Carrie Underwood joined the country music community in mourning the death of Grand Ole Opry member Charlie Daniels on Monday. Daniels died at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee after a hemorrhagic stroke, his publicist said. Daniels, best known for the Grammy-winning song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” was 83.
“I’m sad for the world and for his family…but I’m smiling a little because the angel band in Heaven just got themselves one heck of a fiddle player…see you again, one day, sweet Charlie Daniels,” Underwood tweeted. She included a photo from the 2010 ACM Awards, where she joined Daniels, John Fogerty, Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley for a performance of “Travelin’ Band.”
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Paisley, who worked with Daniels several times, also shared a heartbreaking tribute on Twitter, telling fans he is “so sad” Daniels is gone. “We have so many memories together, and I am so blessed to have known him,” Paisley wrote. “Rest In Peace, my friend. We love you.” Paisley included a quote he wrote for Daniels’ biography, in which he noted that Daniels’ journey was “one of a kind.”
Daniels was born in Wilmington, North Carolina and began his music career in the 1960s. He scored his first big hit in 1974 with “Uneasy Rider” and earned several more hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known song, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” remains a radio staple and earned him the 1979 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance. He toured relentlessly and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 2008.
In an interview with The Oklahoman last year, Daniels noted that his music is unique compared to everyone else’s because he avoided following trends. “I don’t try to do music like everybody else does,” he said at the time. “I don’t follow trends and fads but it’s such a big part of my life. Music plays a part in my daily life and it’s just the way I chose to make a living for 61 years now. It’s a blessing to walk onstage. I never take it for granted.”
Although Daniels left behind a large body of work, he embraced the fact that “Devil Went Down to Georgia” was a game-changing song for him. “It is fun to play and one of the reasons it’s fun to play is because that’s the one everybody wants to hear,” he told The Oklahoman. “You know when you get to that every night it’s gonna a song everybody’s gonna recognize and everybody’s gonna get into.”
