Charlie Daniels Surprised at Nashville Concert

Good karma came to Charlie Daniels last week at his concert at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon.

The country icon performed as part of the Nashville Songwriters Association International's "It All Begins With a Song" performance series, which helps spread the word about legislative advocacy on behalf of songwriters. And in doing a good deed for his fellow tunesmiths, Charlie received a gift from them, in return.

Jody Williams, head of performance rights organization BMI, surprised Charlie onstage in the middle of his show, with a special presentation. He proceeded to give the singer 'Million-Air' awards for 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia,' 'The South's Gonna Do It Again' and 'Drinkin' My Baby Goodbye.' The BMI 'Million-Air' honor is given when a song racks up more than one million radio airplays. Charlie's 'Devil' has now surpassed four million, while the other two awarded hits are at more than a million. Based on an average song length of three minutes, one million airplays is the equivalent of 50,000 hours. That means 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' has had continuous airplay for about 24 years!

"I am flabbergasted," Charlie said after receiving the plaques commemorating the milestones.

Charlie's show at the Wildhorse was his first in Nashville in four years. He opened and closed his show with two of the songs that were newly proclaimed 'Million-Airs,' as 'Drinkin' My Baby Goodbye' got the crowd going and 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' closed the show on a rowdy note. In between, he played all of his classic hits, including 'Long Haired Country Boy,' 'In America,' 'The Legend of Wooly Swamp' and 'How Great Thou Art,' which he said was his favorite hymn. "I can't do a concert without playing this song," Charlie told the audience.

Fans will have another chance to see Charlie play in Nashville when he is inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame on Oct. 12.