How would you

classify the music of the Charlie Daniels Band? Country? Western? Rock

and Roll? Bluegrass. All of those answers seem to fit. How does Charlie

Daniels classify his sound. "It's Charlie Daniels Band music,"

said the leader of one of the more popular bands in history. Daniels brings

his band and their unique mixture of music to Fayetteville's Villages

Amphitheater on Saturday, June 14. It will be the first show of their

first summer concert series.

Charlie Daniels

was born in North Carolina and grew up on all forms of music, including

country, gospel, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Daniels learned how

to play guitar, mandolin and fiddle and, after he graduated from high

school, he formed a rock band and hit the road. The band stopped in Texas,

recorded "Jaguar" with producer Bob Johnston and a lucrative

friendship was formed. The two came together years later and recorded

a song, "It Hurts Me," which found its way to the B-side of

an Elvis Presley hit.

Eventually,

Daniels found his way to Nashville, Tenn. and began doing session guitar

work with a number of different artists including Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen,

The Youngbloods and Marty Robbins. In 1973, Daniels released his own album,

"Honey in the Rock," which featured the song "Uneasy Rider."

In 1975, the album "Fire on the Mountain" was released. The

album featured the songs "Long Haired Country Boy" and "The

South's Gonna Do It" and went double platinum. In 1979, "The

Devil Went Down to Georgia," Daniels' biggest hit to date was released.

It reached the tops of both the pop and country charts and helped the

album, "Million Mile Reflections" go triple platinum. The song

also won a Grammy Award and three Country Music Association awards.

Over the years,

Daniels has released a number of albums that have gone either platinum

- "Full Moon," "Simple Man," and "Decade of Hits"

- or gold - "Windows," "Saddle Tramp," and "Midnight

Wind." The Charlie Daniels Band has also released two Christmas albums

and has appeared on a Grammy winning gospel compilation. In addition to

the near-constant touring of the band, Daniels has established the annual

Volunteer Jam, a show that features a number of Daniels country and rock

and roll friends. Daniels has also released the books "The devil

Went Down to Georgia" and "Charlie Daniels Soap Box Collection

Volume One" The group's most recent song, "This Ain't No Rag,

It's a Flag" has found success and is available on the group's web

site with the purchase of the Soapbox book.

The Charlie

Daniels Band is made up of Daniels on guitar and fiddle, Taz DiGregorio

on keyboards, Charlie Hayward on bass, Bruce Brown on lead guitar, Pat

McDonald on drums and Mark "Sparky" Matejka on guitar. Single

reserve or lawn seats available. Reserved seating is $25 and lawn seating

is $20 in advance. Phone 770-461-6029 or visit Fayetteville City Hall

or any Ticketmaster Outlet. www.fayetteville-ga-us.org. For more information

on the Charlie Daniels Band, visit www.charliedaniels.com.

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