Early yesterday morning, the news broke. Southern rock pioneer Charlie Daniels was dead at the age of 83.
Daniels wasn’t just one of the best singer-songwriters of his time. He was a husband. He was a father, and to some, he was one of the best friends anyone could have.
“I am thankful to have him as a friend,” 3 Doors Down founder Brad Arnold said in a recent interview on SuperTalk Mississippi.
Arnold, a Mississippi native, accredits Daniels with pulling him from the depths of alcoholism late one night in 2016.
“Mr. Charlie answered the phone that night, and I just sat there and cried to him,” Arnold explained. “I sat there and cried on the phone for probably an hour talking to him and his wife. They had compassion for me. He understood. He didn’t get on to me. I just told him what the problem was, and he told me what he thought the solution was.”
Daniels’ solution was for Arnold to check himself in to a treatment facility in Tennessee.
Arnold took that advice, sought out professional help, and has now been sober for close to four years, and he could not have done it without that needed push from Charlie Daniels.
“I went, and it was the best thing I ever did,” he reflected. “I thought that I needed alcohol so much, and I didn’t.”
Charlie Daniels will be missed by the entire music world, but he will be especially missed by Brad Arnold.
“We’re all made better by men like Mr. Charlie.”
