Charlie Daniels was laid to rest on Friday, July 10, in a touching service at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, located just outside of Nashville. Vince Gill, Gretchen Wilson, Trace Adkins and Travis Tritt each honored “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” singer, with tributes in both song and word.
Vince performed his classic “Go Rest High on That Mountain” during the service, segueing into “America the Beautiful.”
“I met Charlie 44 years ago,” Vince shared from stage before launching into his song. “I was a 19-year-old kid, just getting my feet wet, and I was in a band with Ricky Skaggs. We were living in Lexington, Kentucky, and Charlie and the boys … everybody came up to play in Lexington, and Ricky and I went. We were about halfway through the show, and sweet Ricky was a real honest bluegrasser, and he had never heard anything quite that loud before. It was a little rough on him, but I loved hearing Les Paul turned up to 14 myself. We met Charlie that night, and all the guys. It was a big deal.
“When you’re a kid and you’re just kind of getting your feet wet, and somebody’s kind to you, somebody reaches out to you, somebody’s friendly to you, you never, ever forget it, for the rest of your life, and that’s the case with me and Charlie,” he continued.
Trace was the first artist to take the stage, performing “Arlington,” the same song he performed at a patriotic service held two days prior to the funeral.
“I wanted to do this song today — Charlie liked this song because of its sentiment, and what it says, and who it pays tribute to,” Trace explained. “There was no one more genuine, more of an ardent supporter of our military than Charlie Daniels. He loved them, and they knew that, and they loved him.”
Travis followed Vince with singing “Amazing Grace,” sharing his own personal stories of his lengthy friendship with the country music legend, calling Charlie “one of the greatest men I’ve ever met in my life.”
“Like everybody else here today, I could sit for hours and tell stories about Charlie Daniels, and all the wonderful things that he did for me personally and professionally, all the great times that we had together, how much of an inspiration he was to me, and so many others,” Travis said, adding that the thing that was most important to Charlie was his Christian faith.
“Charlie loved Jesus,” Travis said. “And he was never, to my knowledge, he was never judgmental or preachy about his beliefs. If you believed differently than he did, that was okay. But he wasn’t ashamed to tell you, at any given time, how much he loved the Lord. I always respected him so much for that. And I have no doubt, because I know how much Charlie loved God, I have no doubt that if there’s any person that I’ve ever met that heard the words, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant,’ it was Charlie Daniels this past Monday.”
Gretchen took the stage towards the end of the service, paying tribute to Charlie by sharing how much he impacted her personal life, before singing “I’ll Fly Away.”
“Charlie was the first to welcome me to Wilson County,” Gretchen said. “Made me feel at home in Tennessee. He’s always been someone I can count on. I’ve called him on many occasions … when I needed help, I did use his phone number. And he’s been like a father to me. He was there to hand me my diploma when I received my GED, spoke at my graduation ceremony.
“He referred me to my financial advisors, he referred me to my medical team, and he referred me to Jesus on many occasions, and I thank Him so much for that,” she concluded.
Charlie passed away on July 6, after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 83 years old at the time of his death.
