WSET.com - ABC13

Phil Vassar and the legendary Charlie Daniels brought down the house for the Miller Home Thursday at Phase Two in Lynchburg.

The duo put on a tremendous show, with all proceeds going to a great cause.

For just having undergone surgery to install a pacemaker, there was no slowing down Charlie Daniels, for a cause closest to the heart of Phil Vassar.

"I get to play with Charlie Daniels; I mean is that the best or what? I mean, it doesn't get better than that" said Vassar before the show.

In its sixth year, this Hill City tradition was kicked way up, with the addition of a country music legend.

"When I saw him with the young ladies from the Miller Home, I really understood the depths of how he feels about it. So I'm sure it means a great deal to him. It means a great deal to me to be here with him. He's a great guy" said Charlie Daniels.

Lynchburg native Phil Vassar grew up volunteering at the Miller Home.

"In my youth group, we used to go every Christmas and sing for the girls at the Miller Home and that's how I knew about it" he said.

And since, Vassar has held countless fundraisers and benefit concerts, and donated thousands to the charity.

"It's a pretty amazing thing. It's a great place" he said.

And Vassar says it wasn't hard to convince this icon of modern music to take the stage with him.

But only two weeks prior, there was worry it might not happen.

Daniels had a pacemaker installed to treat an irregular heartbeat. He was determined though, not to let that keep him from the Hill City.

"I had my ipad in the hospital with me and I pulled it out and I put my finger on the 11th, and I said if we do this, can I go back to work then on this day, and he said yes, and I said ok witness now, I'm going to Lynchburg on the 11th" he said.

More than 1,300 people attended the concert.

Daniels said before Thursday, he had never been to Lynchburg, but he says after Thursday, he's sure he'll be back.

Read the original article from WSET-TV here.

Country star Phil Vassar is back in his hometown of Lynchburg for a special concert Thursday night.

Vassar comes to Lynchburg every spring to do a benefit show for the Miller Home for Girls, a group home in Lynchburg that provides a safe haven for girls who can't live with their families.  This year, he's bringing country legend Charlie Daniels along for the ride.

The show begins at 7:30 Thursday night at Phase 2 in Lynchburg.  Tickets are $35 each and can be purchased by calling the Miller Home at (434) 845-0241 or by visiting the Miller Home in person (2134 Westerly Drive, Lynchburg, VA).

Vassar sat down with WSLS 10 to talk about the show, coming home, and the new album he's working on.

What's it like to come back home and do a show like this?

"It's great.  We've had so much fun doing these Miller Home benefits.  And I get to come home and see my friends and my family.  This is where I cut my teeth playing music, in Lynchburg and Roanoke.  This is where I grew up.  We get to come home every year and do something great for these girls at the Miller Home.  It's something I've gotten way more out of I think than they do.  But it's beautiful.  It's a beautiful thing."

Why is the Miller Home so important to you?

"I was raised around a bunch of women.  That's it -- my girls, my mom, my grandmother, my dad wasn't around, my sisters -- I'm the only man in my family.  So when I was looking for a charity to come back home to do an event for every year, we started talking about the Miller Home.  So we went over and I said wow, I haven't been to the Miller Home in years.  When I was a kid, my church group used to go and sing to these girls.  So I thought it was a really cool deal.  So we've picked it up and really gotten behind it.  We do our golf tournament in the fall every year now.  Then we do our concert and this year Charlie Daniels is gonna play with me.  So it's really a great time."

Why is this a show you don't want to miss?

"You think about Charlie Daniels donating his time to come to do this -- Charlie and I do a show together every year in Nashville at the Ryman called Christmas for Kids -- so he said man, I'd love to do your show with you this year.  And I thought wow, how cool is that?  So it's gonna be great.  You know how great he is, he's a legend and one of the greatest men I've ever met in my life.  I can't wait to do this show and get there and play.  I've actually got my old bandmates that I used to play with in Lynchburg and all over the place coming in and playing with me too.  It's gonna be fun."

You're working on some new stuff right now.  Are you planning on pulling out any new songs at the show?

"We never know what we're gonna do.  I never have a set list when I go out and play.  But for this show, we'll do probably some new songs and you always gotta do "Just Another Day in Paradise" and some of the big hits.  We're just gonna have a good time, it's always a free-for-all.  And I know Robbin Thompson is gonna get up and play, Steve Bassett is gonna come out and play with us -- it's a bunch of my favorite singers.  It's gonna be a great time."

Speaking of that new stuff, what can you tell us about the new album?

"It's always we write, we record, and then we tour.  So we're in the middle of recording right now and still writing -- and then we'll be touring pretty hard starting in May or June.  I'm excited about this record.  It's the first new studio record I've done in several years so it's a pretty exciting thing.  "Love is Alive" just came out and debuted in the 40's, so we're excited about all of this.  It's a good time."

You've said that you don't feel like you've written your best stuff yet.  What do you mean by that?

"I probably would have to quit if I believed I'd written my best songs.  I think it was always like "you need to save your songs, you need to save your songs" -- and for me, I think a song always finds a home.  I remember all these hits I've had with all of these other singers.  They just were meant to be written for them, I guess.  But I just think everyday I get up, I love going to that sheet of paper that's blank -- and you just never know what you're going to write.  It could be the greatest song you've ever written."

Do you feel with this new album you're getting closer to that?

"I love it, I really do.  I really love what we're doing, the direction the record is going in and we're just having a good time recording it and it's been amazing for the last year and half getting to work on this thing."

To see the original article from WSLS and watch the video interview, click here.