Over the course of a career that began in the late 1950s, Charlie Daniels bridged Southern rock, country, and bluegrass music as a singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Born Charles Edward Daniels in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Oct. 28, 1936, the son of a tobacco farmer, he was strongly influenced by the Grand Ole Opry and became proficient on guitar, mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. In 1953, he formed a bluegrass band and later switched to rock 'n' roll, making his first record in 1959 as a member of the Jaguars. After producer Bob Johnston moved to Nashville, the two wrote "It Hurts Me," which Elvis Presley recorded in January 1964. Daniels relocated permanently to Nashville in 1967 to work as a session musician, playing on Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline and Ringo Starr's Beaucoups of Blues, and he also produced rock acts including Roy Buchanan and the Youngbloods. He formed the Charlie Daniels Band in 1972 and signed with Kama Sutra Records, scoring an early hit with "Uneasy Rider," then further aligning himself with Southern rock by the time of 1975's "The South's Gonna Do It" after playing on records by Hank Williams Jr., the Marshall Tucker Band, and others. After signing with Epic Records, he achieved his first No. 1 country hit with "Devil Went Down to Georgia," which became one of the most popular country songs of all time and later appeared in performances and films including "Urban Cowboy." In 1974, he launched the Volunteer Jam, a predominantly Southern concert gathering that reflected his wide musical interests and was staged almost entirely in the greater Nashville area. He also recorded Christian, blues, bluegrass, and children's albums, though he mostly called his work "CDB music." While some of his songs and interviews stirred controversy, he said his outlook rested on unwavering patriotism, a theme expressed in his 2003 book "Ain't No Rag: Freedom, Family, and the Flag" and his 2017 memoir "Never Look at the Empty Seats." Beyond music, he pursued a parallel career as a rancher at Twin Pines Ranch near Lebanon, where he bred cattle and horses, lived in Mount Juliet, supported servicemen's causes and underprivileged children through philanthropy, and received many honors, including recognition as a BMI Icon in 2005, membership in the Grand Ole Opry in 2008, and induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.