AIKEN, S.C. - Charlie Daniels will rock Aiken on Tuesday, Oct. 9, in a 25th Anniversary Benefit Concert for Golden Harvest Food Bank.

Corporate sponsors include AB Beverage, ACC Construction, The Augusta Chronicle, The Bull/102.3 FM, Carlisle Tire & Wheel, Comcast, Eagle/105.7 FM, JEBCO and WRDW News 12.

The Charlie Daniels Band, legendary for crossing genres from rock to soul to country, will perform at the new USC-Aiken Convocation Center. Augustan songwriter/guitarist John Kolbeck will open the concert.

Daniels music is part Western/part Southern. His signature “bull rider” hat and belt buckle, lifestyle on the Twin Pines Ranch and love of horses identify him as a Westerner; but hits like “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” confirm his Wilmington, N.C. roots, and his music — fusing elements of rock, country, bluegrass, blues and gospel — is quintessentially Southern.

Daniels was on the ground floor of the rock ‘n’ roll revolution ignited by Mississippian Elvis Presley.

Already skilled on guitar, fiddle and mandolin, he formed a rock ’n roll band and hit the road. His breakthrough was a tune written with legendary producer Bob Johnston, “It Hurts Me,” which became the B side of a 1964 Presley hit.

In 1969, at the urging of Johnston, Daniels moved to middle Tennessee to find work as a session guitarist in Nashville, with Bob Dylan albums “Nashville Skyline,” “New Morning” and “Self Portrait” being the most notable results.

Daniels’ rebel anthems “Long Haired Country Boy” and “The South’s Gonna Do It” propelled his 1975 collection “Fire On the Mountain” to double platinum status. “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” became a platinum single, topping both country and pop charts and earning a Grammy Award. He earned three Country Music Association trophies, and his music became a cornerstone of the “Urban Cowboy” movie sound track, propelling his “Million Mile Reflections” album to triple platinum sales status.

Tickets for the Oct. 9 show are $27, with $22 discount seats for groups, military and students. All seats are reserved and available at www.uscatix.com, the USC-Aiken Convocation Center box office and by telephone at 1-866-722-8877.

For more information, call 706-736-1199 ext. 212, e-mail aboyajian@goldenharvest.org or visit www.goldenharvest.org.

• Story special to The T&D

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