You’ve got to see Jason Aldean absolutely rock the CMA Awards in honor of Charlie Daniels with “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” alongside a star-studded ensemble.
Few icons have produced a song like “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Just this July, the song’s mastermind, legend Charlie Daniels, left us after suffering a stroke. His incredible legacy, however, lives on forever. In fact, the 54th Annual CMA Awards ensured it.
The CMA Award’s executive producer, Robert Deaton, says of the opening performance: “We are honored, in this very challenging time, to help provide an escape and deliver a live awards show experience unlike any other this year.” And deliver they did.
Absolutely slaying Devil for the night’s opening performance, Jason Aldean spearheads the song of the evening in honor of Daniels. Alongside him playing other Charlie Daniels hits are none other than Dierks Bentley, The Brothers Osborne, and Ashley McBryde.
The rendition’s runaway star, though, was the fiddle player. Despite his strings fraying, the fiddler absolutely smashed his rendition of the song. Though I’m not an experienced fiddler, I have to imagine that this is not an easy song to shred.
The original fiddle player for the performance, Jenee Fleenor, unfortunately, tested positive for COVID-19 before the show. The CMA Awards had a great backup plan, and the fill-in certainly impressed everyone.
Charlie Daniels Celebrated CMA Awards History
Over the breadth of his career, Charlie Daniels took dozens of awards. For the CMAs Awards, his nominations span three separate decades. Talk about staying power. His big CMA win came in the form of Instrumentalist of the Year (1979) for Devil, which surprises absolutely no one.
Aside from this, Daniels received three other nominations. They were for Song of the Year (1980) via In America, in addition to Vocal Event of the Year in both 1994 and 1997.
