Each year, 25 recordings (singles or albums) are inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in a project to preserve and showcase “the range and diversity of American recorded sound heritage,” per the Library’s website. This year’s class ran the gamut of styles and genres, from Pérez Prado’s 1950 hit “Mambo No. 5” to Taylor Swift’s 2014 seminal album “1989.” On the list is The Charlie Daniels Band‘s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” a fiery tune that blends country, rock, and bluegrass and features one of the most recognizable fiddle solos of modern times.
Why was “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” Inducted?
The Library of Congress states that recordings are added to the archive “based on their cultural, historical, or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.” “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” hits these benchmarks for its unique songwriting approach and stellar musicianship.
“In 1979, ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ became a major crossover hit, earning Charlie Daniels both a Grammy and a Country Music Association Single of the Year award,” the Library of Congress writes. “It brought a country story-song structure that played on the traditional folk ballad theme of a young man pitting his wits against the devil himself while also incorporating elements of both string band and Southern rock instrumentation and arrangement.”
Daniels, who played many styles in his early days, found success working in Nashville as a session musician, even recording with Bob Dylan on his “Nashville Skyline” album. He formed his own band in the early 1970s, fitting in with the “outlaw” country and southern rock scenes alongside artists like Waylon Jennings and Lynyrd Skynyrd. As the Country Music Hall of Fame writes, the Charlie Daniels Band was featured singing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” in the blockbuster Hollywood movie “Urban Cowboy” (1980), igniting a boom in country music’s popularity.
However, the song’s lasting impact isn’t just rooted in its accolades; it’s in the musicianship that plays out at the center of the now-iconic fiddle duel. The carefully constructed musical showdown is a study in contrast, technique, and tension-building.
How to Play the Intro to “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”
“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” is in the key of D minor and begins with the main theme, a sixteenth-note melody played on the fiddle. The theme comes back after each chorus and also acts as an outro, making it one of the song’s hooks.
Daniels plays the notes with separate bows, creating a more aggressive attack on each pitch. The line moves through the D minor scale, with the fast descending motion resolving to D before stepping down through A and C.
Get a full rundown of how to play it with Chris Haigh from The Fiddle Channel:
The Devil vs. Johnny: How the Fiddle Solos Tell the Story
The verse sections are sparse, letting listeners focus on the spoken word storytelling lyrics. The song comes to a climax during the fiddle duel between the Devil and Johnny, with the Devil’s solo going first. While it seems ferocious, Daniels wrote the Devil’s part as a foil for Johnny’s winning solo.
“The Devil’s just blowing smoke. If you listen to that, there’s just a bunch of noise. There’s no melody to it, there’s no nothing. It’s just a bunch of noise,” he explained in a 2007 interview with Songfacts. “Just confusion and stuff. And of course Johnny’s saying something. You can’t beat the Devil without the Lord. I didn’t have that in the song, but I should have.”
It’s a brilliant piece of musical narration that is now cemented in history in the National Recording Registry.
Watch Daniels play the Devil and Johnny in this live music video for the song:
