"Once in a while" becomes almost every year. Before its first run ends in 1986, the jams are broadcast nationally and internationally (by the Voice of America). Guests range the world of music and include Willie Nelson, Ted Nugent, Ray Price, Roy Acuff, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Crystal Gayle, James Brown, Emmylou Harris, Amy Grant, George Thorogood, Kris Kristofferson, Little Richard, Tammy Wynette, and Boxcar Willie, along with Alabama, Black Oak Arkansas, the Dirt Band, the Oak Ridge Boys, and in 1986, a reunion of the Allmans.

1975: CDB issues the Night Rider album.

A second Volunteer Jam in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, will result in an album, Volunteer Jam.

1976: With the album Saddle Tramp, the CDB joins Epic Records.

Charlie aligns himself with presidential candidate Jimmy Carter. "I didn't think he had a chance," says Charlie. "When I was asked about doing something for him, he was 'Jimmy Who?' But he called me one night. I read some clips about him, and I felt good about him. We'd come out of a catastrophic political time...Carter personified honesty and goodness."

When "Jimmy Who?" becomes President Carter, the CDB are among performers at his inaugural.

1977: The CDB issues two albums, High Lonesome and Midnight Wind.

1978: More Volunteer Jams result in a two-record set, Volunteer Jam III and IV.

1979: Million Mile Reflections yields "Devil Went Down to Georgia," which reaches No. 1 and for which Charlie wins the Grammy for Best Country Vocal.

1980: The CDB appears in the film "Urban Cowboy;" another Jam brings another VJ (VI) album. CDB's Full Moon includes "In America," Charlie's response to the Iran hostage crisis and the renewed patriotism it ignites. The record reached No. 11 in Billboard.

"We'd just come through the '60s and the backlash of Watergate and Vietnam," says Charlie. "I got the feeling that patriotism was almost dead. But then they took the hostages. I travel a lot, and everywhere I went, people were saying, 'How dare that S.O.B. take our people! We oughta go over there.... How dare they do that!'"

The CDB hit the charts with "The Legend of Wooley Swamp."

1981: Yet another Volunteer Jam and album (VII)

1982: In the Windows album, the CDB's version of Dan Daley's "Still in Saigon" reaches No. 22.

1983: The CDB issues a compilation, The Charlie Daniels Band - A Decade of Hits.

1985: Me and the Boys album is released.

1987: The Volunteer Jams have continued non-stop since 1977, but a combination of business and financial difficulties — along with the time and energy required of the CDB staff — take their toll, and the 13th will be the last for a few years.

The CDB releases its Powder Keg album.

1988: Homesick Heroes is issued out of CBS/Nashville and results in a Top 10 record on the country charts: "Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues."

1990: Simple Man is issued and rises to No. 2 on the country charts. The album is ignited by the title single, in which a simple man ("with simple attitudes," Charlie explains) calls for the lynching of drug dealers and slow deaths by the way of gators and snakes for murders, child abusers and rapists. The song gets Charlie onto numerous talk shows, where he's asked to explain himself.

He wrote the song, he says, "out of frustration." He's read about a scandalous case in which a child was killed by her stepfather. "I know how I feel about it; I know what I'd like to do," he explains. "Some of it's kind of tongue-in-cheek; it's a knee-jerk reaction. I don't really want to take people out and leave them in the swamps....But violent crimes--that's what that song's about."

Charlie is also the subject of a long-form music video, "Charlie Daniels: Homefolks and Highways." The CDB released its first holiday album, Christmas Time Down South.

1991: Renegade is released and Charlie announces the return of the Volunteer Jam, in May in Nashville. "We took a three and a half year look at it and feel that we're ready to do it again," says Charlie. As always, the VJ will provide a stage for a wide mix of music, including B.B. King, Steppenwolf, Tanya Tucker, and, of course, The Charlie Daniels Band.

1992: Charlie Daniels signs a new record deal with Liberty Records. "I have been a long time admirer of Jimmy Bowen," says Charlie. "I like his style; we both kind of came to Nashville as renegades. Jimmy runs a different kind of record company — an energetic record company. Jimmy wants the Charlie Daniels Band to sound like us and be what we are. That means an awful lot to us."

Bowen says, "Charlie Daniels is a trend setter and an innovator. We at Liberty are proud to have him recording for us and look forward to a long association."

1993: Liberty Records releases the first Charlie Daniels album in April, titled, America, I Believe In You and the CDB commences a tour. Dickies workwear out of Ft. Worth, Texas signs Charlie as a celebrity spokesman for the second year and announces their involvement as a sponsor of the 1993 tour.