Havre de Grace is Right Down Charlie Daniels' Alley

Charlie Daniels knows Maryland.

He’s toured the globe, recently bouncing between Montana and Canada before trekking eastward toward Friday’s show in Havre de Grace. But he spent some time in Baltimore.

And when Chuck and Lori Maslin offered Daniels the chance to perform at their , Daniels jumped at the chance.

“I’m really looking forward to coming to Maryland. Man, a seafood festival? That’s right down my alley, I’ll tell ya,” Daniels said in his trademark accent.

at with the Friday night show—coming on stage sometime around 8:45 p.m. after two local opening acts.

The draw for the weekend as a whole is the food—with more than 150 types of food available in the park.

“I was born down the coast from you in Wilmington, [NC]. People that are not exposed to that don’t quite know what we’re talking about when we say fresh seafood. You have such a great variety of it and so much of it, that’s another charm of that part of the world,” Daniels said. “If you ever saw a picture of me, you can tell I really enjoy my food, and one of the foods I really enjoy is seafood.”

Many of Friday's songs will be patriotic in nature—part of Daniels’ latest album release, a compilation of his most patriotic songs.

It’s a segment of Daniels’ career that is simply a continuation of his upbringing.

“I remember D-Day. I remember when Pearl Harbor was bombed. I remember our victory over Europe, our victory over Japan. Our country was kind of holding its breath waiting to get this over with,” Daniels said. “But it was a very patriotic country. Kids were gathering up scrap iron, and newspaper, and tin cans, and whatever they could, and turned them in to be used for the war efforts wherever they could. Everybody was involved one way or another. Everybody had somebody in the service, a dad or an uncle, brother, or somebody was working in some defense-related industry. It was a shipyard in our town. We had air-raid drills.”

Daniels remembers the war efforts hitting close to home, with German U-boats coming close to the North Carolina shore.

“The war was very real to us,” he said. “That’s my background. I’ve always been that way. I realize that its unfortunate that we have to ever go to war, but it is necessary sometimes. The people that go to war have nothing to do with going to war, they’re just carrying out orders.”

Daniels released “Land That I Love” in 2010.

He’s been on tour for more than 50 years.

In fact on the 50^th anniversary of his beginning, Daniels was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in Jan. 2008.

He was presented with the T.J. Martell Foundation’s Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award in Oct. 2010.

Despite his achievements of more than a half-century, Daniels is still tied into the new age, complete with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages.

Much of his music can be found on his website.

Tickets for Friday’s concert are almost gone, but can be purchased here.

Like you might expect from a veteran of more than 50 years, Daniels passed the ultimate test when asked to pronounce Havre de Grace. He said the first inclination, though, was to pronounce it like it’s spelled.

“It’s kind of like Brett Favre. You think it should be 'Fav-ree,'” Daniels said of his logic. “We’ll try to get it right by the time we get there. We don’t want the crowd to throw stones at me. Or crab claws.”