Michael W. Smith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels at Freedom Concert

Sean Hannity's Freedom Concerts are scheduled for this August, and Michael W. Smith and Charlie Daniels are on the bill again, with Lynyrd Skynyrd joining the production.

All net proceeds (after musical talent, production, promotion and venue expenses) from ticket sales are donated to the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund, which provide for the education of children of U.S. service members who have been killed or 100% permanently disabled in an operational mission or training accident.

The shows take place in New Jersey, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Nevada and California.

Learn more here.

Charlie Daniels Calls U.S. Government a 'Dictatorship'

He may proudly sing patriotic songs, but now Charlie Daniels says he's angry and disappointed by the country's leadership. Speaking out against the recent health-care reform bill, Charlie says America is on a fast downward spiral.

"We no longer have a representative government; we essentially have a dictatorship that is willing to force their will on us regardless of what we want," he says in a March 22 post on his website's "Soapbox and Message Board" titled 'Black Monday.' "This is the most despicable act ever perpetrated on the American public by the most dishonorable congress we've ever had."

Rest of article here.

Charlie Daniels Recounts Stroke & Recovery

Charlie says he's not the type to "sit around and think, 'what if?'" after suffering a mild stroke, but he's had two friends in the radio industry suffer strokes recently and both have had a more difficult road to recovery (one is having to learn to walk again), so he knows that he was very blessed. "I will never believe it was anything other than the hand of God that got me down the mountain," says Charlie, who realized he was having a stroke when he noticed numbness in his left hand and his face.

full account here

In, not of this music world

A short list of Christians who have been successful in the music industry:
Brian Littrell
Carrie Underwood
Charlie Daniels
Clay Aiken
Collective Soul
Daughtry
Eisley
The Fray
Johnny Cash
John Elefante - Kansas
Judson Spence
King's X
Lifehouse
MC Hammer
Mandisa
Michael McDonald
Mindy Smith
Philip Bailey - Earth, Wind & Fire
Rick Wakeman - Yes
Ruben Studdard
Sawyer Brown
Scott Stapp
Sufjan Stevens
Vigilantes of Love/Bill Mallonee