Wednesday, April 30, 2014

10 Questions with Charlie Daniels

By Rock Legends Photographer Isaac Rodriguez
Photos by Isaac Rodriguez
(These are edited excerpts from the interview)

Q: The fans from the Rock Legends Cruise have been asking to see you play. Is that something you would consider?Charlie Daniels Live
A: We did a cruise one time, and (laughs) we had kind of a bad experience due to weather. It was a rough cruise. I just don’t know, we have to see about that.

Q: What artist past or present that you never played with would you just to get on stage and jam with?
A: BB King, hands down. I’d love to get up and jam with BB.

Q: The inspirational postings that appear on Facebook, do you do that personally?
A: Actually I do it on twitter, it comes up on Facebook. I do one every day, usually some bible scripture and I hope it’s something inspirational that will be encouraging to the people.


Q: What was your embarrassing or funniest moment on stage?
A: I was on stage one time in Washington with my pants unzipped and I didn’t know it.

Q: What music or musician inspired you as an artist.
A: A lot of people inspired me. I started playing when I was fourteen. I wasn’t into country I was into progressive music, especially when I started playing the fiddle. When Carl Perkins, Elvis, Jerry Davis guys came along, I got interested and moved on to the other side, the rock side. I have been inspired by a lot of people, and a lot of styles in the music that we play.

Q: Have you taken an interest in any new fiddle players?
A: I really don’t know. I don’t keep up with things. I live pretty much in my own world out there. I’m really busy just doing what I do. I run into somebody once in a while, or see someone on TV but I really don’t know who they are.

Q: Is there a particular song that is just your favorite to play?
A: I like to play all of them, because I get a chance to play it better tonight than I did last night, and better tomorrow than I played it today. So I enjoy playing all the songs.Charlie Daniels on Stage

Q: Do you have a favorite cowboy hat? Or do you have a collection of cowboy hats?
A: Not really, I usually keep an extra one or so around. I change every summer I get a straw hat and every fall I get a felt hat. If I wear it out or something I’ll get another one. I just get them as I need them. I don’t keep them, I don’t usually keep them. I give them away to charity events or something.

Q: Do you have any new albums or projects in the works?
A: We are recording a new album now, should be out in the spring.

Q: What would you say is the difference between the original Charlie Daniels band and your band of today?
A: Well, just different players. I have not changed players a lot over the years. One of our players got killed in a car wreck a couple of years ago. Tommy Crane was in the band for a long time. I have not changed drummers in about thirteen years now. But I think it’s gotten better. To be honest with you I think this is the best band we have ever had. The players are really good, and the caliber of musicians is really, really high. These guys play really well. So I think it’s gotten better. This band is more capable of playing more different kinds of music and it’s tighter. I just think it’s a better band.

Q: Do you follow any of the new southern rock bands?
A: Not really, I don’t know what’s going on. I am so caught up in what I do. Playing a lot, I write two columns a week for our website. Constantly writing something, I always doing something doing interviews, appearances, recordings, it just takes all my time being me so I don’t know who anybody is.
I would like to thank Paula from the Charlie Daniels organization for scheduling this interview, and a very special thank you to Tom Bell. Without him this interview would have not been possible.
See the rest of the photos from Charlie’s concert at the Isle Casino in Pompano Beach, Florida

No comments:

Post a Comment