Country singer and conservative icon Charlie Daniels died Monday of a hemorrhagic stroke in Tennessee. He was 83 years old.
A member of the Grand Ole Opry, the Musicians Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Daniels rose to popular music fame during the Country Rock era in 1979 with his song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Charts.
Daniels’ 1980 song “In America” had a brief revival after the 9/11 attacks of 2001.
Early in his career in the 1960s and ’70s, Daniels was seen as a country music member of the counterculture, but his politics drifted toward conservatism as he got older. He was a supporter of George W. Bush and made a number of television appearances on Fox “News” in support of the US invasion of Iraq.
Daniels is survived by his wife, Hazel, whom he married in 1964, and one son, Charlie Daniels, Jr.