The Charlie Daniels Band is slated to take the Ford Theatre stage at the Honeywell Center on May 22, and it promises to be quite a show. “Oh yes, we’re excited to play some music,” says Daniels.

Daniels, now 78, started his music career nearly 60 years ago. “I started fully professionally in 1958,” he recalls. “I went out into the world with a guitar and a dream, just footloose and fancy free.”

Since then the singer, fleet-fingered fiddle player and multi-instrumentalist has made an indelible mark, not just on country music, but across myriad genres and styles. He’s best known for the fiery Faustian bluegrass romp, “The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” which is still heard on radios and jukeboxes 45 years after its release.

“That song came out in 1979, and it’s transcended generations,” Daniels says. “It still plays on the radio. It’s just one of those songs. Of course, I had no idea at all that it’d be anything close to what it has.”

But it has. The song was a Billboard #1 hit for Daniels, and it’s been covered by everyone from Jerry Reed to Primus to The Muppets. “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” won Daniels a Grammy, and was also featured in the 1980 movie “Urban Cowboy” and adapted for the video game “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” (Daniels laments the fact that the devil, a cartoony horned guitarist named Lou, usually won because of the song’s difficulty; the devil always loses in Daniels’ song).

“The Devil Went Down To Georgia” is but one of the many hits Daniels has had in his long career. “Long Haired Country Boy,” “In America” and “The Legend of Wooley Swamp” have all treated him pretty well over the years – earning him induction into the Grand Ole Opry and the Musicians Hall of Fame.

Most recently, Daniels chose to take on some material that might surprise some of his hardcore country fans. “Bob Dylan is the original innovator. He, to me, personified a kind of freedom,” says Daniels, who released “Off the Grid – Doin’ It Dylan” last month. “I was a studio musician on three of his albums [he contributed guitar and bass on the legendary “Nashville Skyline,” “Self Portrait” and “New Morning”] back in the 60s. I was a big Dylan fan before then. He’s one of my heroes.”

On “Off the Grid” Daniels and his band put their spin on Dylan classics like “Tangled Up In Blue,” “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” “We had a great time with it,” says Daniels. “Everything that we tried to do was never to copy anything – try to do something fresh with an old catalog. The great thing about Dylan is you never run out of material.”

And for those who may think a Bob Dylan tribute is outside Daniels’ wheelhouse: “I never claimed to be country,” he says. “I came at a time when radio was not formatted for a particular type of music. I cut my teeth on about everything you can think of. We do it all.”

For anyone who’d like to see the Charlie Daniels Band “do it all,” you’re in luck. Daniels and his band will take the stage at the Honeywell Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 22. Ira Dean, formerly of Trick Pony, is set to open.

Tickets for the concert are $32, $44, $58 and $100. Visit www.honeywellcenter.org or call (260) 563-1102 for more information.