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Charlie Daniels Band music biography continued...

Daniels is the leader of the group, which has had a rotating cast of musical characters throughout the years. Daniels was born and raised in North Carolina, playing fiddle and guitar in several bands during his teenage years. In the late sixties he moved to Nashville, where he became one of the most popular fiddlers, playing on several Bob Dylan albums. In 1972, he formed the Charlie Daniels Band, using the Southern rock of the Allman Brothers as a blueprint. The band comprised Daniels (lead guitar, vocals, fiddle), lead guitarist Don Murray, bassist Charlie Hayward, drummer James W. Marshall, and keyboardist Joe DiGregorio. In 1974, they released Fire on the Mountain, which became a gold record within months of its release; the album would eventually go platinum. Its successor, 1975's Nightrider, did even better, thanks to the Top 40 country hit "Texas." Saddle Tramp, released in 1976, became his first country Top Ten album, going gold.
Throughout the 70s the Charlie Daniels Band went in a Southern rock direction, but with that genre's waning popularity Daniels himself retooled the band in the late 70s and began to play with more of a country thrust. The risk paid off in 1979 when the single "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" became a number one hit, crossing over into the pop charts, where it hit number three. Ultimately, it became a platinum single, topped both country and pop charts, won a Grammy Award, earned three CMA trophies, became a cornerstone of the Urban Cowboy movie soundtrack and propelled Daniel's Million Mile Reflections album to triple- platinum sales levels. Daniels followed with several more successful country-tinged efforts, including Full Moon (1980), which went platinum and Windows (1982), which went gold. Throughout the rest of the 80s and beyond, the band became known for their legendary coast-to-coast tours, which include two drummers, twin guitars and a flamenco dancer. The CDB often toured more than 250 days a year. Today transported in a convoy of buses and gleaming black tractor-trailer rigs, the band has a full horn section, backup singers, a troupe of clog dancers and sometimes a gospel choir. All of the good ole boys and girls couldn't hope for more.