Charlie Daniels Reveals The One Event That ‘Changed My Whole Life’ In Final Interview

The world lost a great man on Monday, when country music legend Charlie Daniels passed away at the age of 83 from a hemorrhagic stroke. In his last on-camera interview before his death, Charlie Daniels tells fellow country star John Rich a powerful story that helps us to better understand the man behind the music.

Daniels’ Recalls Life-Changing Experience 

Three weeks before he died, Daniels sat down for an interview with his fellow country star John Rich. Of course, neither of them knew if would be Daniels last on-camera interview.

In this interview, Daniels told a story about his experience as a white man working in the South back when it was segregated. 

“In 1958, I was working …[and] there was a guy there by the name of Louis Frost that I was working with that actually trained me, he trained my dad…,” Daniels said, according to Fox News. 

“In December 1958, they started slowing down and they were going to lay him [Frost] off and keep me,” Daniels remembered. “He knew ten times [more] about the job than I did, but the only problem was, this was 1958. He was Black and I was White. That’s what made the decision.”

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Though Daniels was only a 21-year-old “novice” employee, he said that he could see that the decision to fire Frost was not related to his work experience.

“The thing about it was like comparing apples to oranges as far as who did the job better,” Daniels said. “They were gonna let him go, and keep me who was basically just a novice, and I said, ‘You know, no. I’ve got a job …  I play music. Y’all keep him and I’ll leave.’ And I did. He [Frost] stayed in that job and he retired from that job.”

“He changed my whole life,” Daniels explained of the experience.

John Rich Honors Charlie Daniels 

Daniels would go on to become a prolific musician with millions of fans.

On Friday, Rich reflected on what it was like to conduct the final interview with the legendary star.

“As we would say in the country, ‘he was firing on all eight cylinders’… he was happy and pumped and excited,” Rich told “Fox & Friends.” 

“I asked him questions all the way back to being born in Wilmington, North Carolina during World War II, to his music career,” he added, explaining that he had conducted the interview at Daniels’ Tennessee home on June 16. 

“I asked him questions about, ‘Hey, Mr. Charlie, what’s your thoughts on defunding the police,” Rich said of the interview. “It was a pretty in-depth, encapsulating interview and what a loss it is to lose Charlie Daniels. His funeral is today, but I am glad we had this interview for America to be able to watch and hear from him directly.”

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Rich Continues To Praise Daniels 

Rich went on to praise who Daniels was as a man.

“He cared so much for our police, for our first responders and military, and his fans too,” said Rich. “He had 100 bookings to play this year at 83-years-old.  That’s amazing.”

He concluded by talking about how much Daniels loved God.

“Charlie Daniels was one of the most famous people in the world, one of the most successful people in the world and for a guy like that to humble himself and admit if I didn’t have God in my life, there’s no telling where I would be, that’s a great statement for not only him,” Rich said. “That’s a true statement for all of us.”