Charlie Daniels with his band, The Jaguars. Photo courtesy of Blue Hat Records.

Circa 1953: Charlie has a bluegrass band and writes his first song. 'The first thing I wrote that was recorded was in the late 50's but it was nothing really big.'

1959: Charlie has by now been in several rock and roll and R & B groups. The longest stretch is with the Jaguars (1959-1967). They record an instrumental single in Ft. Worth, Texas. It's called "Jaguar."

Early '60s: Charlie, raised on country, a fan of bluegrass, and an adept rock and roll singer and guitarist, discovers jazz on a visit to Washington, D.C. The Jaguars begin to play Louis Prima shuffles, "Mack the Knife" and "some really jazzy stuff."

1964: Back to country and rock. Charlie co-writes "It Hurts Me" and it's recorded by Elvis Presley and put on the flip side of "Kissin' Cousins."

1967: Charlie is invited by producer Bob Johnston, who's joined CBS Records in Nashville, to try Music City. He agrees. "I was playing a lot of clubs and I wanted to get off the road."

Charlie Daniels in the studio with Bob Dylan during the recording of Dylan's Nashville Skyline. Photo courtesy of Blue Hat Records.

Charlie begins work as a session player. After being told by producers that he plays too loud, he joins Johnston on Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline. "It was the first time I felt at home in Nashville," he says. "You experienced a lot of freedom from Dylan. He liked what I did, and I was very much into what he was doing."

Charlie and his fiddle go on to other sessions and other stars, among them Ringo Starr and Marty Robbins.

1969: Charlie tries his hand as a producer, and when Johnston gets overloads with work, he suggests Daniels to the Youngbloods. He produces Elephant Mountain and Ride the Wind, the latter recorded live at a rock festival in Louisiana and at the Fillmores East and West.

The Charlie Daniels Band, circa 1975. Photo courtesy of Blue Hat Records.

The CDB joins Kama Sutra Records and records Te John, Grease and Wolfman, named after the band members' nicknames. "Grease" was keyboard player Joel DiGregorio, still with the CDB. Charlie was just "Charlie" and on occasion, "the Fat Boy."

1972: Their next album, Honey in the Rock, includes "Uneasy Rider," a talking bluegrass number which becomes a hit the following year, reaching No. 9 in Billboard in August 1973.

1974: The CDB issues Way Down Yonder, which will be reissued in 1977 by Epic as Whiskey.

Records Fire on the Mountain, including "The South's Gonna Do It Again," which hits the Top 30, and "Long Haired Country Boy," which peaks at No. 56. Charlie decides to record several songs live in concert and chooses an auditorium in Nashville. In a nod to the Volunteer State, the CDB calls the concert the Volunteer Jam and invites friends from the Allman Brothers Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, and others to join them. "We had such a good time, we decided we should do this once in a while," he says.