Pat Adams review of Charlie Daniels & Friends “Volunteer Jam 1–1974/The Legend Begins”.
I was so surprised to see the very first Volunteer Jam being released on February 23, 2023 (on CD and vinyl). It took place at the War Memorial Auditorium in downtown Nashville Tennessee on October 4, 1974. Being a longtime fan of the Volunteer Jam, I attended almost all of them, but I did not attend the first one, mainly because I didn’t know about it. This first Volunteer Jam started out as a live taping for the” Fire On The Mountain” album. I think three of these live recordings were included on the “Fire On The Mountain” album. “The Volunteer Jam 1 - 1974” album starts off with Charlie Daniels playing “Tennessee Waltz” on the fiddle as the intro, followed by “Whiskey” & Way Down Yonder”, both songs from the “Way Down Yonder” album (later reissued as “Whiskey”). The next three songs are from the Fire On The Mountain album, including a live version of “Long Haired Country Boy”. Songs 7 & 8 are country songs, including Jambalaya. Then, the next three songs are from “Fire On The Mountain” album, including a live version of “South’s Gonna Do It Again”. The last song is called “Don’t You Lie To Me” (unfamiliar to me). "The Legend Begins" as this CD includes the early version of the Charlie Daniels Band live at the original Volunteer Jam, including Charlie Daniels, Barry Barnes, Mark Fitzgerald, Joel (Taz) DiGregorio, Fred Edwards & Gary Allen. This version of the band played on the “Way Down Yonder” album, as well as the triple platinum “Fire On The Mountain”. This album includes live versions of songs from both albums, plus a few other songs. This is a good quality recording that brings out the instruments of each one of the talented band members. Shown is the CD cover unfolded, front & back, Special guests listed are Toy Caldwell, Dicky Betts, Paul Riddle & Jamie Nichol. Sadly, the early CDB band members are only listed as the Charlie Daniels Band (not individually). I’m very impressed with the album and recommend it to any Volunteer Jam fan or early Charlie Daniels fan. Purchase the CD or Vinyl album from the Charlie Daniels Store at : http://bit.ly/cdbstore
By Pat Adams from the www.TennesseeConcerts.com and the www.SouthernTribute.com website’s out of Nashville Tennessee. Pat along with the late CDB drummer Gary Allen ran the "Play It Again Jam", a weekly/monthly musicians jam at venues around Nashville from 2008-2011 (not related to the Volunteer Jam).
