The Charlie Daniels Band Live Blue Hat Records by David Pilot
	Kick-ass Southern boy country-fried rock and roll, straight-ahead Dixie party music geared straight to the whiskey-drinkin' beer-guzzlin' gear-jammin' fired-up little bastard in every one of us. Fifteen songs and a cloud of dust. That's the new live album from the Charlie Daniels Band, one of country/rockabilly's long-standing institutions. Good Lord, what a ruckus. My PC speakers are fried and my living room stereo has smokestains on it, but the disc's still a-spinnin' and the shot glasses are all lined up in a row---this is music the way I like it. CDB's been yonder and back several times over the years, and done pretty near everything there is to do. Except a pure dee live album, that is. Or was. Done went and fixed that oversight with this release. Fifteen meaty slices of Southern culture, slathered with hog grease and plumb set on fire. Nothing new here, so don't go mining for insightful new material about a road less traveled. And for damn sure don't go puttin' your thinkin' cap on, although the controversial (to citified Yankees) "Simple Man" does come across in a new light after this past September 11th. But as a whole, this is not new material. Most of these songs you already know even if you're just a casual country music fan. Hell, a bunch of 'em have been around since 1974. What IS new, though, is the presentation. There's a lot to be said for hearing Charlie and the boys do their thing live, full throttle and minus any studio production. A whole lot, as a matter of fact. This thing's a barnburner. The hellbent for leather race through the tracklist kicks off with "Road Dogs," the title cut from the 2000 CDB release on Blue Hat Records. It's pretty straightforward, just a pounding rock and roll cut about 40 years of life on the road. Nondescript in the sense that it's been done before, but a decent appetizer that takes a base none the less. The number two spot moves the runner to second with a vengeance-"Caballo Diablo" is, quite frankly, Tom Russell's "Gallo del Cielo" on crack and crystal meth. A devil horse, a stubborn man, and a coupla broken necks. This cut is tight from start to finish, and grabs ya right where it counts. Good stuff, driven by driving rhythms and screeching guitars that set just the right anxious tone for Charlie's searing vocals. This puppy will haunt you in your sleep if you forget your rosary, I guarantee. On through "The Legend of Wooley Swamp," the aforementioned "Simple Man,' "Sidewinder" and "Trudy," CDB shows off all kinds of chops that the Garths of the world only wish they had. Hard-driving roots rock wrapped in backcountry steels and throaty vocals that drive home the ups and downs of Southern living like a NASCAR pack rolling down the backstretch at 280. What a rush. "Still In Saigon" and "Only in America" take on contemporary lives in our current global situation, making us look at both the flag-waving and maggot-infested rice eating sides of war. Springsteen sang "War, war, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing" out of anger for what Vietnam did to our national pride. Charlie Daniels chooses to take the losses with the wins and stand for pride and that old flag waving in the breeze over a free South-even if it isn't the flag a diehard Southerner wants to see. It's still our country, and we'll still blow your damn head off for fucking with it, he sings. These days, that's good to hear. The South comes roaring back like Pickett's ghost with the next three songs, the overplayed but still incredible "Free Bird," the beer and barbecue anthem "The South's Gonna Do It Again," and Charlie's 1974 monster hit "Long Haired Country Boy." Hard to find a better synopsis of life in Dixie than this triple shot of Southern comfort. Harder still to find a speaker stack that can really handle the load. The 80's come back with Daniels' 1985 album cut "Drinking My Baby Goodbye," a honky tonker with balls if there ever was one. Well I'm sittin' on a bar stool Actin' like a durn fool That's what I'm doin' today I'm sittin' here drinkin' Tryin' to keep from thinkin' Drinkin' my troubles away This is pure dee genuine hardwood floor covered in sawdust jitterbugging music, ripped from Barstool Mountain and played for simple men. After sixteen years, this song still rings fresh because it's so dadgummed honest and common. And what Charlie Daniels retrospective disc or concert would be complete without "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"? Fiddles from hell, boys, fiddles from hell. Again, a song that's overplayed, but one that sits right at the epicenter of legend, and rightfully so, still powerful after all these years. The Charlie Daniels Band Live album is a barnburner extraordinaire, chock full of familiar tunes you'll stomp off on the dance floor while you remember why beer chugging contests used to be so much stinking fun. Don't get this album looking for the musical growth of an artist looking back over a life on the road and offering wisdom from the concrete and neon. Hell no. Buy this album because you simply can't find a live show that rocks you better and takes you down to Dixie on a highway paved with hickory smoked and beer-stained memories. Charlie Daniels Live. Nobody does it better. You can contact David Pilot at: tailgunner-at-rockzilla.net

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