A couple of weeks ago, my mom gave me a new pair of shoes, and I’ve worn them almost every day since I got them. They’re a pair of navy-blue Asics, and probably one of the nicest pairs of new sneakers I’ve ever had.
Well, they’re new-ish.

*NOTE* CDB guitar tech, Roger Campbell, penned this ode to a dear old friend, and we wanted to share it with you today. – TeamCDB/BW

No, no one has died, but yet we lost a faithful and beloved member of the CDB family today.

Earlier, I posted dad’s thoughts about the tragic events of 9/11. I thought I’d take a break from memories of dad, and post my own recollections of that tragic day 19 years ago.

*NOTE* On this 9/11 anniversary, I thought fans might want to hear from the man himself regarding the tragic events of September 11, 2001 as well as September 11, 2012 in this classic "Soapbox Rewind" from 2013. - Never forget! - TeamCDB/BW

*NOTE* This Labor Day, we thought we'd go back and get a classic "Soapbox Rewind," from Charlie. This one is from 2012.  Enjoy! - TeamCDB/BW

This has been a hectic week given the launch of our new company and a business partnership, but I wanted to still give fans some more tidbits of insider information, but it may be a little more brief than usual.

Keeping with last week’s “Growing Up with…” soapbox theme, this week I thought I’d fill folks in on some things that most people didn’t know about dad and The CDB. The “Rrrr-est of the story,” as Paul Harvey used to say

Just wanted to say that as therapeutic as these soapboxes have been, it blows my mind that for many years, dad did these TWICE a week! That won’t be happening anytime soon, but I’m going to do my best to keep them weekly.

"On January 30, 2010, Charlie Daniels suffered a debilitating stroke in Colorado and was forced to end his 50 plus year touring and recording career. The once-great fiddle player’s voice and music were silenced for the rest of his life until another stroke took his life ten years and six months later on July 6, 2020."

That is how the last ten years could have played out.

So, here we go! We’re heading into uncharted territory. The first time I’ve written a soapbox not based on dad’s passing or a CDB song anniversary in about 12 years when I wrote a couple of soapboxes of a more political slant.

I’ve been dreading writing this soapbox because it’s the culmination of an awful, emotional, beautiful, powerful, touching, tearful and exhausting week which has left me with a need for comfort food that I need to move on from, and quickly.

I have to say I’m floored over the reaction to the past two soapboxes chronicling the passing of my father. It seems that Part 2 touched a lot of people as many have said they cried as they read it, which sounds about right, I cried as I wrote it. I’ll have one more soapbox chronicling the week of dad’s passing, and then I’ll see what else might be rolling around in my head that can be put into print.

Back to that terrible week of July 6th…

Once again, I want to say thank you for all the love poured out for my dad, my mom and me. It’s going to be hard to adjust to life without him, and thank you for all the prayers. We need each and every one of them.

As I sit here, it’s Saturday morning/afternoon, July 11, 2020, the day after we laid my father to rest.

I think it goes without saying, that this has been the worst week of my life, bar none. The man I’ve known for 55 years, who, along with my mom, have always been there for me is gone.

This year, as we celebrate the 244th birthday of the greatest nation the world has ever known, we are beset with many problems, some of our making and some we have no control over.

The time is swiftly coming in America when everybody who cares about having a future is going to have to pick a side.

If you listen to the media in America or went by the actions, or I should say “inaction” of weak, gutless municipal and state politicians you would probably think that there is a major move to do away with all police.

The death of George Floyd was the most vividly displayed, all-inclusive example of unnecessary and unbridled use of force I have ever seen on film. the sight of four police officers pressing their weight on the length of an already subdued body was disgusting, disturbing and enough to make any law-abiding citizen wonder how men capable of this degree of malicious violence can possibly wear a badge.

I have - as I’m sure most of you have too - been caught up in the “bad news cycle.” It seems like it’s one bad report after another with politicians trying to take advantage and media trying to scare us even more than we are already.

What happened to George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman recently cannot be explained away by emotions, feelings nor necessity. It is a flagrant and careless violation of the basic code of all policemen to protect and serve.

If it was not such a serious time and sordid subject, what is happening in some states committed to having sanctuary cities, would actually be humorous, but considering the somber events of the last few months, we’ll just call it ironic.

Charlie will be back with a new soapbox on Tuesday. In honor of Memorial Day, here's a Soapbox Rewind from 2014. - TeamCDB/BW

My first memories of war were on a cold gray Sunday afternoon in December in 1941. Our family was gathered at my Grandfather's house on the Carolina Beach Road in Wilmington, North Carolina enjoying the closeness of our family ties.

Activism in the cause of something you deeply believe in, when carried out by a private citizen is a noble thing and a precious right of our Republic.

But when institutions, put in place to serve the public in a fair and impartial fashion step over the bias line, it harms the very foundation of liberty and justice for all our nation was founded on.

To say these last few weeks have been trying, nerve-wracking, confusing and uncertain is the grossest of understatements.

Even watching the president’s daily coronavirus briefings did little to glean enough information to form any solid opinions, the negative and abrasive questions of a totally biased media, the sometimes stilted science-speak of some of the officials and guests left you wondering what they actually said.

As I was sitting here contemplating what I was going to write this week, wanting to be topical and subjective, the thought occurred to me that, aside from a cure for the coronavirus, the paramount issue nowadays is getting everybody back to work, the opening of America.

“We’ll all stick together, and you can take that to the bank.

That’s the cowboys and the hippies and the rebels and the yanks!” - Charlie Daniels 1980

It’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years since one of the most impactful CDB songs was first introduced to the public, “In America.”

I just perused the headlines at a major online news source and if that was all the information I could obtain, I would have an extremely depressing day. I’ll admit there is enough bad stuff to dominate the front page or lead story of any news organization right now, but what really irritates me is the total omission of, or relegating to boilerplate status, anything uplifting or hopeful.

The coronavirus did not suddenly pop up on the city streets of the world, it didn’t get there by itself, it was carried in the body of a human being.

There may be controversy about the exact location at which it originated but it is a proven fact that its origins are somewhere in the city of Wuhan, China.

I am going to do my level best to aim this column straight down the middle, glancing neither left nor right, in what the politicians in DC call a bipartisan fashion.

It is an attempt to circumvent personal political preferences, step around the hyperbolic, the rhetorical and the prejudiced vendettas so firmly ingrained into our minds by media on the left and on the right.

There is no doubt that Easter will be celebrated in a way that will be so foreign to Christians this year as we shelter in place, practice proper social distancing, wash the first layer of skin off our hands, wipe down, clean up and do our individual bits to rid our beloved country of this plague that has besieged not only our nation, but Planet Earth at large.