From Family Reunion To Tribute Concert: The Volunteer Jam Goes On

The Volunteer Jam has a double, or maybe even a triple, meaning. 

Tennessee is the Volunteer State. University of Tennessee sports teams, of which Charlie Daniels was a fan and supporter, are the Volunteers. And there’s the spirit of volunteerism that shot through much of Daniels’ life and work. But literally, it began as a jam session of “volunteers” – friends and musical colleagues – who turned out to share a stage with the estimable Daniels.

The next Volunteer Jam is to take place Feb. 22 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, and is planned as a tribute to Daniels, who died July 6 but left a legacy worthy of at least one last blast. Nashville-based concert promoter Outback Presents produces the show in association with David Corlew & Associates and Conway Entertainment Group. 

The Volunteer Jam had somewhat humble beginnings. The first, in 1974 at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium, was intended as a recording session for two songs on Daniels’ Fire On The Mountain album. Daniels invited some friends – Dickey Betts from the Allman Brothers Band, and Toy Caldwell, Jerry Eubanks and Paul Riddle from the Marshall Tucker Band – to jam after recording the set. The event was a hit, drawing some 2,400 fans.

A year later, Daniels did it again, this time at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Selling some 10,600 tickets and featuring the Marshall Tucker Band, Dickey Betts and Chuck Leavell of the Allman Brothers Band and Dru Lombar of Grinderswitch, the show also brought out luminaries from the rock world like Alvin Lee of Ten Years After. 

“The Volunteer Jam was a family reunion,”  Daniels manager David Corlew tells Pollstar, recalling that Daniels invited friends to perform from across genres. Among the Volunteer Jam guests over the years were Billy Joel, Ted Nugent, Dobie Gray, Link Wray, John Prine, Rufus Thomas, James Brown, Quarterflash, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Nicolette Larson, Tommy Shaw, Great White and many more including, of course, top stars of country music. 

The concerts could stretch to as many as 10 hours. The 1983 edition included jazz great Woody Herman’s big band. The following year, it was broadcast over Voice of America and on TV, produced by Dick Clark Productions, and included appearances from media personalities including Byron Allen and MTV “veejay” Alan Hunter. 

The 1986 Volunteer Jam included the reunion of the Allman Brothers Band. While the Jam took a hiatus from 1987 to 1991, it was a much-anticipated event in the Nashville area – including a 40th anniversary show in 2015 and an 80th birthday bash for Daniels in 2016 – until being postponed by the COVID pandemic this year, and put in doubt by Daniels’ death in July.

However, the Daniels team says the show must go on. A Volunteer Jam tribute to Daniels is slated with Trace Adkins, Justin Moore, Big & Rich, Marshall Tucker Band, Gretchen Wilson, Chris Janson, and Charley Pride. s