Book Review: The Devil Went Down to Georgia: Stories by Charlie Daniels

The Devil Went Down to Georgia: Stories by Charlie Daniels

Charlie Daniels is a country/southern rock musician most famous for his fiddle-duel song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. He's had a long career as a song writer and this is his first foray into literary writing rather than song writing. Some of the stories are based off songs from the band (like The Devil Went Down to Georgia and Uneasy Rider) and some are character sketches or scenes from life. The stories work fairly well though the titular story doesn't work as well as the song on which it is based. On the other hand, he nicely expands the Legend of Wooley Swamp into a longer story with well-crafted bookends.

Comedy is prevalent and Daniels has a natural hand at it. The story of two cowboys escorting some bulls to New York City is particularly enjoyable. He's quite good at poking fun at both Southerners and Northerners, rich people and poor people, smart people and dumb people. The even spread of comedic targets shows a certain amount of class and that he just loves telling stories rather than scoring points. It's not a great book but is enjoyable.