Legendary Charlie Daniels Recovering From Stroke

Legendary 73-year-old country / southern rock music star Charlie Daniels is recovering after suffering a mild stroke on Friday. The musician who is most noted for his hit record, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” was snowmobiling by his home in Colorado when he fell ill and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

Soon after he had to be airlifted to the Swedish Medical Center in Denver to have further treatment. Daniels spent two days at the Center and then was released on Sunday.

Daniels detailed the scene on his blog.

“I noticed that my left hand was getting numb and thought that it was because I had been hanging on to the handlebars of my snowmobile for so long that it had gone to sleep, but then I felt the left side of my mouth starting growing numb and my left foot started getting hard to control, and I knew something was happening to me. I knew I’d better get back down the mountain and get some help. I told Cy how I was feeling, and we immediately headed to the trailhead, for the longest 15-mile snowmobile ride I ever hope to take.”

Word coming from Charlie’s camp is that he is O.K.

For those not too familiar with Charlie Daniels you may recognize him from the following Geico commercial that has been in frequent circulation recently.

Here is Daniels, a 2008 inductee into the Grand Ole Opry, tearing it up on The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

Yes, Charlie Daniels can play a mean fiddle! Here’s hoping for a full recovery.

NERD BONUS – My favorite bit of Charlie Daniels trivia? He was a session musician on Bob Dylan’s 1969 album Nashville Skyline, which featured one of Bob’s few charting hits “Lay, Lady Lay.” Oddly enough, Charlie is credited with playing bass and guitar, not fiddle.

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