Country music legend Charlie Daniels will perform at Lake Winnepesaukah’s Jukebox Junction Stage on Sunday, July 22 with one show at 5:00 p.m.

“Few individuals have symbolized the South in popular culture as directly and indelibly as Charlie Daniels.” – Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

Charlie Daniels is partly Western and partly Southern. His signature “bullrider” hat and belt buckle, his lifestyle on the Twin Pines Ranch, his love of horses, cowboy lore and the heroes of championship rodeo, Western movies, and Louis L’Amour novels, identify him as a Westerner. The son of a lumberjack and a Southerner by birth, his music – rock, country, bluegrass, blues, gospel – is quintessentially Southern. In fact, even his bent for all things Western is Southern, because his attire, his lifestyle and his interests are historically emblematic of Southern working class solidarity with the “lone cowboy” individualism of the American West. It hasn’t been so much a style of music, but more the values consistently reflected in several styles that has connected Charlie Daniels with millions of fans. For decades, he has steadfastly refused to label his music as anything other than “CDB music,” music that is now sung around the fire at 4-H Club and scout camps, helped elect an American President, and been popularized on a variety of radio formats.

Daniels broke through as a record maker with 1973’s Honey In the Rock and its hit hippie song Uneasy Rider. His rebel anthems Long Haired Country Boy and The South’s Gonna Do It propelled his 1975 collection Fire On the Mountain to Double Platinum status. In 1979, Daniels delivered The Devil Went Down to Georgia which became a Platinum single, topped both country and pop charts, won a Grammy Award, became an international phenomenon, earned three Country Music Award trophies, became a cornerstone of the Urban Cowboy movie soundtrack and propelled Daniel’s Million Mile Reflections album to Triple Platinum sales levels.

“I used to say, I’m not an outlaw, I’m an outcast,” says the Grammy Award winning star. “When it gets right down to the nitty gritty, I’ve just tried to be who I am. I’ve never followed trends or fads. I couldn’t even if I tried. I can’t be them, I can’t be anybody but me.”

When you hear a classic Charlie Daniels Band performance like The Devil Went Down to Georgia, you hear music that knows no clear genre. Is it a folk tale? A southern boogie? A country fiddle tune? An electric rock anthem? The answer is, “yes” to all of that and more. And the same goes for In America, Uneasy Rider, The South’s Gonna Do It, Long Haired Country Boy, Still in Saigon, The Legend of Wooley Swamp, and the rest of a catalog that spans 50 years of record making.

In April 1998, top stars and two former Presidents paid tribute to Daniels when he was named the recipient of the Pioneer Award at the Academy of Country Music. “In his time he’s played everything from rock to jazz, folk to western swing, and honkytonk to award-winning gospel,” former President Jimmy Carter said. “In Charlie’s own words, ‘Let there be harmony, let there be fun and 12 inches of music to make us all one’.” “Charlie’s love of music is only surpassed by his love of people, especially the American people,” former President Gerald Ford said. “He’s traveled this land from coast to coast singing about the things that concern the American people.”

On January 19th, 2008, Charlie’s life long dream became a reality when he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. “It is an honor I can’t begin to articulate, there is no way I can express what it means to me,” says Daniels. “I have been blessed with Gold, Platinum and Multiplatinum albums. I have appeared many time on network television, even in moving pictures. I have won multiple awards from The Country Music Association, The Academy of Country Music, The Gospel Music Association and even a Grammy. I have even played on the Grand Ole Opry many times. But I was always on the outside looking in. I was always a guest, never a member.”

Charlie Daniels will perform at Lake Winnepesaukah’s Jukebox Junction Stage on Sunday, July 22 with one show at 5:00 p.m. All Jukebox Junction concerts are free with admittance to Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park. All guests under 18 must be accompanied by a guest age 18 or over and must purchase either an Unlimited Ride Pass for $26 or a Ticket Package for $18. A Youth/Senior Ride Pass is $10 for children ages 1 and 2 and adults 65 and older. A special Concert Only Pass is $10 for ages 18 and older. Parking is free. Park hours are 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 12 noon to 10:00 p.m. on Sundays. Lake Winnepesaukah is recognized as one of America’s top ten family amusement parks by Travel and Leisure magazine. For more information, call (706) 866-5681 or toll free (877) LAKEWIN or visit the web site at www.lakewinnie.com.Charlie Daniels To Perform At Lake Winnepesaukah July 22