The Wilson Post
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Charlie Daniels ‘Duets’ presents familiar tracks




Daniels was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry and a Wilson County resident. Some of his work has been included on an album released after his death.PHOTO COURTESY OF CDB, INC.

Daniels was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry and a Wilson County resident. Some of his work has been included on an album released after his death.PHOTO COURTESY OF CDB, INC.

Charlie Daniels “Duets” is a high-quality, if largely familiar, posthumous farewell to the late longtime Wilson County resident and country, Southern rock and bluegrass legend.

First and foremost, it should be noted that no less than 13 of the album’s 17 tracks are repurposed directly from Daniels’ 2007 collaboration album, “Deuces.” That notion, combined with the presence of another previously released track from The Charlie Daniels Band 2002 album “Redneck Fiddlin’ Man,” put this collection into full repackaging territory rather than being a project featuring a plethora of previously unreleased recordings.

However, it does manage to unearth, clean up and polish some potentially buried treasures.

If you have “Deuces” you probably don’t need “Duets,” but if you don’t have it or didn’t know about many of the star-studded collaborations, it might be a good time to buy in at just $10 for a swath of seriously fun tracks from blues, bluegrass, Southern rock, folk and country.

Together, the duets comprise a highly energetic get-to-dancing party atmosphere with legendary guests cutting loose, unafraid of displaying gravely vocal textures and character in their ample aural strutting alongside Daniels.

The real new meat here though is the three non-previously released or rare tracks which include Daniels’ originals like “The South’s Gonna do it Again” with Keith Urban on guitar, “Texas” with Asleep at the Wheel front man Ray Benson and county and blues singer-guitarist Lee Roy Parnell, as well as a second version of “Long Haired Country Boy” with country artists John Berry and the late Hal Ketchum, the latter of whom died in November of 2020 after a dementia diagnosis in 2019.

“The South’s Gonna Do It Again” trades the raucous fiddling and honky tonk vibe for Urban’s smooth and laid-back guitar. It riffs without vocals in a trippy and improvisational soloing fashion that renders the song nigh unrecognizable, two minutes longer and more in line with an Allman Brothers jam than the original track it seemingly attempts to pay homage to.

Benson and Parnell hit the mark with a great deal more accuracy on “Texas” with deft and swirling guitar work that flexes its creative muscles without sapping too much of the energy of the original, meshing with wild shredding fiddle with ease.

Berry and Ketchum’s take on “Long Haired Country Boy” is similarly successful. It’s a bit less bouncy in favor of being more direct and a little more spacious while also featuring its own unobtrusive modern guitar flair, but it retains well its confident and laissez-faire attitude amid piping hot organ work.

Again, on their own, the handful of rarer or unreleased tracks don’t warrant purchasing the compilation as a whole for those who already own “Deuces” outside of diehard fans and collectors, but there are plenty of highlights for the uninitiated.

On the album’s opener Daniels and country star Travis Tritt’s collaboration on Ray Charles “What’d I Say” features the ballad specialist Tritt, a Georgia native, doing his best bluesy Stevie Ray Vaughn vocal take with the trademark spastic cymbal work of the classic riding true behind.

Next, Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” keeps the energy high with co-star Bonnie Bramlett, who displays her power and rangy vibrato well.

On Johnny and June Cash’s “Jackson,” Daniels and Gretchen Wilson (another Wilson County resident) harmonize boldly from the get go, displaying their obvious chemistry in a continuous back and forth exchange.

Things get a little more mid-tempo, soldiering and traditional on The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” with Vince Gill, which has Daniels’ voice ring out louder and clearer while Gill sticks to lower in the mix harmonies and verses over trippy guitar modulation.

On Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm,” Daniels alongside Earl, Randy and Gary Scruggs embark a rollicking high-speed banjo riffing joyride borrowing from the pairing’s equally blistering performance on Daniels’ 2007 album “Deuces.”

The fiddle comes out in full effect on “Daddy’s Old Fiddle” with Dolly Parton in a toe-tapping, story-telling jaunt lent a little something extra from Parton’s bright vocal character and charismatic demeanor.

Daniels and Darius Rucker then take on Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” The pointed, emphasized vocals and vibrato of Daniels works well alongside the smoky character of Rucker’s voice in infectious replacement of Dylan’s own iconic but certainly unorthodox signature stylings.

And those tunes don’t even get you halfway through the affair, or halfway through the guest list, for this farewell celebration which is sure to be a staple of CDB collections for years to come.

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