it because symphony writing’s kind of slow. I don’t write music, my other guy does; I can’t read and write music.
MR: I’m sure it will be great when it’s completed. Hey Charlie, what advice do you have for new artists?
CD: Are you speaking creatively or career-wise?
MR: However you look at that.
CD: Well, creatively, I think everybody’s talent, everybody’s ability, everybody’s approach is different. I’d first of all say be gentle with yourself in the learning process and the creative process. One of the main things that happens with people is we tend to get a little impatient and turn things in before they’re done. I had a very good teacher, Bob Johnston, the man who brought me to Nashville and put me on the demo sessions, the guy has meant so much in my whole career; he taught me very early on that there is a rhyme for every word, there is a melody for every lyric idea if you’re just willing to look hard enough for it. That’s the first thing, develop a work ethic where you don’t try to listen to a good song before it’s completely finished and be honest with yourself. If it’s not good, don’t tell yourself it is good, stay with it until it is.
MR: You mentioned Bob Johnston earlier on regarding the demo sessions. So this album, in some respects, sort of takes you full circle since it focuses on Bob Dylan.
CD: I guess you could say that. Gosh, it doesn’t seem like that long ago that we were doing the Nashville Skyline album. It doesn’t seem like that was 1969. I guess full circle is a good way to put it, but let’s hope the circle isn’t completed yet. [laughs]
MR: Is the South still going to do it again?
CD: [laughs] It’s done, done it, it’s already happened!
MR: Any words of wisdom at seventy-seven?
CD: Words of wisdom? Being a Christian I’d say trust in God with all your heart and just go for it, enjoy your life.
MR: Beautiful. You’re awesome.
CD: Thank you very much.