Magical Moment Photos

TOY AND TOMMY CALDWELL CREATING MAGICAL MUSIC IN THE WOODS. PHOTO/ART BY BEN UPHAM.

THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND-
“A NEW LIFE” (1974)
Reviews and Comments about an Amazing Album!

Songs:
1-”A New Life” (Toy Caldwell) – 6:44
2-”Southern Woman” (Toy Caldwell) – 7:55
3-”Blue Ridge Mountain Sky” (Toy Caldwell) – 3:37
4-”Too Stubborn” (Toy Caldwell) – 3:58
5-”Another Cruel Love” (Toy Caldwell) – 3:58
6-”You Ain’t Foolin’ Me” (Toy Caldwell) – 7:03
7-”24 Hours at a Time” (Toy Caldwell) – 5:04
8-”Fly Eagle Fly” (Toy Caldwell) – 4:25

Musician Credits:
Toy Caldwell – guitar, steel guitar, slide guitar, vocals
Tommy Caldwell – bass, vocals
Doug Gray – guitar, percussion, lead vocals
George McCorkle – guitar, banjo
Paul Riddle – drums
Jerry Eubanks – flute, saxophone, keyboards, vocals
With:
Paul Hornsby – keyboards
Charlie Daniels – fiddle
Jaimoe – conga, conductor
Earl Ford – horn
Oscar Jackson – horn
Todd Logan – horn
Harold Williams – horn
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Review #1-
“A New Life is a Great Life”
By B. E Jackson (Pennsylvania)
June 14, 2011

The album cover perfectly sums up what to expect. A horse walking down a path on a high mountaintop and looking down at a few small homes in the fields, with a beautiful and colorful image of distant mountains in the background. It’s not only a fantastic cover to analyze, but there may actually be a few ways to interpret it, too.
Such as… maybe the horse riding high in the mountains is an indication of the bands quick rise to stardom? Or maybe I’m thinking about it too hard and the album cover simply illustrates the beauty and colorful creativity that can be heard in the music.

A New Life is a minor masterpiece and REALLY shows just how much further the Marshall Tucker Band were willing to push the boundaries as far as how far the southern rock formula can go. This album is a drastic step forward from their self-titled debut in terms of songwriting and instrumental variety.
“You Ain’t Foolin’ Me” has a very good verse melody and chorus, but that’s not *quite* what makes this song stand out so drastically. It’s shortly after the 2 minute mark when the song REALLY takes off and confirms (to me, at least) that the Marshall Tucker Band are the real deal. The saxophone solo is incredibly melodic and perhaps this is a total coincidence, but the first few lines of the sax solo totally remind me of a Roxy Music song from their debut released back in 1972. From here, well, images of the album cover noticeably come to mind as the saxophone takes a sudden departure and a dreamy guitar solo elevates the greatness of the song to even higher heights. This instrumental middle section resembles *no* other southern rock band. Not the Allman Brothers Band or Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s completely unique.
If you enjoy the instrumental creativity in “You Ain’t Foolin’ Me” be prepared to have your socks totally knocked off upon experiencing “Southern Woman”. What starts off as a highly memorable vocal melody suddenly (eventually- 3 minutes later) sends me into total, unexpected shock as a straight up saxophone solo makes a VERY surprising appearance. Unlike in the song I mention above, this particular sax jam actually *jams* for a minute or so, and it sounds completely different from anything any other southern band had ever attempted, before or since. It’s flat out awesome. Perhaps it’s inspired by Van Morrison’s “Moondance” a little bit, but it’s certainly no ripoff or anything.
The title song brings me to tears, seriously. I actually cried the first time I heard it… alright make that the second time (because I wasn’t paying attention to it the first time, for some clueless reason on my part!) The verse melody is another quality piece of writing, the lyrics are touching and meaningful, but it’s the flute jam and the gradual morph into an electric guitar jam that BLOWS MY EMOTIONS COMPLETELY AWAY! There’s quite a few moments of this song that move me emotionally, but the jam takes the cake.
“24 Hours at a Time” is *another* fantastic highlight. I can’t exactly explain why, though. It’s a fairly fast-paced country rocker, but… there’s something special about it that makes it stand apart from the crowd. I think it’s the line “Woman you’re always on my mind, 24 hours at a time, somehow woman I’m hoping you feel the same” that really makes it attractive. Or perhaps the tasteful guitar jam at the end which immediately makes me think of a happy place is the reason for its ability to give me especially strong positive feelings, I don’t know.
“Fly Eagle Fly” ends the album on a fairly quiet note with a softly written track. It contains innocent lyrics and an attractive vocal melody, and not much else. Honestly it doesn’t need anything else.
I really hope you pick up what I consider a masterpiece in southern rock. I’ve had people tell over the years how much they dislike the southern rock genre. It’s honestly nearly impossible to hate THIS album, in my opinion. The arrangements are constantly beautiful and always played tastefully, and the amount of sincerity in both the vocal melodies and the lyrics is simply hard to ignore. Find a way to hear this album.

Review #2-
“A New Life”
By K. Carstens (Iowa)
May 27, 2006

I believe that this album, along with “Eat A Peach” by the Allman Brother Band, are the essential “Southern Rock Albums”. Tuckers sophomore album captures the spirit of the early 70s southern rock movement better than any other album. From the jazzy Southern Woman to the incredible Another Cruel Love, Toy Caldwell’s songwriting was never better. You Ain’t Foolin’ Me might be the purest “anthem” song that Marshall Tucker was so famous for in concert. The best album by maybe the most underrated live band ever.

Review #3-
By Thom Jurek
Perhaps the only reason that New Life isn’t quite as memorable as its self-titled predecessor is that the band’s debut was just so startling when it appeared. By the time New Life was issued in 1974, to the band’s credit, it seemed like the Marshall Tucker Band sound had always been a part of America’s rock & roll scene. New Life is earthier than the first album, and country music is less layered over by the trappings of jam-band rock. “Blue Ridge Mountain Sky” is only eclipsed by Dickey Betts’ “Ramblin’ Man” as the ultimate road song from the period. Likewise, the pedal steel blues of “Too Stubborn” echo an earlier era altogether, as the ghost of Bob Wills comes into Toy Caldwell’s songwriting. The whining guitars and lilting woodwinds of the title track bring the jazzier elements in the band’s sound to the fore and wind them seamlessly into a swirling, pastoral country music. The Muscle Shoals horns lend a hand on the Allman Brothers’ Brothers and Sisters-influenced “Another Cruel Love,” and guest Charlie Daniels’ fiddle cooks up a bluegrass stew on “24 Hours at a Time.” The sound is fantastically balanced and warm, and like its predecessor, this album has dated very well.

Review #4-
“Commercial success does not always equal the best”
By The Plunkster (Fairfield, OH United States)
January 5, 2005

OK. I realize people will disagree with me on this, and that’s fine. I have worked as a DJ for 35 years now, listened to a lot of music, and hopefully formed a lot of opinions.
In my opinion, “A New Life” is far and away the best release ever from The Marshall Tucker Band. So this isn’t the stuff you’re used to hearing on the radio. That doesn’t mean it is not their best stuff. This may just be the perfect Southern rock album. Put this thing on, and believe me you are IN the Blue Ridge Mountains, just soakin’ it up.
An incredible release. A must for Tucker fans.

Review #5-
“But I paid my time, and a new life is gonna be mine…”
By Eric S. Kim (Southern California)
April 1, 2011

The Marshall Tucker Band scores another big one. I wouldn’t necessarily call “A New Life” a perfect album, but it’s an excellent one nonetheless. The songs are pure gold: they can eclipse most mainstream songs that are released in the new millennium. “A New Life” and “Southern Woman” are constant reminders of why Marshall Tucker is one of those bands that just dominates the world of Southern Rock. “Blue Ridge Mountain Sky” sounds slightly generic, but it’s still a great song overall. “Too Stubborn” has a few fusions of reggae (a music genre that I strongly detest), but it’s not really that bad, anyway. “Another Cruel Love” and “You Ain’t Foolin’ Me” are brilliant beyond belief, while “24 Hours at a Time” is fun and catchy. “Fly Eagle Fly” makes for a splendid closer for the album.
I really enjoy their self-titled debut album, and I’ve enjoyed this one just as much. This one could easily stomp on today’s mainstream junk. I’m so glad that I’ve stumbled upon Marshall Tucker a few months ago.

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND DISCOGRAPHY:
1973 The Marshall Tucker Band
1974 A New Life
1974 Where we All Belong
1975 Searchin’ For A Rainbow
1976 Long Hard Ride
1977 Carolina Dreams
1978 Together Forever
1979 Runnin’ Like The Wind
1980 Tenth
1981 Dedicated
1982 Tuckerized
1983 Just Us
1983 Greetings From South Carolina
2003 Stompin’ Room Only (1976 Live)
2006 Live on Long Island 4-18-80
2008 Carolina Dreams Tour 1977

TOY CALDWELL DISCOGRAPHY:
1992 Toy Caldwell
1998 Can’t You See (Live)
2000 Son of the South

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW FOR MARSHALL TUCKER BAND PHOTOS AND ARTWORK:
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND ART BY BEN UPHAM
AND
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM
AND
PURCHASE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND “A NEW LIFE” REMASTERED CD

TOY CALDWELL OF THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND (PHOTO/ART BY BEN UPHAM)

THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND-
“THERE’S GOLD IN THEM GRASSROOTS”
THE GASTONIA GAZETTE
GASTONIA, NORTH CAROLINA
MAY 2, 1976

It’s 3:00 A.M. in the Capricorn sound studios on Broadway and while George McCorkle and Doug Gray of the Marshall Tucker Band get whipped in a game of Ping-Pong by the band’s roadies, down the hall in the main control room, Toy Caldwell, Marshall Tucker’s lead guitarist and songwriter, and producer Paul Hornsby are listening
to John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band add some banjo overdubs to Caldwell’s ‘Long Hard Ride,’ the title track to the band’s fifth album and their first recorded instrumental. Mark Pucci, Capricorn Record’s publicist, is also there, touting the song as the next ‘Rawhide’, but as a publicist he knows he’s able to do little with press releases to help Tucker.
Marshall Tucker is a grassroots band, and its own greatest asset for publicity. For the last three-and-a-half years, the band has been on a “long hard ride,” covering the country in a customized bus on a grueling tour schedule, trying to play most of their markets at least twice a year. “We play a place,” says Toy, “and when we come back, there are twice as many people as before. All those people who come out to see ya, that’s a weird feeling sometimes. Look at me! What the hell do they want to see me for?”
While Marshall Tucker worked on their latest album in Macon, Capricorn threw a party for the band, giving them gold copies of their first album, “The Marshall Tucker Band,” recorded three years ago. And on the basis of their grassroots appeal, two other albums have gone gold within the last six months, “Where We All Belong” and
“Searchin’ fora Rainbow.”
Four years out of being just another club band from Spartanburg, S.C.,
Tucker still comprises its six original members, with Caldwell on lead, McCorkle on rhythm guitar, Gray on vocals, Tommy Caldwell (Toy’s brother) on bass, Jerry Eubanks on alto sax and flute and Paul Riddle on drums.
Toy Caldwell and McCorkle played together in high school in Spartanburg, then in the early Seventies Caldwell formed a band with Gray and Eubanks called The Toy Factory. In 1972 they joined
McCorkle, Riddle and Tommy Caldwell and changed their name to the Marshall Tucker Band, after the owner of their rehearsal hall in Spartanhurg.
In May of that year Tucker played with Wet Willie, a Capricorn Records group, at the Ruins, a club in Spartanburg. “They heard our stuff.” recalls Toy, and told us to take it to Phil Walden (President of Capricornt. Hell, I never heard of the cat. Still, we drove down to Macon and dropped a tape off.” They were booked into Grant’s Lounge in Macon. “I went by there one night,” recalls Capricorn’s executive vice president Frank Fenter, and they sounded entirely different than anything we had on the label. Surprisingly, though, people compare them to the Allman Brothers.
Marshall Tucker’s first album was released in March 1973, and that year they toured as the opening act for the Allman Brothers, before being added to tours with Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Eagles. And, as the Tucker band developed into a strong touring band Capricorn’s natural temptation to do a heavy hype on them waned. “It’s easy for me to sit here, with three gold records,” reflects Jerry Eubanks, “and say, ‘No, I’d never sell out.’ But there have been many times when you’re broke and starving when you’d do about anything. Capricorn had the sense not to come to us and say, ‘You be that kind of band,’ or put us into the position of trying to fill large halls when we weren’t ready for it.”
Doug Gray is less analytical. “You could never imagine me coming out on roller skates; I’d probably trip over my hair. We kid each other and say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna dress up in tights tonight.’ But we laugh at people who have to do that stuff in order to sell a record. If they want to do it, fine, but not anybody in our band. Hell, what would your friends think?”
Toy Caldwell turned to the new album, set for release in June. “The tunes — eight of them — are there. The pickin’s there and the sound is crisp.” The album demonstrates Marshall Tucker’s amazing versatility, with a mixture of slow — and fast-paced luncs, heavily overlaid with country, rock and jazz influences. In this latest album, they’re not just another Southern band. “The country is ready for Marshall Tucker.” Phil Walden immodestly proclaims. “Groups like the Eagles have paved the way… and the Eagles don’t say ‘ain’t’ like Marshall Tucker says ‘aint.’

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND DISCOGRAPHY:
1973 The Marshall Tucker Band
1974 A New Life
1974 Where we All Belong
1975 Searchin’ For A Rainbow
1976 Long Hard Ride
1977 Carolina Dreams
1978 Together Forever
1979 Runnin’ Like The Wind
1980 Tenth
1981 Dedicated
1982 Tuckerized
1983 Just Us
1983 Greetings From South Carolina
2003 Stompin’ Room Only (1976 Live)
2006 Live on Long Island 4-18-80
2008 Carolina Dreams Tour 1977

TOY CALDWELL DISCOGRAPHY:
1992 Toy Caldwell
1998 Can’t You See (Live)
2000 Son of the South

CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND PHOTOS AND ART:
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND ART BY BEN UPHAM
AND
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM

TOY CALDWELL OF THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND JAMMING IN THE WOODS. PHOTO-ART BY BEN UPHAM.

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND-
“STOMPIN’ ROOM ONLY”
UNRELEASED 1976 LIVE ALBUM
RELEASED ON CD IN 2003
A BUNCH OF REVIEWS

FINALLY! THANK YOU MUSIC GODS!, December 2, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Stompin’ Room Only (Unreleased Live Recording) (Audio CD)
This CD is a must have for Tucker Boys fans or “southern rock” fans in general. To me the highlight is “Blue Ridge Mountain Sky”, which includes a 3-minute plus solo by thumb-picking master Toy Caldwell. Long-time fans will really appreciate that song plus outstanding versions of “This Ol’ Cowboy”, “Searchin’ For A Rainbow” and “Hillbilly Band”.
On a down note, I am not quite sure why they had to include two songs already released from a July ’74 show in Milwaukee. But…what the hell.
One thing you can definitely feel is the driving force of Tommy Caldwell in most of the songs. You can feel his bass, plus on many songs he enthusiastically sings harmony with Doug Gray in the chorus. Now, Tommy (along with Toy) was not the BEST singer, but he sure seemed to enjoy what he was doing.
I am not sure if the reviewer who gave this 1 star actually has heard this CD, but please do not let him/her dissuade you. I am a fan of the original (and only) MTB, and I have no axe to grind. To me the band ended with Tommy’s untimely passing in 1980. Nonetheless, this is a treasure. Enjoy!
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Live Fire!, December 30, 2003
By
Lance Farley (Austin, TX United States) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: Stompin’ Room Only (Unreleased Live Recording) (Audio CD)
It’s a great thing to see all the early Marshall Tucker Band albums being remastered and re-released. Apparently, this CD is an unreleased live album with a few added tracks. The main album was recorded on two nights in England in late 1976. The added tracks are the ten-minute-plus “The Thrill Is Gone” from the 1975 Volunteer Jam (featuring guests Dickey Betts, Chuck Leavell and Charlie Daniels), and “Ramblin’” and “24 Hours At A Time” from 1974 (and previously released on “Where We All Belong”). Sound quality varies on the tracks, but most of the performances are amazing. You can hear why this band was such a hot live commodity. I wish the editing between tracks was better; that would give more of a semblance of a real live show. Still it’s great, just having this stuff……….
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FINALLY!!, November 10, 2003
By
Thomas Clark (Makawao, Hi. USA) – See all my reviews
This review is from: Stompin’ Room Only (Unreleased Live Recording) (Audio CD)
Been waiting for this…forever…the original line up…live…tearing it up. Nobody played like Toy Caldwell. One of the best live bands I ever had the good fortune to see. Recorded mainly on their one and only European Tour in 76…this CD grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Ramblin’ and 24 Hours are the same from the Where We All Belong album but no matter…this one is a keeper….advice? Play it LOUD!
You can have fun I’m telling you can…when you stomp your feet to a hillbilly band!
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Real Southern Rock !!, January 25, 2004
By
“clems97″ (Laurens, SC United States) – See all my reviews
This review is from: Stompin’ Room Only (Unreleased Live Recording) (Audio CD)
Marshall Tucker Band – Stompin’ Room Only (Ramblin’ Records, 2003)
CD Review by: Joe (Skydog) Clem of Skydog Music

1. Long Hard Ride
2. This Ol Cowboy
3. Fire on the Mountain
4. Searchin’ For a Rainbow
5. Take the Highway
6. Can’t You See
7. Blue Ridge Mountain Sky
8. The Thrill Is Gone (Jimmy Hall & Guests)
9. Ramblin’
10. 24 Hours (Charlie Daniels on fiddle)
11. Hillbilly Band

Deja vu …All of a sudden I’m back in the South of 1976. The ol’ Skydog was a Senior in high school. Back in those days, and I guess it still is today, everybody had their little cliques. Some were the “disco ducks”… you know, polyester pants and the whole bit. Listened to the mindless dance music that was beginning to take over; drum machines and synthesizers were replacing musical talent and feeling. Then there were the “Metal Heads”, the ones with the Led Zep shirts and the dark attitudes. Over in another corner were the “good ol’ boys”…we’d discovered a new type music (or so we thought) coming from of a bunch of bands from right around us. No English accents, no weird clothes or even weirder haircuts. Folks just like us. Jeans and cowboy hats and boots…and we could actually understand what they were saying ! It all just felt right…Southern pride was on the rise…Charlie Daniels said the “South’s Gonna Do It Again” and , by God, we believed him !!
Spartanburg, and the whole state of South Carolina for that matter, had a treasure called the Marshall Tucker Band…everybody tried to figure out which one of them was Marshall Tucker, but we sure did dig the music ! Absolutely killer guitar lines and a singer who really had a southern accent. This was “our music.” Find a convenience store that wouldn’t card you, buy up a few six-packs, find a hay field way out in the country…and it was party time !
When I put “Stompin’ Room Only ” into the CD player…see, even us good ol’ boys have joined the modern age, it was `76 all over again. It’s hard to believe the tapes have sat somewhere all these years…ought to be a crime, in my humble opinion. Probably a Yankee conspiracy !
All the classic MTB songs are here. Mostly recorded during a European tour in the mid-70′s, SRO catches the Tucker boys in their prime, before the tragic loss of both Tommy and Toy Caldwell. “Can’t You See” brings back the sweet guitar lines of lost loved ones like Toy and Tommy. “Take The Highway” and “24 Hours At A Time”, just to name a couple, have that fire and drive that is so lacking in today’s music. And Doug Gray still makes you hurt when he hits the high notes on “The Thrill Is Gone”(from the 1975 Volunteer Jam)…damn, that musta’ stung…probably scarred him for life !
This is not the Marshall Tucker Band of today, except for vocalist Doug Gray. These songs were recorded when Southern Rock was at it’s zenith…new and fresh and strong. Each and every one should stand as a benchmark for any band who wants to call themselves “Southern” rock. You can almost see Toy and Tommy grinnin’ at each other across the stage.
In summary, GET THIS CD…if you ever jammed on the radio to the MTB, ever fortunate enough to see them live, or just don’t feel the fire when you listen to the latest media favorite…this is your salvation !
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“Wow” is an appropriate response., March 27, 2004
By
Virgil “Virgil” (Chapel Hill, NC) – See all my reviews
This review is from: Stompin’ Room Only (Unreleased Live Recording) (Audio CD)
What a find this new release of old material from the mid-70s is. There was something about that era that produced live albums for the ages; from the Allman Brothers “Live at the Fillmore East” to Hendrix “Band Of Gypsys”, Deep Purple “Live in Japan”, Rory Gallagher “Live in Europe” and of course “Frampton Comes Alive”. The 70s were a “sweet spot” in a sense. Arena rock was not yet corporate [though by the mid-late 70s it became bombastic], and in a pre-MTV world bands still toured for “face time” with their fans.

Add to these Marshall Tucker’s “Stompin’ Room Only”. The sad part is that it’s been under wraps for the last twenty five years, not available to influence a new generation of musicians or to just plain entertain the rest of us. From first to last song there is strong musicianship- always so important to Southern bands- and enthusiasm from the players. An infectious mix of southern rock, jazz, country and just plain jammin’. What a gem and what a find this music is. Highly recommended.
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Long Lost Album Finally Comes To Life!, November 19, 2003
By
Craig Cumberland (Turlock, CA United States) – See all my reviews
This review is from: Stompin’ Room Only (Unreleased Live Recording) (Audio CD)
Finally! It’s here! After over two decades of waiting, Tuckerheads are able to hear the long awaited, much anticipated, long rumored to be lost forever “Stomping Room Only”! But it was worth the wait! And the good news is that, because the original never saw the light of day on LP, it was expanded (thanks to the CD format) to include bonus cuts like the rare “The Thrill Is Gone” (from the very first Volunteer Jam album that has yet to be released on CD). It is perhaps Doug Gray’s best vocal performance ever! Other standouts are Blue Ridge Mountain Sky and This Ol Cowboy, which were sung by Toy Caldwell on the studio versions but sang live by Doug. So now we have both versions to appreciate, thanks to this new release! Tucker was one of the pioneers of the southern rock and jam band genres – and SRO exemplifies why. The folks at the Shout Factory did a great job re-mastering the music and it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. Tucker fans are sure to love this as should fans of jam music or southern rock.

Craig Cumberland
www.tuckerhead.com
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MARSHALL TUCKER BAND DISCOGRAPHY:
1973 The Marshall Tucker Band
1974 A New Life
1974 Where we All Belong
1975 Searchin’ For A Rainbow
1976 Long Hard Ride
1977 Carolina Dreams
1978 Together Forever
1979 Runnin’ Like The Wind
1980 Tenth
1981 Dedicated
1982 Tuckerized
1983 Just Us
1983 Greetings From South Carolina
2003 Stompin’ Room Only (1976 Live)
2006 Live on Long Island 4-18-80
2008 Carolina Dreams Tour 1977

TOY CALDWELL DISCOGRAPHY:
1992 Toy Caldwell
1998 Can’t You See (Live)
2000 Son of the South

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW FOR MARSHALL TUCKER BAND PHOTOS AND ART:
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM
AND
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND PHOTOS BY BEN UPHAM
AND
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND ART BY BEN UPHAM

TOY CALDWELL OF THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND HITTING THE NOTES IN CHENEY, WA. ON 5-26-77. PHOTO ART BY BEN UPHAM.

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND-
“EMERGING FROM THE ALLMAN BROTHERS SHADOW”
BY BRENT BROWER
THE ANDERSON HERALD,
ANDERSON, INDIANS
JULY 27, 1975

There aren’t enough good things to say about the Marshall Tucker Band. Not only are they great musicians, they’re great people! The band played at the Indianapolis Convention Center recently to a very enthusiastic crowd, which called for two encores.
The Marshall Tucker Band consists of Toy Caldwell, Tommy Caldwell, Jerry Eubanks, Paul Riddle, Doug Gray and George McCorkle. The group derived its name from an old man in their home town Spartanburg, S.C. He was a blind piano tuner and during the 1930s had a record shop in the hall they rehearsed in. They added an extra L to the name and become Marshall Tucker. However, they got billed as Marshall Tucker and his band and the Marshall Tucker Band frequently enough they changed the name to its present form.
At last the band seems to be emerging from the shadow of the Allman Brothers and is becoming well known in its own right. George McCorkle said, “You can’t be associated with a better band. “I’ve never been in competition with the Allman Brothers Band. We’ve played many a date with them. All I know is if we go out there and cook, they better cook,” he continued. The association apparently has been good for both of them. It’s interesting how they got their big break. They went to Capricorn one day and said, “Man, we want to play.” They had their demo tapes with them which George says were “pretty bad.” Anyway, Capricorn had them play for a few nights in Grants Lounge in Macon, Georgia and the executives came to see them the second night. The band played two sets. After the second set somebody broke out a bottle of champagne and they were told to be in the office Monday morning. Monday morning they were standing at the front door waiting for them to open. When they went in, the contracts were already drawn up. They’ve been with Capricorn ever since.
The MTB plays a little bit of everything. If you tried lo label it you
would have to come up with something like country, funky, blues, rock and roll soul and go on from there. The band occasionally has been known to draw a somewhat rowdy crowd. George said he read somewhere the Dead draws acid freaks, The Who draws teeny bops and The Marshall Tucker Band draws drunks and wino’s. Even though they tour a lot, the band seems to find time to do numerous benefits. They’ve done a lot of work for the American Indian Foundation and the Pediatric Care Center in Miami.
They’ve even played for the prisoners at the Atlanta Federal Prison where the show was broadcast live over radio in Atlanta. They were well received and were asked back. They plan to go back again, soon. MTB never does a benefit for something they don’t believe in completely.
The bulk of this interview was done with George McCorkle who plays banjo, acoustic guitar and electric guitar. A nicer guy you could never hope to meet. To quote directly from George, “I don’t really feel like I have an enemy in the world. I dig people. I don’t care if they paint themselves up and wear a bumble bee suit, it don’t make a damn to me. If they enjoy doin’ it and that’s what they’re into, hell I’ll buy em’ a bumble bee suit. “I saw a guy wearing a bumble bee suit once. I laughed to his face too and I told him he looked pretty weird. But if that’s what he wants to do I mean I’m a country boy, man. The first time I ever saw anything like that it flipped me out. “The first group we ever played with like that, I guess, was Slade and they sorta freaked me out. I thought something was wrong with ‘em. I said well, if that’s what he wants to play. I don’t see how he got to his guitar, them big old tentacles sticking out of his head.”
Times have not always been so good for MTB. They learned their craft by playing a lot of bars, a lot of it soul music and a lot of it their own
material. George wished he had a quarter for every time he’s played
“Hold On I’m Comin.” They’ve also been thrown out of a lot of bars for
playing their own material instead of what the crowd wanted to hear, In fact, George remembers a time when the band played for a week and netted the huge sum of one penny.
The band members are all close friends. It’s not just a professional
relationship. They haven’t changed members since the beginning. George feels if one member left, the band would probably break up. He wouldn’t want to tour with anyone else as the MTB, but he wouldn’t mind doing a guest appearance with another band.
The group presently has three albums out. On the early albums they played slide and dual harmony leads but they do not play these styles on stage anymore. If you play slide, “you almost have to play a lick at one time or another that Duane (Allman) played, ’cause Duane played every damn lick there was made to play on a slide guitar,” commented McCorkle.
“In four years he played every lick possible, so if you play slide, people automatically say you’re rippin’ off Duane’s licks.”
Speaking of licks, George takes a lot of pride in his musical knowledge. Basically he taught himself to play the guitar. “I know every lick B.B. King ever thought about playing and some he’s still thinking about,” he boasted.
“There is nobody better in their own right, than B. B. King.”
MTB has just completed a new album which should be released around Aug. 5. After that there will be a major coast-to-coast tour with Charlie Daniels Band. This is one show I wouldn’t want to miss. If you enjoy good, honest, “feelin” music, you couldn’t ask for better than the Marshall Tucker Band.

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND DISCOGRAPHY:

1973 The Marshall Tucker Band
1974 A New Life
1974 Where we All Belong
1975 Searchin’ For A Rainbow
1976 Long Hard Ride
1977 Carolina Dreams
1978 Together Forever
1979 Runnin’ Like The Wind
1980 Tenth
1981 Dedicated
1982 Tuckerized
1983 Just Us
1983 Greetings From South Carolina
2003 Stompin’ Room Only (1976 Live)
2006 Live on Long Island 4-18-80
2008 Carolina Dreams Tour 1977

TOY CALDWELL DISCOGRAPHY:

1992 Toy Caldwell
1998 Can’t You See (Live)
2000 Son of the South

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Marshall Tucker Band performing at Winterland in San Francisco on April 17, 1976. Photo by Ben Upham

“MARSHALL TUCKER BAND IS PROGRESSIVE”
by MARTHA HUME
SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (KFS)
The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Michigan
Friday, July 22, 1977

“Jaimoe” Johanny Johanson, drummer for Sea Level and formerly for the Allman Brothers Band, wore a modified killer-bee outfit to the recent Marshall Tucker Band homecoming. Oddly enough, Jaimoe’s black-and-yellow striped B.V.D.’s, black tights, one yellow sock, one green sock and tasseled loafers didn’t look out of place.
It’s hard to compete with a backstage crowd consisting of: Potentates of the Hejaz Shrine Temple, 80-year-old grandmothers dressed in their Sunday best, South Carolina State troopers, Dolly Parton blondes in dangerously low-cut dresses, and two stray professional wrestlers in skimpy briefs. Even Jaimoe’s name couldn’t compete —?’ the wrestlers were Tiger Conway and Pino Bravo.
The New South was out in all its kinky glory, and somehow the Shriners, the wrestlers, the musicians, the grannies, “and the troopers fit right in. They’d all come to hear Spartanburg’s very own
claim to fame (next to peaches and textiles), the Marshall Tucker Band. As far as Spartanburg is concerned, the six member MTB, none of whom is named Marshall Tucker, has conquered the world.
Their boys play “southern music?”, and although the music itself is much more complicated, the phrase is a rallying cry that seems to have united the South’s social classes and age groups, just as “outlaw music” brought rednecks and hippies together in Texas.
The Marshall Tucker Band — Toy and Tommy Caldwell, Jerry Eubanks, Doug Gray, George McCorkle and Paul Riddle — is among the must successful of the new southern bands. MTB has had four gold albums since Capricorn Records signed them in 1972. “Heard It
In A Love Song,” the single from the “Carolina Dreams” album, is now Top Ten. Still, the band hasn’t had the kind of critical acceptance they’d like, perhaps because they’ve been saddled with the “southern music” label.
“This ‘southern music” thing is kindly gettin’ just a little out of hand,” says Toy Caldwell, the band’s lead guitarist, “We’re all from the South and we all play music, but I don’t know what “southern music” is. The Allman Brothers played it, if there ever was such a thing, but there’ll never be nobody like that any more. We came up behind ‘em, our music is country influenced and everything, but we’re not playin’ anything new. So I guess to me ‘southern music’ is just a band from the South playin’music”…
If anything unites Southern bands it is their common debt to the Allman Brothers. Nonetheless, Marshall Tucker’s music is quite different from the Allmans’, whose music is based in southern blues; MTB’s music begins in country music and takes off from there..
“We play progressive country music,” says Tommy Caldwell, Toy’s brother and the band’s bassist. “It’s just a three-chord country song that’s played different every night. But you can’t stretch out in a three-chord country song, so we take it and set it up to where we can.”
“If you listen to it, you can hear a lot of different sounds,” says rhythm
guitarist George McCorkle. “Paul (Riddle, drummer) is really jazz influenced. Jerry (Eubanks, flute & sax , he’s rhythm & blues. I got a lot of blues influence, and Toy and Tommy was raised playin’ country. It all comes together in that country feel that everybody has.”
“Capricorn to me has always been a family,” says McCorkle. “You could tell it ’cause we all go onstage together. If Jimmy Hall (of Wet Wilie) was ever around, he would be onstage before the night was up. Same thing with Chuck Leavell or Jaimoe. You don’t have to be asked. We’re just friends.”

When the Marshall Tucker Band took the stage in Spartanburg to benefit the Greenville Unit of the Shriners’ Crippled Children’s Hospital, Jaimoe was there playing congas and Charlie Daniels played fiddle. Marshall Tucker plays hard, and the audience knows it. The Spartanburg crowd brought the band back for five encores. Of course, much of the audience seemed to be family — a look at the Spartanburg County telephone directory shows 86 Caldwells, 68 Grays, 36 Eubanks, 35 Riddles, 2 McCorkles..

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND DISCOGRAPHY:
1973 The Marshall Tucker Band
1974 A New Life
1974 Where we All Belong
1975 Searchin’ For A Rainbow
1976 Long Hard Ride
1977 Carolina Dreams
1978 Together Forever
1979 Runnin’ Like The Wind
1980 Tenth
1981 Dedicated
1982 Tuckerized
1983 Just Us
1983 Greetings From South Carolina
2003 Stompin’ Room Only (1976 Live)
2006 Live on Long Island 4-18-80
2008 Carolina Dreams Tour 1977

CLICK LINKS BELOW TO SEE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND PHOTOS
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND PHOTOS by BEN UPHAM
AND
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND ART BY BEN UPHAM
AND
MARSHALL TUCKER BAND FINE ART AMERICA IMAGES BY BEN UPHAM