Korn have shared a hard-rock cover of Charlie Daniels’ signature song, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” featuring Alabama rapper Yelawolf.
The track finds Korn recreating the song’s furious fiddle duel with a blaze of guitars, which adds the particularly ominous pall of heavy metal to Daniels’ classic tale. But Korn never forfeit the playfulness that defined the original, as frontman Jonathan Davis and Yelawolf embrace the roles of the Devil and Johnny and deliver the song’s story with plenty of dramatic oomph.
“I’ve always said it, but country music is some of the darkest ever,” Davis said in a statement. “Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and, of course, Charlie Daniels all turned pain into some really powerful music that sounded alive. ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ is a classic story, and we wanted to release it now to help others in need.”
Korn recorded their version of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” back when they were making their 2019 album, The Nothing. They decided to release it now as a tribute to Daniels, who died July 6th at the age of 83.
Korn and Yelawolf’s cover of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” is available to purchase for $2 on the band’s Bandcamp page. All proceeds from the track will be donated to Awakening Youth, an organization that helps young people grappling with the loss of a parent due to divorce, addiction, death, or other reasons.
