Country Music Legend, ProRodeo Supporter Charlie Daniels Passes Away

Charlie Daniels, a Country Music Hall of Famer and Southern rock legend, passed away Monday morning at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tenn. Doctors determined the cause of death was a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 83.

Daniels’ death was confirmed by his publicist, Don Murry Grubbs. He is survived by his wife, Hazel, and son, Charlie Daniels Jr.

Daniels was a current and longtime member of the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. The mission of the JCCF is to provide need-based financial assistance to athletes injured through their participation in professional rodeo.

He was an icon at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, performing numerous times.

In October 2015, Daniels produced a song that uniquely captured the road that the cowboys endure to qualify for the Wrangler NFR while seeking the coveted gold buckle and title of world champion. Entitled “It Don’t Get No Better Than That,” the song was the ultimate tribute to the cowboys and Las Vegas, the city that has hosted the world’s richest and most prestigious rodeo since 1985.

Proceeds from the song were donated to the JCCF and other organizations.

“Being such a big rodeo fan, writing a song about cowboys and cowgirls, broncs and bulls and the excitement that surrounds the Wrangler NFR in Vegas every year was a natural for me,” Daniels said in a press release about the song. “It don’t get no better than that.”

Daniels left an indelible mark on America’s musical landscape. From his Dove Award-winning gospel albums to his genre-defining Southern rock anthems and his CMA Award-winning country hits, he parlayed his passion for music into a multi-platinum career and a platform to support the military, underprivileged children and others in need.

Daniels recorded his self-titled solo album in 1970 for Capitol Records. Two years later he formed the Charlie Daniels Band and the group scored its first hit with the top 10 “Uneasy Rider.” Since, the CDB populated radio with such memorable hits as “Long Haired Country Boy,” “The South’s Gonna Do It Again,” “In America,” “The Legend of Wooley Swamp” and of course, his signature song, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group in 1979 as well as single of the year at the Country Music Association Awards.

Courtesy of PRCA