2002 Soap Box Archives

Remembering

It is approaching the anniversary of the horrible Lynyrd Skynyrd
tragedy. October 20, 1977 and this will be 25 years since that sad
night when we lost our friends in a plane crash.

I still think about Ronnie and find myself talking about him. He was a
friend that I’m so glad I got to know and treasure the hours that we
spent together. I miss him.

I miss Toy and Tommy Caldwell. We spent so much time touring together.
The Marshall Tucker Band and The CDB crisscrossed this country playing
our concerts night after night and developed a friendship which exists
to this day with some of the surviving members of the band.

You’ve got to admire Gary Rossington and Billy Powell. They have stood
more heartache and lost more friends than anybody I know in the music
business. First Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines
along with roadie Dean Kilpatrick in the ‘77 plane crash. Then a few
years later Alan Collins passed away and more recently Leon Wilkerson.

But the guys keep on going and for that I admire you my brothers.
And you’ve got to hand it to Doug Gray. After the catastrophic loss of
Toy and Tommy Caldwell he continues to tour the country putting out that
great Marshall Tucker sound.

I have a special place in my heart for these two bands and was deeply
hurt by the losses they suffered. Road bands I guess are a different
breed and only they can truly understand each other. The call of the
never ending highway, the glare of the spotlight, the applause of the
crowds.
The satisfaction of entertaining people with something you have created
yourself all go together to form an addiction which we all share in
common.

And it takes a powerful addiction to keep a man away from home and
hearth two hundred nights a year. Cramped motel rooms, truck stop food
and thousands of miles bouncing down the road on a bus can’t dull the
desire.

There are a few people who pass through your life that become so special
that you can remember the place and the circumstances of when you heard
about their dying.

I was in St. Louis in a hotel room when I got the news that Ronnie Van
Zant had been killed in the plane crash.

I was in a hotel room in California when I found out about Tommy
Caldwell.

Oddly enough we were playing Radio City Music Hall with Lynyrd Skynyrd
the day that I found out about Toy Caldwell.

These people were special to me, and though they are not with us anymore
they will occupy a space in my heart.

So much of them lives on in the great music they left behind. When we
hear “Freebird” or “Can’t You See” or “Sweet Home Alabama” or “Take the
Highway” we are reminded that there were some people who passed through
this world who left a legacy of music which will live on and on.
Enriching the lives of generations to come.

God Bless the survivors and the families of the Lynyrd Skynyrd band and
The Marshall Tucker Band.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

©Copyright The Charlie Daniels Band