After Charlie Jr. grew up, Daniels made a point to bring Hazel along on the road. By then, the success of Grammy award winner “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (Best Country Vocal Performance By a Duo or Group) plus “In America” and “Long Haired Country Boy” and the hard-earned reputation of Daniels’ Tennessee-based Volunteer Jam concerts allowed a humble fiddler and songwriter from Wilmington, North Carolina to show his Oklahoma-born bride the world.
The couple ended up having a bunch of honeymoons well beyond the South and the Southwest, yet their most memorable came in familiar territory: Daniels’ Oklahoma State Fair gig on their 50th anniversary.
“We made a joint decision just to go ahead and work that night and treat it like any other night, basically,” Daniels told The Oklahoman. “We travel around so much, we have so many special days. We got married in Oklahoma, in Tulsa. My wife is from Tulsa. We got married there 50 years ago that date, and I just decided to go ahead and work that night. So, we’re back in Oklahoma after 50 years under some totally different circumstances.”
Over the years, Daniels’ wife Hazel spoke glowingly about her husband’s accomplishments as a country singer.
“It’s an honor for me just to be married to him,” she told Rare Country in 2016. “He’s been a great husband, and he’s worked so hard to get here. He’s had a long road.”
Charlie Daniels, a Grand Ole Opry member since 2008, passed away on July 6, 2020 from a hemorrhagic stroke.