Country music firebrand and fiddler Charlie Daniels, who had a hit with ``Devil Went Down to Georgia,'' has died at age 83.
A statement from his publicist said the Country Music Hall of Famer died today at a hospital in Hermitage, Tennessee, after doctors said he had a stroke.
He had suffered what was described as a mild stroke in January 2010 and had a heart pacemaker implanted in 2013 but continued to perform.
Daniels, a singer, guitarist and fiddler, started out as a session musician, even playing on Bob Dylan's ``Nashville Skyline'' sessions.
Beginning in the early 1970s, his five-piece band toured endlessly, sometimes doing 250 shows a year.
In a 1998 interview, Daniels said there wasn't a city they hadn't played in.
Daniels performed at White House, at the Super Bowl, throughout Europe and often for troops in the Middle East.
He played himself in the 1980 John Travolta movie ``Urban Cowboy'' and was closely identified with the rise of country music generated by that film.
He said he'd kept people employed for over 20 years and never missed a payroll.
In 1998, he received the Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music.
In the 1990s Daniels softened some of his lyrics from his earlier days when he often was embroiled in controversy.
In ``The Devil Went Down to Georgia,'' a 1979 song about a fiddling duel between the devil and a whippersnapper named Johnny, Daniels originally called the devil a ``son of a bitch,'' but changed it to ``son of a gun.''
``The Devil Went Down to Georgia'' was No. 1 on the country charts in 1979 and No. 3 on the pop charts.
It was voted single of the year by the Country Music Association.
At the age of 71, he was invited to join the epitome of Nashville's music establishment, the Grand Ole Opry.
He was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.
Daniels said his favourite place to play was ``anywhere with a good crowd and a good paycheque.''