Soap Box

This Wednesday, August 12, 2015 we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of a Tennessee tradition called the Volunteer Jam.

It's been several years since we've done a Volunteer Jam in Nashville and there's a whole new generation of young folks out there who have probably heard of it but don't really know what it is or what it's about.

So, I decided since it is officially Jam Week, I would take on the task of explaining the origins, intentions and traditions of the Jam so you can better understand what will be going on at Bridgestone Arena this Wednesday night.

The Charlie Daniels Band was in the process of recording the studio portion of an album that would be called Fire On the Mountain in Macon, GA at Capricorn Studios.

I say the studio portion because there were also two songs we wanted to record live and that would be done at War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, which was about the only place we could be assured of drawing enough people to fill a 2,200 seat hall.

Nashville was our hometown where local radio played our records and we had built a small, but loyal following of fans, so it was the logical place to do our live recording.

The date, October 14, 1974 was set, the hall was booked, mobile recording equipment contracted for and when the advertising started, the 2,200 seats soon sold out and WKDF-FM, our local album rock station, decided to do a live broadcast.

Till this day, I can't remember who came up with the idea to call the show �Volunteer Jam�, but it was a natural because Tennessee is known as the Volunteer State and the name just had a kind of ring to it that seemed to fit a CDB show perfectly.

I had casually invited some of my friends to come by and jam with us after we had finished the live recording and, totally unadvertised, Toy Caldwell, Paul Riddle and Jerry Eubanks of the Marshall Tucker Band showed up along with Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band.

Now, the Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker were super hot in the Nashville area. Nobody knew they were even in the building and when I brought them on stage the crowd went nuts, excitement was going off like firecrackers all over the hall as we jammed our way through the rest of the evening.

When it was over, we were all in a kind of multicolored awe because we knew that the show had taken on a life of it's own, something that transcended the live recording session and the concert itself. It seemed that all the pieces had fallen perfectly in place for the makings of a Tennessee tradition.

It was proven in the coming weeks as Volunteer Jam became the most talked about show of the year as the 2,200 who had been at the show and the live radio broadcast spread the word that something special had happened in Nashville and that if it ever happened again you wanted to be a part of it.

In 1975 the Volunteer Jam moved to Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, TN, some 30 miles from Nashville and the 13,000 seats sold out in advance.

The next year we moved the show to Municipal Auditorium in Nashville where it was to stay for many years until it moved to Starwood Amphitheater in 1986.

The talent roster for the Jam stretches the boundaries of American music from classical violinist 
Eugene Fodor to Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, from James Brown to Pat Boone, from B.B King to Woody Herman and his big band.

Jimmy C. Newman & Cajun Country, Willie Nelson, Alabama, Roy Acuff have all graced the stage of the Volunteer Jam as well as Billy Joel, Ted Nugent, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, The Allman Brothers Band, Dobie Gray, George Thorogood & the Destroyers, Dwight Yoakum, The Judds, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, The Outlaws, Little Richard, Vince Gill, Mickey Gilley, The Jordanaires, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Johnny Lee, Carl Perkins, Larry Gatlin, Dr. Hook, Crystal Gayle, Molly Hatchet, James Brown, Joe Diffie, Restless Heart, The Winters Brothers Band, Tracy Lawrence, B.J. Thomas, The Oak Ridge Boys, Emmylou Harris, Delbert McClinton, Don Henley, Ronnie Milsap, Tammy Wynette along with dozens of other acts from many facets of the music business have appeared through the past four decades.

It's a coming together of folks who have devoted their lives to the creation and performance of American music, a celebration, a gathering of the faithful, a party, a unique piece of rural and urban Americana, a week�s worth of music that happens in just the span of a few short hours.

The proceeds from the Jam will go to the Nashville Predators Foundation and The Journey Home Project which was founded to help our returning veterans readjust to civilian life.

This year's show promises to feature the best collection of talent we've ever had.

Hope you will be at Bridgestone Arena Wednesday night when Travis Tritt, Alabama, Ted Nugent, Terri Clark, Wynonna, Michael W. Smith, Trace Adkins, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Outlaws, The Kentucky Headhunters, Billy Ray Cyrus, Craig Morgan, Lee Greenwood, Tracy Lawrence, Phil Vassar, The Grascals and a couple of mystery guests that will knock your socks off get together for the 40th Anniversary edition of the Volunteer Jam.

Ain�t it good to be alive and be in Tennessee!!!

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

� Charlie Daniels

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