A great initiative on the part of the Blue Hat Records label and the American supermarket chain Wallmart which pays tribute to "Good Father" Charlie Daniels with a mix of duets with, for the most part, big names in Country Music, some of whom have was already recorded with the Charlie Daniels Band in 2007 on the album Deuces which contained 13 tracks. This Duets takes again in the same order the 13 titles of Deuces livened up with six unreleased ones, thus we find in opening the "What'd I Say" of Ray Charles played in the most energetic way possible by Charlie Daniels and Travis Tritt. Thereafter, place for the fairer sex with Bonnie Bramlett on "Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours" then the enraged "Jackson" with Gretchen Wilson. The essential "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" of the Band, in the spotlight with the contribution of Vince Gill, is listened to with great pleasure, , as well as the rustic Bluegrass of Bob Dylan "Maggie's Farm" where Charlie Daniels crosses swords with the Scruggs Brothers, masters of the genre. A pearl with Louisiana scents "Daddy's Old Fiddle" with Dolly Parton is here for good measure, as well as Zim Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" with Darius Rucker. Subsequently, the most convincing is established on the version of "Long Haired Country Boy" thanks to the attribution of Brooks & Dunn, but above all we remain flabbergasted listening to the "Jammin 'for Stevie" with the singer guitarist country Brad Paisley for a breathtaking guitar crossover with master Charlie in a Latin style between Carlos Santana and Dickey Betts. Now let's move on to the unreleased tracks of this Duets like the good "Waco" with Garth Brooks, an honorable version of "The South's Gonna Do It Again" with Kieth Urban on guitar, good meat-filled boogie on "All Night Long" in the company of Montgomery Gentry, the "Texas" from Charlie Daniels Band's Nightrider/1975 album full of pep Western Swing with brilliant frontman Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel. At the end of the album, we find "Southern Boy" with Travis Tritt and a second version of "Long Haired Country Boy" with Hall Ketchum and John Berry. This Duets, with this myriad of artists, testifies to the great know-how of Charlie Daniels which we miss so much.

Jacques Dersigny
Translation : Y. Philippot-Degand