Well, This is different for The Charlie Daniels Band. Some of the First sessions work on the guitar ,that Daniels did when He moved to Nashville was for Bob Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline” Album. Charlie was just supposed to fill in for a day for a guitar player who did not show up. Unfortunately for the guitarist that did not show up, Dylan wanted Charlie to keep playing, not the guy who didn’t show up. In fact ,Charlie kept playing for him on Dylan’s next two albums done in Nashville. Daniels said that Dylan and him got along and he was easy to work with. So Charlie thought that He would do a tribute album for Dylan.
The sound is refreshing ,acoustic ,bouncy , Daniels vocals sound as good as ever. For me, I really had always been a fan of Dylan’s songs, but not his versions. Charlie’s vocals were mixed loud enough that it was easy to hear the words and appreciate the meaning of the songs, Charlie really enunciated the versing well, it showed that He truly loved the songs, and I really understood the meaning of the songs, for the first time, plus you can really hear joy in Daniel’s singing. The band is like a folk, bluegrass band, with drums, harmonica, some mandolin and sweet Dobro. I’m sure that Daniels still misses Taz, the last member of his original band, who passed away not too long ago. There is a lot of piano in the mix, in fact , it is one of the dominant instruments. It is an interesting mix of Dylan songs, Some upbeat some serious, a couple sad, really something for everyone to relate to.
He starts up with a real upbeat version of “Tangled Up in Blue”, He puts a real interesting fiddle riff in the song to keep it moving. He does upbeat versions, but serious versions of “Hard Rain Going to Fall” and “The Times They Are a Changing”.
Daniels said that he learned a lot from playing on Dylan’s recordings that later he learned some things about leading his own band. Dylan was all about a sense of freedom and letting a musician play what he wanted to play ,rather than tell him every phrase. Other songs on the CD are “You are Going to have to serve Somebody”, “Just Like a Woman”, and the Manfred Mann Hit, “The Mighty Quinn”, and I think my favorite is his version of “I Shall be Released”. Charlie Daniels has become a man who is a hard worker and a large believer in America and Christianity. And He is not afraid to say what is on his mind. I honestly was impressed about how tight his band is on the whole album, and for me, I’ll put it on if I need something to put me in a good mood. See what you think, if this something you might like.
