The Charlie Daniels Band

Charlie Daniels sad demise last week leaves behind a huge body of work, kicking off his career in 1964 with a song ‘It Hurts Me’ that was covered by Elvis Presley. He was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2002, the Grand Ole Opry in 2008, the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009, and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

This release, on 2 CDs covers three albums that are generally considered to be statement pieces in the Southern Rock/Country Rock/Americana field.
And they are great. Daniels was prolific but never seemed to let that get in the way of quality and the playing and songwriting on these three albums are superb.

The set comprises the ‘Powder Keg’, Homesick Heroes’ and ‘Simple Man’ albums and they are all very different with ‘Powder Keg’ having a more produced feel against the rawness and Country feel of ‘Homesick Heroes’ and the rockier ‘Simple Man’ but they all show the sheer quality of Charlie Daniels.

There are some great tracks throughout the collection but for me, the albums are best treated in their own right , all showing the many sides of Charlie Daniels.

There have been a lot of compilations of The Charlie Daniels Band but it feels that these three albums are really the essence of his music.
If you are into Southern Rock or Redneck Country this really ought to be in your collection – great music and a fitting tribute.