by Steve Webb, The Knickerbocker News, September 2, 1980

The Charlie Daniels Band’s Saturday concert in the Center drew 16,885 persons, many of whom had to stand in the rain, for a highly entertaining two hours of Daniels’ eclectic mixture of rock’n’roll, country music and dashes of Spain and the South Seas.

Even more than Browne, Daniels is obsessed with memorializing his departed comrades in Southern music. “Reflections,” from last year’s “Million Mile Reflections” album, tells of Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin and Lynyrd Skynyrd leader Ronnie Van Zant. In a rare use of non-band material, Daniels also played Marshall Tucker’s “Can’t You See,” dedicated to its late bassist, Tommy Caldwell.

This attitude, and Daniels continued success with ghost story-songs such as “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and “The Legend of Wooley Swamp,” seem like a brand new version of Southern Gothic. Some of it seems corny in black and white, but Daniels’ songs such as those — and all of the latest “Full Moon” album, which was heavily showcased Saturday — transmitted quite well on stage.

And the band members, particularly its leader, keyboardist Taz DiGregorio, and guitarist Billy Crain, have shown a continued ability to infuse more and more diverse elements into their music, which Daniels justifiably shies away from labeling.

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