Grammy winner Charlie Daniels set to open Naperville Ribfest
Even after 50 years of performing, Grand Ole Opry inductee and Grammy winner Charlie Daniels isn't about to put down his fiddle.
The gentleman with the infamous bull rider hat and belt buckle will grace Naperville's Ribfest Miller Light's South Stage from 8:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday.
Daniels recently talked with the Daily Herald about his lyrics and where he thinks the country music industry is heading.
Q. What's it like playing in Naperville?A. I don't discriminate between stages, whether in New York City or in Naperville. I walk on stage the same way every night, with the same attitude every night. I've come to entertain these people, and I'm going to give them the very best I've got. It's "Hey, it's showtime. Let's go work."Q. What do you think about the new country artists who are emerging? A. Well, every music has to breathe, has to grow, has to expand. If it stays the same, it will die. So, you have to have fresh blood, you have to have fresh ideas. You have to have people coming up with things to make the music sound a little different. It happens in every kind of music, and country will always over time to some extent revert back to its roots. There will always be somebody that comes along, like an Alan Jackson or a Clint Black or traditional-type people, and picks up again on another adventure. (My band) kind of crossed from pop to country; it works the other way around for most people. It was a different sort of thing. I'm sure not all traditional country fans wanted to accept what we were doing. When we came to the table we brought our stuff with us, and it became part of mainstream of country music. That's kind of the way it is with all the younger people coming in now. They bring their different approach, their different feels, their different songs, their different sounds, their different music. Eventually, it becomes part of the mainstream.Q. Two cuts off you're new CD, "Land That I Love," will be available for digital download on July 4. It's a very patriotic compilation. Why do you continue to express your political views?A. I don't consider my songs as being political. I look at my songs as being my attitude. That's not my description of politics; I know it is for a lot of people. It's your personal attitude toward America and what America hopefully should be. That to me is people taking part in the process. It's not political, it's just common-sense patriotism. Now, I get political on my website. I write a couple of columns a week on my website. I would consider some of the stuff I write on there very political. But I don't take that on stage with me because that's not what people buy tickets to hear. But the songs that I play, like "In America" and "This Ain't No Rag It's A Flag," these songs that I'm expressing my opinion on what's going on, they're not political. They are my feelings about current events.Q. You've recently been helping out with the Nashville Flood and Recovery efforts.A. Well, I really haven't done that much. There are people that have done a whole lot more than I have. But it's my home area. I am so sad about what happened to the community with the flood, but I'm also very proud of the community. When this happened, people did not wait for anybody. They didn't wait for the government. They didn't wait for FEMA. They went out and started picking people up and getting them to safety. They started feeding people, taking people into their homes, replacing the household items that they need. All kinds of stuff that people did for people. That volunteer state, I don't think that has ever come forward any better than it did during this crisis. The same thing carried over into the music community and in the record community. People were doing the radio stations, the television stations, almost all the media was involved in some kind of fundraising and raised a tremendous amount of money.That's what America's supposed to be about. America's not about politics. America's not about whose running this and whose running that and whose done this and whose sleeping with who in Hollywood. Who cares? America is about Americans helping Americans.Q. You've been touring for years. Do you ever just want to pack up and go home?A. No. I don't have any desire to retire. I love what I do. I can't imagine my life without it. I think when the time comes for me to retire it will be kind of obvious, but that time has not come and I'm not ready to do it.Q. Where's your favorite place to be when you're not on tour? A. I like being home: Twin Pines Ranch. I go in the wintertime out to Colorado and spend a couple of months out there in high country. I enjoy traveling. I enjoy seeing other people, other cultures. 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