Charlie Daniels, Country Music Hall of Famer, Dead at 83

Legendary fiddler Charlie Daniels, best known for his 1979 song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” has died at the age of 83 after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke, according to his publicist.

Daniels co-wrote an Elvis Presley song, “It Hurts Me,” in 1964, and he made a name for himself as a session musician in the ’60s, playing on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline and Leonard Cohen’s Songs From a Room, before signing to Capitol Records and releasing his self-titled debut in 1970. The Charlie Daniels Band earned a Grammy in 1980 for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

In 2008, Daniels was made a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and in 2016, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

“Charlie Daniels was a reverential innovator. He was a fiddle-playing bandleader, like King of Country Music Roy Acuff. His music fused the immediacy of Southern Rock with the classic country storytelling that he heard as a child in Wilmington, North Carolina,” Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young said in a statement. “He brought new audiences to country music, pointing people to the sources even as he explored the edges. He was also a delight to be around, always with wife Hazel at his side. Just as fiddler Johnny did in the famous song, Charlie Daniels beat the Devil.”