Even if you’re not a country music fan, you likely know the song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” The Charlie Daniels Band specializes in these long-haul, story-driven country tunes.
Willie Nelson’s 1970s albums blazed new paths for country music. He helped create the Outlaw movement — or Austin sound — with vocalists like Jessi Colter, Waylon Jennings and Tompall Glaser.
The Highwaymen
The Highwaymen is a country supergroup consisting of four artists who pioneered the outlaw country subgenre. They formed in 1985 and released two albums for Columbia Records, including the country top 10 single Highwayman. The band’s second album, Highwayman 2, also reached the country chart, and was produced by Chips Moman. The group also recorded a version of the Bob Dylan song Desperados Waiting for a Train, which appeared on their tenth anniversary album, Highwaymen Forever.
The group was a hit, and their chemistry on stage was legendary. They reformed in 1987 and continue to perform ten to twelve concerts each year. In addition, they are involved in a project that has brought them together for a new album and film.
While the film does a solid job of portraying Hamer and Gault, it takes some liberties with history. For example, it fails to explain why Bonnie and Clyde were so attractive to the common people. In addition, it misrepresents the events of their final breakout at Eastham prison farm.
The Highwaymen toured until Jennings and Cash’s health problems prevented them from maintaining a full schedule. However, they continued to collaborate on other projects, such as the Louis L’Amour Collection, a box set of seven stories published by HighBridge Company. They also performed onstage with the Band in 1996 and 1999, although they were not credited as The Highwaymen for these appearances.
The Eagles
While many a middle-aged American has most likely sung along to ‘Take It Easy’, The Eagles were more than just mellow dad rock. They were a band that engaged with their times, swerving away from the mainstream in songs like ‘Life in the Fast Lane’, and reviving old country standards in 1984’s moving ‘Take It to the Limit’.
The Eagles formed in 1971 when Linda Ronstadt’s producer recruited Glenn Frey and Don Henley to be her backup musicians. Drummer Henley was from Texas and a member of the band Shiloh, guitarist Frey was a Detroit native who played with Jackson Browne and the Flying Burrito Brothers, and bassist Randy Meisner had been in James Taylor’s band and the group The Longbranch Pennywhistle. Their rag-tag approach led to a musical fusion that matched country directness with Hollywood studio calculation. Their 1975 album One of These Nights launched them into the top tier of pop music, and the subsequent albums Hotel California and The Long Run brought them even more success.
Their enduring influence inspired the renegade new country movement, and the 1993 tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, recorded by 13 of Nashville’s biggest artists, helped trigger an Eagles reunion a year later. Although Joe Walsh left the band in 1994, the remaining four members of the original lineup – Henley, Frey, Leadon and Meisner – continued to perform together until Henley’s death in 2016. Their legacy continues to influence country bands today.
The Charlie Daniels Band
After forming an instrumental rock & roll shotgun wedding nyc band named the Jaguars, Charlie Daniels moved to Nashville in 1967 at the behest of producer Bob Johnston. There, he began to play sessions for Dylan and other country artists.
In 1972 he formed the Charlie Daniels Band, a group that modeled itself on Southern rock like the Allman Brothers and had dual lead guitarists. The band hit the charts in 1973 with a talking bluegrass song called “Uneasy Rider,” which reached the pop Top 10. The group continued to produce albums that strayed from traditional country, including Fire on the Mountain and Nightrider, and scored several Top 40 country hits.
By the late ’70s, the band sensed that the audience for Southern rock was evaporating and refashioned itself into a straight-ahead country ensemble. Their efforts paid off with 1979’s Million Mile Reflections, whose single “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” was a big country and pop hit.
Throughout the decade, the band continued to produce hits and tour. They also became involved in politics and philanthropy, donating funds to veterans organizations through the nonprofit charity Journey Home Project co-founded by Daniels and his manager David Corlew. In addition, the group has appeared in a number of movies and released gospel albums.
The Oak Ridge Boys
As a quartet with an ear for catchy songs and a lively stage presence, The Oak Ridge Boys have brightened country music landscape for nearly 50 years. Originally called Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers, they began singing for restricted staff and their families at the Oak Ridge nuclear facility during World War II. They grew in popularity and were invited to open for Roy Clark, who encouraged them to try their hand at secular country.
The band shifted their image and sound to become more mainstream in the late ’60s, with bass singer Noel Fox and tenor singer William Lee Golden joining. Duane Allen replaced the long-haired Golden in 1972, and Richard Sterban and Joe Bonsall joined the group a year later. The new lineup broadened their appeal while keeping a semblance of the mountain-man look that had made the group so popular.
By the time the Oaks released their 1981 hit Elvira, they had established themselves as a mainstream crossover act. Their soaring harmonies and pop polish transcended gospel traditions, allowing them to tour worldwide.
The Oak Ridge Boys continue to sell millions of albums and fill arenas with loyal fans. Despite losing some of their top charting success in the ’80s, they still produce hits with regularity and have won numerous industry awards. During their heyday, the Oaks were one of the most successful musical groups in the history of the country genre.