Celebrate the Heart of Country, Americana, and Roots Music!

Drop Us A Line, Y'all

Y'all interested in advertising, partnering up, contributing stories, joining our team, or just got a question? Well, don't be shy, drop us a line!

Follow Us

The Best Songs of the Famed Fiddler and Country Star, Charlie Daniels

Charlie Daniels Songs
by
  • Arden is a Senior Country Music Journalist for Country Thang Daily, specializing in classic hits and contemporary chart-toppers.
  • Prior to joining Country Thang Daily, Arden wrote for Billboard and People magazine, covering country music legends and emerging artists.
  • Arden holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Tennessee, with a minor in Music Studies.

Charlie Daniels is a master at blending genres to produce a unique sound, which is a mixture of blues, country, and Southern rock. He may be synonymous with “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which is perhaps one of the earliest examples of country-rap, but his catalog was defined by more than sing-speak recitations and fiddle fire.

Let’s celebrate Charlie Daniels’ life and career with these great songs he left us behind.

10. Damn Good Cowboy

From: Nightrider (1975)

“Damn Good Cowboy” tells a detailed and believable story about a tough hombre. It’s an amazing country song that features the Marshall Tucker Band’s Toy Caldwell on steel guitar.

9. The Legend of Wooley Swamp

From: Full Moon (1980)

“The Legend of Wooley Swamp” by the Charlie Daniels Band has now been a spine-tingling crowd-pleaser for four decades — and if you find that hard to believe, you’re not alone. Even Daniels is quite surprised that his tale of a greedy old hermit and a frightening murder has lasted this long. 

“You just sing it every night and don’t think about it,” Daniels told Rolling Stone Country in 2015. “All of a sudden, my son let me know it’s been 35 years, and it’s like, ‘Wow, where’d the time go?’ But the good feeling about it is people still want to hear it after 35 years.”

8. Uneasy Rider

From: Honey in the Rock (1973)

“Uneasy Rider” is sometimes considered a novelty song. It features a narrative spoken over a guitar melody with lyrics that reflect cultural divisions in the Southern United States between the early 1970s and the 1960s’ counterculture and more traditional Southern culture.

7. Sweet Louisiana

From: Full Moon (1980)

Charlie Daniels preached American perseverance and unity among the “cowboys, hippies, rebels, and yanks” in this patriotic anthem. The slick “In America” was made with a broader audience in mind, featuring more rock than country and with most Southern grit polished off.

Here, Daniels reacted to the different difficult issues America was facing in the late 1970s, such as the fallout from the Watergate scandal, the simultaneous double-digit inflation, unemployment, as well as the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979 to 1981. It nearly peaked into the Top 10 on the Hot 100 in 1980, just a few months before the Reagan presidency.

6. The South’s Gonna Do It Again

From: Fire on the Mountain (1974)

Daniels scored a top 30 hit in 1975 with the Southern anthem “The South’s Gonna Do It Again.” The song, which uses a smart play on words to promote Southern rock music, is a notion that “the South shall rise again.” 

It was a familiar sentiment and rallying cry for disaffected Southern whites after the American Civil War. Though the song co-opts that sentiment, it also uses the statement to celebrate Southern rock acts contemporary to the song itself. The song implied that the South would produce further popular Southern rock bands.

5. Long Haired Country Boy

From: Fire on the Mountain (1974)

“Long Haired Country Boy” was first released as a single in April 1975 and was released again as a single in 1980. The song contained references to drinking and drugs that Charlie Daniels felt were inappropriate to play it during live shows for many years. 

“Things have gotten so serious, and it’s such a big problem with drugs and alcohol with kids, and it just went against my Christian feelings to actually do anything that somebody could construe with promoting that lifestyle, or those things, the alcohol, and drugs,” Daniels said in an interview.

Years later, Daniels decided to change some of the words in “Long Haired Country Boy,” until he felt he could start playing it in his live shows again.

4. Mississippi

From: Million Mile Reflections (1979)

Daniels, who is usually more closely associated with uptempo rock numbers, scored himself a winning ballad with “Mississippi.” It is his follow-up single to “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” and it peaked just inside the Top 20 on country radio. 

The song features a lush string section reminiscent of Glen Campbell’s sweetly orchestrated country-pop chestnuts and a surprisingly tender, aching vocal performance from Daniels, who croons about his longing for something or someone he hasn’t seen in a long time. “Like a mist in the morning, from some dream I’ve left behind,” he sings, with no trace of his trademark bluster.

3. Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye

From: Me and the Boys (1986)

“Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye” is another drinking song written by Charlie Daniels, and he performed with the Charlie Daniels Band. The song peaked No. 8 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

2. Still in Saigon

From: Windows (1982)

“Still in Saigon” is a compelling portrayal of the plight of the American Vietnam veteran a decade after the war. Saigon, which is now known as Ho Chi Minh City, was the South Vietnamese capital during the Vietnam War.  

“Dan Daley had written it, and it was very much in line with the way that I felt about the Vietnam veterans because it was so totally unfair how these people were treated when they came back from a war that they had nothing to do with starting,” Daniels said.

It became a significant song to many Vietnam veterans since it shows of support that rarely came their way in 1982.

1. The Devil Went Down to Georgia

From: Million Mile Reflections (1979)

Charlie Daniels, with the Charlie Daniels Band, tipped his cowboy hat to Saturday night barn dances and hillbilly fiddle tunes to celebrate American music through “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The up-tempo bluegrass song is about a Devil’s failed attempt to gain a young man’s soul through a fiddle-playing contest that involves asking for the young man’s participation by offering him a worldly prize. 

Charlie Daniels has said in interviews, “I don’t know where it came from, but it just did. Well, I think I might know where it came from, it may have come from an old poem called ‘The Mountain Whippoorwill’ that Stephen Vincent Benet wrote many, many years ago, that I had in high school. He didn’t use that line, but I started playing, and the band started playing, and first thing you know, we had it down.”

“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” also appeared on the soundtrack of Urban Cowboy, an important film that helped the growth of danceable, pop-accessible country music in the early ’80s. The song stayed relevant in the face of changing times and remains one of the most iconic songs of the 1970s.

Latest Stories

Dolly Parton looks down emotionally while speaking into a rhinestone-covered microphone during a candid moment on stage.

Dolly Parton Was So Broke When She First Moved to Nashville She Ate Leftover Room Service to Survive

Some people chase dreams. Dolly Parton chased survival. Long before the wigs, the theme park, and the billion-dollar legacy, Dolly was just a teenage girl in cheap shoes with a ...

Kelly Clarkson closes her eyes while singing into a microphone during her raw performance of Cody Johnson’s “When It Comes To You.”

Kelly Clarkson’s Cody Johnson Cover Reminded Folks What Country’s Supposed to Feel Like

Kelly Clarkson’s voice could melt asphalt in the middle of a Texas summer, and when she turned her sights on Cody Johnson‘s “When It Comes To You,” it wasn’t just ...

Connie Francis smiles with hands clasped in front of a pink backdrop and orchids, remembered for her timeless hit “Pretty Little Baby.”

Connie Francis, the Original Pop Icon Behind “Pretty Little Baby,” Dies at 87

She ruled the airwaves before most of us were born, and somehow, against all odds, Connie Francis was going viral on TikTok at 87. The pop powerhouse behind hits like ...

Luke Bryan performs with high energy on stage in a plaid shirt and cap, dividing fans over whether he's saving or ruining country music.

Why Some Country Fans Can’t Stand Luke Bryan and Others Say He Saved the Genre

Country fans don’t just listen, they debate. And if there’s one name that’s kept the whiskey flowing and keyboards clacking over the last decade, it’s Luke Bryan. Depending on who ...

Luke Bryan looks emotional during a heartfelt interview as he reflects on the personal tragedies of losing his brother and sister years apart.

Luke Bryan’s Brother and Sister Died Years Apart and He’s Still Carrying That Pain Today

Country music’s known for telling stories, but Luke Bryan’s life reads more like a ballad you never want to live through. Before the chart-toppers, before the sold-out stadium tours, before ...

Chris Stapleton and Miranda Lambert perform together in cowboy hats as their new duet “A Song to Sing” sparks mixed reactions from critics and fans.

Chris Stapleton and Miranda Lambert’s New Duet Slammed by Critics but Loved by Listeners

You’d think pairing two of the biggest voices in country music would set the world on fire. Instead, some critics are out here pouring cold water on what was supposed ...

More than 50 country legends and stars join together onstage at the Grand Ole Opry’s 100th celebration for a surprise performance of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Opry 100 Crowd Thought It Was Over Then 50 Country Legends Sang “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”

Thought the show was over? Not even close. The Grand Ole Opry’s 100th anniversary celebration already had fans floating on a high of nostalgia, surprise collaborations, and once-in-a-lifetime performances. But ...

Chris Stapleton performing onstage in a cowboy hat and black suit while playing guitar, tied to his big $1 million donation to help Texas families after devastating floods.

Chris Stapleton Steps Up to Help Texas Families After Devastating Floods With Big Donation

When the waters rise, real country shows up. Texas got hit with a storm over Fourth of July weekend that nobody saw coming, a wall of rain that turned the ...

Beyoncé performing in a white rhinestone outfit and cowboy hat during her Cowboy Carter Tour, amid news her unreleased music and setlists were stolen from a car in Atlanta.

Beyoncé’s Unreleased Music Stolen From Car in Atlanta Along With Cowboy Carter Tour Plans and Setlists

Well, here we go. Beyoncé might want to saddle up that golden horse of hers because this Cowboy Carter circus just keeps getting wilder, and not in a way that’ll ...

Darius Rucker passionately singing on stage before walking off after four songs and refunding fans when he lost his voice in Atlantic City.

Darius Rucker Walks Off Stage After 4 Songs Says “I Can’t Sing Anymore” and Refunds Fans

Sometimes the road just knocks the wind right out of you, or in Darius Rucker‘s case, it takes your voice and leaves you standing there, hat in hand, with nothing ...