In the new issue of Closer Weekly, musician Charlie Daniels and his wife, Hazel, exclusively open their home to the magazine and share their fondest memories of the house they built together and have shared for 35 years.

“When I walked in through the front gate and saw the pond, I said, ‘If that hill is flat enough up there, we want this,’” Charlie recalls of his hilltop home, about 20 miles east of Nashville, Tenn.

“We bought some 50 acres and built the house in ’79, and we’ve been here ever since!”

charlie daniels

The couple, who’ll celebrate their 50th anniversary in September, purchased additional land over the years, including 130 acres continuous with the original 50. It gives Charlie some needed peace and privacy.

“If I want to walk out on the back porch in my underwear,” he laughs, “nobody could see it!”

At the end of the day, Charlie and Hazel retreat to the second floor, where their master bedroom opens up onto one of four porches.

charlie daniels

“It’s almost like another room,” he notes to Closer. “It’s screened in and has furniture on it. In the summertime, we spend quite a bit of time out there.”

They can even be spotted out there during a thunderstorm. “There’s a tin roof on it,” Charlie says of his dream home. “I love to hear rain on a tin roof. I built it for that reason.”

Taking it all in, Charlie shares with the mag, “I feel very blessed to be able to live here. I can’t imagine being anywhere else!”

For more great photos, pick up the latest issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now!