*NOTE* Normally, Charlie writes a new soapbox on Monday, but since he's writing about his upcoming birthday on Sunday October 28, we're running a new one today, and a rewind on Monday. Happy Birthday, Charlie! - TeamCDB/BW

October 28, 2018, God willing, I will turn 82 years old.

What are you supposed to be doing and how are you supposed to act when you’re 82?

other assorted trash as street muscle. They enforced Hitler’s evil with no legal standing. They were just a bunch of riff-raff that basically did whatever they wanted to do, protected by the Nazi Party.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2009 which coincides with Saturday's 41st anniversary of the tragic 1977 Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash. - TeamCDB

“It was October in St. Louis town
When we heard that the free bird had fell to the ground
And we all said a prayer before we went down to play
And Ronnie, my buddy, above all the rest
I miss you the most and I loved you the best
And now that you’re gone I thank God I was blessed
Just to know you”

The last few weeks have been chaotic, to say the least, high faux drama wrapped in betrayal, theater, hyperbole and downright comedic antics complete with a heroine, who possessed the unparalleled courage, to witness multiple gang rapes at parties, and keep coming back to these parties, until she herself was the victim.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back on Monday with a brand new soapbox, in the meantime here is an appropriate soapbox for today as it is the 7th anniversary of the passing of William Joel "Taz" DiGregorio, Charlie's friend and longtime keyboard player for the CDB. RIP, Taz. - TeamCDB/TeamBW

This is the hardest soapbox I've ever written.

This morning about 4:15 am I got the news that I had lost one of my oldest and dearest friends, Taz DiGregorio. He was killed in a one-car accident on I-40, East of Nashville when he was driving to catch our tour bus to go on the road.

It would seem that our Senate, instead of being an institute of diplomacy, common sense and patriotism has become something resembling a bloodless version of a Roman Coliseum spectacle, where political gladiators fight to the death, over, not legislation, nor the betterment of the nation, but for whatever ideology their party is embracing.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2016. - TeamCDB

As an avid supporter of term limits, I have addressed this subject in this column many times over the years and have received some valid and sensible opposition to my opinion.

If you read this column often you will know that I write a lot about work and vocation, about the choice of profession, about attitude toward one’s chosen path and the dreams and goals that accompany the sincere desire of one who is serious about choosing a line of work that will hold their interest, their energy, their patience and perseverance for as long as they care to pursue it.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2016 which still holds up today. - TeamCDB

Some of my first vivid memories are the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the opening days of the Second World War and the first news about the attack came to us over the radio.

It seems that - for the most part - political dialogue in America has deteriorated from discussion and debate to, name calling, catfights and one-uppance contests, with everybody more intent on having the last word, than proving a point.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2008 when Charlie was celebrating 50 Years of Making Music, ten years later, he's still going strong!. - TeamCDB

Sometime during the first part of this summer, I will complete 50 years in the music business. It really doesn’t feel like fifty years in a way but when I start trying to gather all the memories of the places I’ve been and the things I’ve done it could well be a hundred years.

If this piece is going to have any impact, it cannot be viewed through partisan eyes, conservative, liberal, Republican, Democrat. Preconceived political prejudice and implacable attitudes must be cast aside. For the moment we must view the political system, as just that, a political system without the personalities and policies we loath or the blind loyalty we show for one side and the blind hatred that we feel for the other.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2012. - TeamCDB

This year I have again been blessed to travel the length and breadth of the United States of America and no matter how many times I do it, I never cease to be amazed at it's diverse beauty, the variety of the landscape, the patchwork of its cultures and its incredible people.

*NOTE* Here's Charlie's 9/11 soapbox from 2018. - TeamCDB/BW

As the seventeenth anniversary of that fateful time in American history approaches, the memories of that day and the days afterwards spring vividly into my consciousness as images of America in shock and confusion, as I had never seen it.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from WAY back in 2000. - TeamCDB

Just before Jesus went to the cross he gave his disciples another commandment, to love one another. With the exception of the commandment to love God with all our hearts, the others are all wrapped up in the new one that Jesus gave.

I remember as a child seeing the newsreels at the movie houses about the Second World War and the inhumanity and cruelty of Hitler and his Nazis.

I remember the huge holes full of the naked, skeletal bodies of Jews - men, women and children - who had been murdered and were being buried in mass graves because the furnaces where they usually burned the bodies couldn’t keep up with the amount of prisoners the monsters put to death.

I come from a long line of people who made a living by the sweat of their brows and the labor of their hands. Hands that could handle a plow or a crosscut saw, break an ornery mule or hold an infant baby.

To anybody who will admit the truth, the animosity and downright hate that exists in the political arena goes way past anything this nation has ever experienced before. The vitriol has grown to the point that party power comes before patriotism for many of these jaded partisans, to the point they will fight tooth and nail to defeat things that would be beneficial for the country just because it’s the opposing party’s idea. 

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2014 about the 40th anniversary of the 'Fire on the Mountain' album. - TeamCDB

Forty years ago this December, the CDB released what would ultimately be our first gold, and then platinum album called Fire On The Mountain.

It seems there is less and less common ground in discourse in America anymore as the constantly redrawn battle lines move farther and farther apart, taking with them even the folks on both fringes, severely narrowing the space for what have heretofore been known as “moderates”.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, enjoy this soapbox rewind on the 40th anniversary of the Volunteer Jam, and don't miss the broadcast premiere of VolJam XX on AXS TV Concerts Sunday night at 9C/10E. - TeamCDB

The Charlie Daniels Band had been nipping at the heels of major success for a while with a top ten single in 1973, "Uneasy Rider," and several albums that played on a lot of radio stations around the country and sold moderately well, but never crossed the threshold into the rarified air of gold or platinum.

I was born in 1936 when many of the small towns in the South were controlled by two or three and in some cases one family. They owned many of the retail businesses, significant interest in banks and other entities that determined the ebb and flow of available credit in the area and exerted significant influence over local politics.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a soapbox rewind from 2007. - TeamCDB

As time goes by we pick up new readers of this column and for that, I am very grateful.

For you who have been with us for a while, I think you know how I stand on most issues concerning morality, politics and the good of the country. For those new readers, let me once again declare myself to give you a premise on my core convictions and beliefs so you’ll understand how my opinions are formed.

While on the road recently, I got the news that a non-politician businessman won the Republican nomination in Tennessee’s gubernatorial primary elections.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here’s a Soapbox Rewind on the dangers of socialism from 2009. - TeamCDB

In his formative days, Jack Nicklaus hit one thousand golf balls a day on the driving range perfecting his craft and, as we all know, his tenacity and devotion to his sport took him to the very pinnacle of his profession, setting records that have not been broken till this day.

The refusal by some NFL players to stand up for the performance of the National Anthem at football games the past few seasons has had some far-reaching ramifications. It has ruffled the feathers of much of the population, resulting in less fans in the stands and a somewhat dwindling television audience, plus leaving deep scars in the veterans community.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a soapbox rewind from 2010. - TeamCDB

We are constantly reminded about how short life is and how quickly time goes by.

The dictionary defines trust as, assured reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of someone or something in which confidence is placed.

The pollsters tell us that trust in Congress is close to an all-time low, as is trust in media.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, we're running a soapbox rewind from 2009, just a few days before the 4th of July. - TeamCDB

Every year it is a God-given blessing of mine to travel the length and breadth of this, the greatest and most beautiful nation on Earth, the United States of America, and I never tire of it.

The day was magnificent. The snow was smooth and deep and the trail had just been groomed. We were skimming across the snow at a good clip doing one of my favorite things in the whole world, snowmobiling in the beautiful Rocky Mountain backcountry with our snowmobile buddies, Cy and Jeannie Scarborough, and some other friends, hitting the high spots and just having a wonderful time.