Charlie Daniels Fiddle – Adam Sambola, artist

Autographed by The Charlie Daniels Band.

SOLD – Auctioned via Charity Buzz.

Artist Adam Sambola is best known for his iconic character, RedBean the Crawfish, and the colorful crustacean’s sidekick, Gumbo the Crab. Individually or collectively, they appear in many of the artist’s works, celebrating Louisiana culture and customs. The Bayou State’s music legends and sports heroes–more specifically, the New Orleans Saints and LSU Tigers–
are also popular with Sambola Art collectors, providing a myriad of choices in original paintings, prints and on a variety of untraditional “canvases,” including musical instruments, washboards and ceramics.

In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina was approaching, one of the last things Adam did before evacuating with his wife, Heather, and newborn, Isabelle, was place on an easel facing the front door one of his religious paintings depicting Mary and Baby Jesus.

He believed that that the homage would provide protection from the wrath of the storm. The family then headed to nearby Baton Rouge, with the intent of returning home a few days later. But, of course, such would not be that simple.

Two days after the storm’s passing, Adam returned alone, to begin the cleanup process. He says he felt fortunate in that though many of the neighbors’ rooves had been crushed by falling trees, the damage to his residence was minimal–the loss of his fence caused by uprooted trees, supplemented with scattered debris.

It would be two more weeks before the area’s electricity was restored, at which time his family could return home.

In 2010, the family grew with the birth of son, Collin. That same year, Adam opened his first art gallery, and he has since transitioned to a new gallery space located within the Cultural District in Olde Towne Slidell. His work also can be seen in several outdoor murals and on numerous four foot tall crawfish sculptures, a public art project gracing storefronts throughout St. Tammany Parish.

As to the painting of Madonna and Child, it has since taken its new place of honor in St. John of the Cross Catholic Church in Lacombe, where the artist’s talent and the significance of this work of art can be enjoyed by members of the congregation, many of whom also have their own Katrina stories to tell.

Securing the Charlie Daniels Band autographs

An Angel Went Down to Georgia-

Special guest post by Eneida Allison. Featuring the work of artist Adam Sambola.

An Angel was goin’ to Georgia, she was lookin’ for a sig to steal.
She was in a bind ’cause she was way behind.
She was willing to make wheels peel!
When she came across this young man paintin’ on a fiddle with a forehead hot,
And the Angel jumped upon an artist’s stoop and said “Boy, let me tell you what.”
“I guess you didn’t know it, but I’m a Habitat lover, too.
And if you’d care to take a dare I’ll make a bet with you.
Now you paint on a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the Angel her due.
I’ll bet some prayers against your art ’cause I think we can auction it too!”

The boy said, “My name’s Adam, and it might be a sin,
But I’ll take your bet; and you won’t regret ’cause Charlie’s the best there’s ever been.”

Adam, you raisin’ up your brush and paintin’ that fiddle hard.
’cause Habitat’s buildin’ in Louisiana and they need a house in the yard.
And if you win, they get this painted fiddle signed.
With Charlie’s name and your art, the stars are surely aligned.

The Angel opened up Adam’s case and she said: “I’ll go to Charlie’s show.”
And fire flew from her wheels as she put the car in “GEAUX”!
And she pulled up in Liz’s driveway as her heart filled with bliss.
Then a band of angels joined in and it sounded something like this.

When the Angel woke up on concert day, the drummer wanted to join the fun.
Hope for Habitat: Katrina X.Habitat and artists are goin’ again!

“It is the best I must confess.”
“but, will Charlie love it?”
“YES, child, YES.”

The Angel bowed her head as she passed by all Charlie’s fans.
She laid that pretty fiddle on the table in Charlie’s hands.

Charlie said: “Come take a picture of me holding this next to my skin.
’cause I told you once, you son of a gun, It’s the best there’s ever been.”

Hope for Habitat: Katrina X.
Habitat and artists are goin’ again!
It is the best I must confess.
“but, will Charlie love it?”
“YES, child, YES.”

Inspired by The Charlie Daniels Band’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” Epic Records, 1979

In October, 2014, my friends Christine, Charlotte and I listened intently as our friend, Kim Bergeron, recounted her “Beatles Adventures.” She and East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity President and CEO Debbie Crouch and ReStore Manager Eric Jones had recently returned from Louisville, Kentucky, where they had secured Sir Paul’s autograph on a piano painted with a Beatles theme by local artist Lori Gomez. It was the second of two Beatles sigs, with the first by Ringo Starr signed just weeks prior in Biloxi, Mississippi. Although exhausted, Kim was on fire!

The question after the adventures were retold was, “How are you going to top that?”

Jokingly, I told the group that I had gone to high school with the drummer from The Charlie Daniels Band, “The Beatles of the South.” With that statement, my journey into Kim’s adventurous world began!

My first step was to get in touch with drummer Pat McDonald. That was a little harder than I had anticipated. When my initial messages went unanswered, I turned to another friend, Liz Enney, who shed light on the situation. He was very busy with other projects but she told me that he was staying with her the following week and would put the words in his ear! Emails and texts started flowing and at the last minute (remember, this is Kim’s world!) the fiddle “canvas” was purchased, artist Adam Sambola was confirmed, and a trip was planned! We had three days to get the fiddle painted and transported to Bremen, Georgia! Not so bad, right?

At 11:38 pm on May 7th, I received word that Adam had finished painting the fiddle. I could not wait to put that baby in the car and get my trip started!

The world got in the way again and my plans for an early morning departure were delayed until 4:00 pm, but I must say, as every minute ticked off, my enthusiasm grew!

The trip was easy and uneventful, and I made it to Liz and Rick’s beautiful home right before midnight. In the morning, I went downstairs and saw Pat, who was not the scrawny kid in drum corps from high school anymore. He was patiently staring at the
as yet untouched fiddle case.

“Wanna see?” I asked.

“Hell yeah!”

I opened the case, and after a moment of wows, Pat said the words I wanted to hear.
“Charlie is going to love this!”

I will skip all the high school reminiscing and get to the good part—Charlie meets the fiddle.
Pat waved Liz and me to the backstage of Mill Town Music Hall (shout out to Steve Bennett), and I started getting a little nervous. What do I say to this man? But as soon as I saw him and started talking, it all went away. I presented the Adam Sambola fiddle and he grinned from ear to ear, quickly calling out for his bus driver/assistant to take a picture.

I listened as Charlie said, “Did you get the picture? This is very nice. Best I’ve seen,” at least four times!

There is something to be said about the 78-year old southern man’s charm.

“Mr. Daniels, blah,blah,blah” and “Mr. Daniels, yap, yap yap. Thank you so much, Mr. Daniels” …(here it comes) …with a slight pinch of my cheek he said, “It’s Charlie, darlin’!” (sigh)

I walked away with a flushed face and went outside to cool down.

Pat took the fiddle to the bus to have the rest of the band sign it and came back saying that every last member loved the fiddle, thought it was cool, awesome, and that Adam had outdone himself. Pat made sure to let me know that Charlie doesn’t normally ask for pictures to be taken, so he must have been truly impressed. He also asked that we keep Charlie updated on the fiddle.

“He would love to hear what happens to it!”

We were standing by the door, waiting for all the guests to have their moments with Charlie, and when it opened, I looked inside and saw Charlie thanking a group of Veterans for their service and praying with them. My heart filled watching this man take his time to talk to each of those Heroes. The concert began and I watched as the scrawny high schooler turned man played his heart out behind the legendary Charlie Daniels. One of those sweet, sweet life moments, ya know?

My adventure ended with yet another “church” moment, courtesy of The Charlie Daniels Band.

As Charlie sang “How Great Thou Art,” I stood up in that concert hall, hand raised high, and thought, “Indeed!”

To see more of Adam Sambola’s work, visit SambolaArt.com.

SOLD. THE CHARITY BUZZ AUCTION HAS ENDED.

To view listing, click here: Autographed Charlie Daniels fiddle.