Do you like country musicians with strong opinions on the war? Ladies & Gentlemen, Mr. Charlie Daniels!

He actually spun that "Ain't No Rag" song into a whole book.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51u5-dhi%2BlL.jpg

Jeez. Much later---from Nashville Scene ballot comments on 2016 releases---this may have been his last release that wasn't a straight-up or theme-jiggered reissue or Christmas album etc:

Charlie Daniels, Night Hawk: the title character, that quiet fella over there, lost his wife and babies in a sagebrush fire, so best not mess with him, This here set is at home on the emotional and musical range, so we also get a cowgrass "Big Balls In Cowtown" and Western Swing "Stay All Night"---riding econo, and sounds like he might be playing all the instruments (no drums, that I've noticed yet, anyway---plus a couple of re-done co-writes, "Billy The Kid" and "Running With The Crowd", plainspoken, but more cautionary than preachy, as he keeps a sharp eye on the party (the latter song could be taken as something about runaway populism, as well as reg'lar Saturday nights getting carried away, turning into shoot-outs and necktie parties----I wonder; he's managed to stay out of any political news that I've seen this year, unlike his sometime talk radio colleague, Ted Nugent).
My favorite is "The Goodnight Loving Trail", a real place, main route of many a cattle drive, and name of course ready for implicit irony in this campfire waltz, at first tweaking the beard of the "old woman"---somebody who can't work the range no more, so he's the cook--but the narrator then admits "someday I'll be wearin' the apron too," cos what else can he do? No place else to go, as the desert wind dries him out, first preserves and then scatters his increasing flakiness---I'm paraphrasing, but not by much---also helps that CD's voice is as dry as the wind; no tears. (This is by Utah [Bruce] Phillips, AKA "U. Utah Figment", as referenced by the elusive UP's sometime duet partner, Rosalie Sorrels.)
Also "Ghost Riders In The Sky" and "The Old Chisholm Trail" give us more of the cinematic side, while a somewhut self-mocking serenade of a leetle cowboy fan makes for a slightly sly finale, mixing sentiment and sediment (he knows he's old and his themes are too, duh).

benghazi ain't going away

I had never heard Devil Went Down To Georgia til I moved here, at home waiting for my work permit watching VH1 I Love The 70’s marathons (basically I was like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit ingesting pop culture)

Anyway they covered “Devil Went Down To Georgia” in one of the episodes & i went on youtube & watched all the different performances of it & Mr Veg got home from work like “Oh fuck now what” HAY HAVE YOU HEARD THIS SONG ISNT IT GREAT

Anyway i still love it. RIP

he was tweeting about benghazi until the day before he died. he truly did stick to his guns