Charlie Daniels on Turning 80

He has never been easy to pigeonhole — and as Charlie Daniels celebrates his 80th birthday today, that’s as true as ever.

He’s perfectly happy playing bluegrass, Southern rock, and traditional country music, with many of his songs marrying some or all those genres. Boot-stomping tunes such as “The South’s Gonna Do It Again,” from 1974’s stellar “Fire on the Mountain” album, even incorporate a swinging boogie/blues sound.

“I don’t love anything like I love music.”

And of course, Daniels’ epic “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” brings everything together so perfectly it became a crossover smash, hitting No. 3 on the pop charts in 1979, in addition to earning the top spot on the country charts.

Last week, Daniels was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, which would seem to be the perfect closing act for a career that’s spanned six decades. But the music legend has no interest in retiring now — and not anytime soon.

He’s still hitting the road with The Charlie Daniels Band, playing more than 100 dates every year. He’s still recording, having released his latest album, “Night Hawk,” in August. And he’ll soon be a published author as well; his long-gestating memoir — the planned title is “Never Look at the Empty Seats” — is due to hit shelves next year.

Daniels took time out from his busy schedule this week to chat with LifeZette about his esteemed career — and why 80 is nothing more than a number.

“It’s happened so gradually, it’s not really noticeable to me,” Daniels said. “Eighty is just a number like 79 is. I just keep doing the same things. I have no desire to go chase a golf ball around a pasture the rest of my life. I don’t love anything like I love music, the creation and performance of music. I always look forward to going to work.”

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The North Carolina native has lived with his wife, Hazel, at Twin Pines Ranch outside Nashville for about four decades.

“I always say, when I leave Twin Pines Ranch, I want to go to heaven,” Daniels said. “We live between two patches of woods; I have places to fish, to ride my horses, to shoot my gun. So really, turning 80 doesn’t seem different than turning 70 to me.”

He added, “We have been preconditioned [to think that] at 65, you’re supposed to retire, supposed to sit on the front porch … As long as it’s the Good Lord’s will for me to [keep performing], and I have the health to do it, I will. I don’t have a hobby or something that I care about as much as music.”

As for joining the Country Music Hall of Fame, Daniels said the news of his induction came as a surprise — because Sarah Trahern, the Country Music Association’s CEO, planned it that way.

“I was told I was just going there to take a picture,” Daniels said. “They took my picture, and then Sarah, very casually [told me]. At first, I wasn’t sure she said what she said. I took a minute, and when I saw the look on everyone’s face, just the emotions — my wife was there, and I almost fell into her. I felt like a Little Leaguer who woke up and was standing at the plate, and I knocked one out of the park.”

Daniels noted how proud he is to have been chosen for the hall, which is very selective. It inducts only three new members each year.

“You don’t know who’s voting. You can’t really lobby for it,” he explained. “With this, there’s no formula. And they do an incredible job of keeping it secret. In Nashville, everything’s on the street right away — but this is one secret Nashville really keeps.”

Thrilled as he was about that, Daniels noted that being inducted into the Grand Ole Opry membership was similarly momentous. (He joined the Opry in January 2008.) With the two honors, Daniels now can claim truly elite status among country music performers — not that he’s the sort to go around doing that.

“Where do you go from here?” he said. “I’ve been asked about it a lot, and I don’t have words to truly articulate that. Do I think some people deserve [the hall induction] more? Yes, I do. Am I going to give it back? No, I’m not.” Daniels lets out a laugh. “It’s a tremendous feeling.”

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He’s less excited about the state of country music today. While he enjoys the work of some individual artists, what gets played on country radio rarely does much for him.

“I have trouble listening to country radio,” he said. “I can’t tell one artist from another, with notable exceptions. I can’t tell one song, or one singer, or one arrangement [from another]. My mind is drifting off like it’s [hearing] elevator music.”

Daniels added, “I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. It’s selling, it’s successful. But I have trouble really getting into the music. There’s not something distinctive — that lyric like ‘he stopped loving her today.'”

Related: Pop Country Isn’t Country At All 

Daniels said he’s optimistic country radio will eventually have a creative resurgence, given that these things can be cyclical — but it’s definitely not there right now.

As for birthday celebrations, Daniels said he’ll be attending a party at the Hall of Fame Saturday night. And with his annual Volunteer Jam approaching on Nov. 30, this year’s event will effectively be the “Charlie Daniels Birthday Bash.” The show began in 1974. But birthday or otherwise, every time he performs, it’s a celebration for Daniels.

“I walk onstage, I get instant gratification. That is still exciting to me. It never gets mundane; it never gets old. It never gets where I don’t want to go onstage. If it ever got that way, I would quit. And one of these days I’ll have to: The Lord will call me home or something. But until then, as long as people get to hear me, I’m happy.”