‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ Singer, Charlie Daniels, Died at 83

Country music singer Charlie Daniels, best known for the hit “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” has died. He was 83.

The Country Music Hall of Fame member and Grand Ole Opry alumnus had a hemorrhagic stroke in Hermitage, Tennessee. He was pronounced dead Monday at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee, not far from his home in Mt. Juliet, and about 20 minutes outside Nashville.  

Charlie Daniels was a country music and southern rock icon who entertained fans for decades with songs like “In America,” “Long-Haired Country Boy,” and his signature fiddle tune “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.”

In the wake of his passing, fellow singers shared their thoughts and memories.

The Queen of Country, Dolly Parton, has tweeted, “Well, the devil went down to Georgia, but Charlie went straight to heaven. My heart, like many millions of others, is broken today to find out that we’ve lost our dear friend Charlie Daniels.”

“One of my favorite people on this earth, Charlie Daniels, has gone on to his eternal reward today,” Ricky Skaggs expressed on Daniels’ many contributions. “Oh, how he will be missed at the Grand Ole Opry and everywhere else he was loved.”

Charley Pride, on the other hand, recalled how they’ve always supported each other. “I will truly miss my friend and fellow Country Music Hall of Fame member, Charlie Daniels. He was one of the most honest and genuinely nice people in the business. I will miss our talks.”

Charlie Daniels was born in North Carolina but quickly felt at home in Nashville. He moved to the Music City and played on records with music titans Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen. Though he was mostly associated with country music, Daniels once told CNN that he doesn’t like to wear any kind of label.

Daniels said in 2001: “I’ll give you a little breakdown of our band. We played with the Rolling Stones years ago in Memphis, in the afternoon and flew down to Austin, Texas, that night and worked the Willie Nelson picnic.”

In 2008, Charlie Daniels was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, just about 40 years into his professional career. It took until 2016 for Daniels to be a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Charlie Daniels’ last musical project was a collaboration with the Beau Weevils on an album that gave a contemporary twist to Daniels’ retro Southern rock. He performed in a “quarantine edition” of a song off that album, “Geechi Geechi Ya Ya Blues,” just last month.