Articles by Ryan

When Stuart Swanlund joined MTB in 1985 his slide guitar work added a new dimension to the band – on newer material as well as standards like Searchin’ For a Rainbow and Fire on the Mountain. His trade-offs with Rusty also added a new touch to Can’t You See. Recently I had the opportunity to interview Stuart by phone from his home in the suburbs of Chicago. Like the rest of the band, he is a true southern gentleman.

How did you come to be in the band?

I’d known Doug for years, even before he was in Marshall Tucker. He used to rehearse with another band at his parent’s house, which was across the street from where my grandparents lived. I used to sit on their front porch steps and listen and say “Wow! There’s a band playing over there!” Anyway, in 1984 I was on the road with a lounge band when my buddy, Ace Allen, who’d joined MTB a few weeks before, called and said Doug might be giving me a call to ask if I wanted to join, too. Sure enough Doug called and I said “yeah, I’ll do it”!

Didn’t you play in a band with Ace and Tim before you joined MTB?

Yeah, White Wind. We almost had a record deal but the band’s manager at the time messed things up. It was a rock and roll band. We had a lot of vocal harmonies. That was a real tight band.

Did you do most of the vocals?

No, I did a few songs, but Terry Bratton from North Carolina did most of the vocals. We were also together in the Lightnin’ West Band, which was a southern rock band – we even covered a lot of Tucker stuff!

But you enjoy singing?

Oh yeah, I love it! It’s fun.

It sure looks like you have a good time singing Hillbilly Band.

That’s one of my favorite songs, not just because I sing it. I’ve just always liked that song.

Was it Doug’s idea to have you sing it?

Yeah. Tim was originally going to do it. I’d sang it with one of my side bands. I had a live tape and Doug wanted to listen to some of our songs. “Hillbilly” was on it so maybe that’s where the idea came from.

It had been a while since you’ve done much singing with MTB.

Yeah, we did “Why Can’t You Love” off the Southern Spirit CD in 1990 for about six months. We did a few songs off that record – County Road, Stay in the Country and Destruction.

Southern Spirit is a great song, too. You guys opened with it for several years.

Yeah, that’s a good one. We should open with it again. I think it’s a good song to get the crowd going.

How long did you live in Spartanburg?

From about ’70 to ’93. Now I live in Chicago. I moved here because this is where my wife is from.

So you graduated from high school in Spartanburg?

Yeah, from Spartanburg High School in ‘75. I was a rival of Rusty’s. He graduated from Dorman High.

So you were a teenager when Tucker first took off?

Yeah, I remember seeing them right before they released the first album. They opened for Edgar Winter when another band cancelled. I’d never even heard of them before! They were great!

What kind of music did you listen to in high school?

A big variety. I’ve always been partial to the blues, but I liked everything from Emerson, Lake and Palmer to different types of jazz music.

Did having a local group make it big have an influence on you at all?

Sure, I grew up on southern rock. I listened to Emerson, Lake and Palmer, but I loved to play southern rock. The Allman Brother’s Live at Fillmore East was the first southern rock record I bought. I also bought the first Tucker LP and that’s still my favorite MTB album.

When did you first pick up a guitar?

Well, my sister took some lessons but she never did learn anything. She took lessons for about a year and couldn’t even tune it. One time I took her guitar out and she had an old folk guitar songbook and I started learning the chords. I think I was about 10. Then my dad, who was in the Air Force at the time, went to Mexico on business and brought me back my own little guitar – and I still have it today!

You were pretty young when you joined Tucker.

Yeah, real young! About 26. I’ve learned a lot since then!

Was it a thrill touring the country?

Oh yeah! It was a real experience. I’d never been out of Spartanburg much. My dad was in the Air Force. I was born in Puerto Rico, but we moved when I was about one. He got transferred to Massachusetts for a few years. Then he went to Thailand and while he was stationed there my Mom and the kids lived in Spartanburg because that’s where she was from. But since I’ve joined the band we’ve played in every state but Hawaii, so I’ve got to see a lot of the country. Playing in Alaska was kind of unusual. It was in the summer and we did our second set after midnight – and it was still daylight outside! But it’s beautiful up there.

So you’ve enjoyed your time on the road?

Oh yeah, for the most part. Sometimes the traveling can be rough. I’m a big baseball fan so one cool thing about it is being able to go to different ballparks and see some ballgames away from home.

Sometimes the band goes out for some pretty long stretches… 20 to 30 days in a row.

I’d rather go out like that, two or three weeks at a time, rather than just go out for a weekend because you can get more into a groove by playing every night. It just feels better like that. There’s also a lot less flying that way.

Were your parents musically inclined?

Well, actually my grandpa was multi-talented. He played guitar, banjo, fiddle and harmonica. My Dad played guitar a little bit, too.

When did you take up the slide guitar?

It was the same year my son, Billy, was born, 1978.

What made you decide to learn to play slide?

Because the band Ace and I was in at the time, Lightnin’ West, was covering a lot of Allman Brothers material. We also wanted slide on the original material we were doing.

Is slide your favorite guitar to play?

Oh, yeah! I love it!

What do you do in your spare time when you’re not on the road?

Just about everything. I enjoy spending time with my wife and getting together with good friends. During the summer when I’m home I make a few trips to see the Cubs play at Wrigley field. I’ve got good seats. I know Ron Santo, Jr. real well so I get to use his seats right behind home plate. I love Wrigley, it’s like going back in time. It’s unbelievable.

I also write with a few friends. We’ve got a side band called the Tone Generators we’ve been working in for years. It’s a little recording project we’ve got going on here in Chicago. I don’t know if we’ll ever get it finished but we’ve got it started anyway. We’ve got one song called Burnin’ Daylight that would be a great song for Tucker. I also love to go to Buddy Guy’s place. It’s called Legends and I jam there from time to time. And there’s always something to do around the house.

Did you enjoy last summer’s Volunteer Jam tour?

Oh, yeah. It’s the best thing we’ve done since I’ve been in the band. The guys from the other bands would come out and jam with us. It was fun. We played a lot of the bigger venues.

And this past winter the band did the Easy Riders tour. How was that?

It was a lot of fun. We played in front of a lot of people. We did a few shows for them last year, too. We added some new songs to the set list. Searchin’s back in there and we added Running Like the Wind. We’re still doing Cattle Drive, that’s a fun one to do. I’d like to add some more new songs off Southern Spirit, and Face Down, Still Smokin’. Will the Circle Be Unbroken off the Gospel CD would be another good one to add.

Do you have a chance to write on the road?

Not lately, but I’ve been playing my dobros when I’m home. I’ve got two… well, actually, three, but one is at Gibson getting fixed right now. It was broke when I bought it.

Do you ever take them on the road?

Oh, no! One of them is a 1934, Model 37… and it doesn’t leave the house! But I’d love to take the one that Gibson is fixing out with me. I think In My Own Way would work well with that. Low Down Ways, too and even Blue Ridge Mountain Sky.

How many guitars do you own?

Six right now.

What guitars to do play on stage?

My main guitar is a Music Man Silhouette Special. My slide is a Fender American Standard Stratocaster with the action set up higher and flat across the fret board, kind of like a dobro. Both have the same Dimarzio pick up configuration with the tone controls wired wide open because I use the volume control for my rhythm and solo sounds. I just bought a Gibson Les Paul Double Cutaway – it’s a real nice guitar.

Who are your endorsements?

I have a few of them. Ernie Ball strings, Music Man guitars, Rivera Amplifier Company, The Delta Slide Company, which reproduces the coricidan medicine bottle used by Duane Allman and other slide players. Chicago Joe Nesbitt worked out most of the deals for me.

Who were your guitar heroes?

Duane Allman, of course and Lowell George of Little Feat. He played with so much feeling, straight from the heart.

What’s the best thing about playing with Tucker?

Well, it’s just a lot of fun. I grew up with Tim and Rusty and I’ve known Doug forever. We’re all friends, it’s like a big family. That’s what’s cool about it. B.B. is a great guy and full of energy. And Clay is a great guy, multi talented, too - and one heckuva singer!

What are some of your favorite songs to perform in concert?

Take the Highway is my all-time favorite song to do. That’s just a lot of fun. Hillbilly Band is another good one. Fire on the Mountain and Searchin’ For a Rainbow is fun. Where a Country Boy Belongs and of course Can’t You See. Stay in the Country, too.

What has been your most memorable show?

The most recent one was the last show of the Volunteer Jam tour. There was a lot going on. Just imagine 50 tambourines all going at the same time. That’s what happened on Can’t You See. All the road crews and productions crews had tambourines and they were all playing and singing their hearts out. Then during Charlie’s set each player from all of the bands were all on the stage for The South’s Gonna Do It Again and towards the end of the song they dropped tons of confetti and we didn’t know about it – it was like a blizzard! It was so thick we couldn’t see who was standing next to us!

Another memorable show was Rock the Smokies because of the size of the audience. There were people as far as we could see – about 400 or 500 hundred thousand! There were about 10 bands that played. It was all day and night. It was incredible!

Have you felt any pressure to live up to the original line-up?

Sometimes, but we’ve got great players in our current line-up. Rusty, Tim and I have been with Doug a lot of years (Rusty since ’84, Stuart since ’85 and Tim since ’86 – ed.). I think we sound a lot like they did in the 70’s except with a more modern, up-to-date sound.

Is the band working on a new CD?

I think it’s time for us to do a live CD. I think it’d be cool to include an acoustic set.

You had to leave the band for a while, what happened?

I developed dupuytrens contracture disease. It takes several years to develop. People with ancestors in Northern Europe are prone to get it. It’s a bunch of scar tissue that builds up in your palm and I had some in my ring finger. It gradually pulls your fingers down. There’s no medication they can give you all they can do is operate. There really wasn’t any other choice. If I didn’t have the surgery eventually I wouldn’t be able to play. My fingers were almost down into my palms. It had got to the point where I couldn’t really do a regular solo. I could still play chords, but I couldn’t stretch out and hit any kind of octaves at all. But by finding the best specialist to perform the surgery it was well worth the pain and healing.

Is your son following in his daddy’s footsteps?

No! He did get into playing for a little while, but then he stopped. Over the holidays, though, he picked up another guitar and is playing again. He's living in Spartanburg.

I’d like to say thanks a million to Stuart for taking the time to do the interview. He’s not just a great guitar player, he’s a real down to earth guy. A perfect fit for MTB and their fans.

Stuart would also like to say thanks to a few folks:

First and foremost my wife, Stacy, for putting up with me, the music business, and my being on the road away from home through the years. Also to my son, Billy. Thanks as well to Greg, John, and especially Curt Mangan at Ernie Ball Strings/ Music Man guitars and John McGough from the Delta Slide Company.

Even more thanks to all my family, friends and fans for all their support when my mother, Wilma Walker Swanlund, passed away from cancer last year.

And last but certainly not least thanks to Doug and the rest of the guys for making the Marshall Tucker Band a special part of my life!

by Teresa Couch
From the Paulding County Sentinel, May 10, 2000

Local fans of Southern rock legends The Marshall Tucker Band got a real treat when the band played at World Class Recreation in Hiram Thursday night. Meanwhile drummer B.B. Borden was enjoying a treat of his own--he was back home.

Starting out on their summer 2000 tour, the band arrived from Spartanburg, SC for the Hiram show before heading for Panama City, FL. Hiram may seem an unlikely stopover for such a big name band but Borden had the perfect reason. Standing outside the club he pointed over his shoulder and said, "I'm about five miles from my house.....I live here in Paulding County. So when people ask me how far I had to travel for the show I say, oh--from just right over yonder," he added with a laugh.

Borden moved to near New Georgia from Atlanta about a year and a half ago. Explaining his decision to relocate to Paulding County he said, "I just love it out here, it is so nice, just gorgeous. I had been living in Atlanta for forever--and I know this sounds corny--but I got tired of not being able to see the stars."

"I'm a Tennessee boy, I grew up in Tennessee. You know, where you can hear the cicadas out in the trees and see the stars. (In Atlanta) I got tired of that, I missed that out-in-the-country feeling. So a friend of a friend said, 'Well, I know where you can get this house...' and I went and I saw it. So I said to my wife, what the hell? Let's get it. And we're as happy as we can be out here. Its just lovely."

"I like being a part of this community and, honest---I read the Paulding County Sentinel to keep up with what's been happening here while I'm out on the road," Borden said. "The paper is great. I swear, I'm not kidding. Its so cool, I read it all the time--because it makes me feel homey. I'm always going out--to New York, San Francisco, all over the place and I need that lifeline to home." He keeps a little table in the garage where his wife puts all the papers so he can catch up on all the local news when he comes home.

Part of the comfort of living in Paulding County is that Borden's family is "just folks" to the other residents. "Some of them know what I do for a living but its no big deal to them." As a matter of fact, several well-known music celebrities live in Paulding County, preferring the quiet country atmosphere to the big city lights.

Returning to the subject of touring Borden said the band would be on the road all summer, "Tis the season," he said with a laugh. The Marshall Tucker Band's new CD "Gospel" is selling well and they are scheduled for several state fairs and some big city festivals, including the popular St. Louis Ribfest.

When The Marshall Tucker band took the stage the atmosphere in the club was electric. Vocalist Doug Gray stepped up to the microphone, started singing and began a nostalgic trip down memory lane for their fans. The band has been making music since 1972, and despite the loss of members kept turning out albums in their established tradition of Southern rock and blues.

Borden on drums and bassist Tim Lawter laid down a strong rhythm for guitarists Rusty Milner and Stuart Swanlund. Gray's soaring vocals were echoed by Clay Cook's flute. Not only the youngest member of the band, Cook is also Gray's nephew. Beaming with pride Gray explained, "We've been waiting 21 years for this boy to grow up and join us and he's doing a heck of a job." Indeed. Cook also plays keyboards, saxophone and sings.

The spine-tingling vocal harmonies that are a trademark of the band were as moving as ever. The musicians were 'tight.' Whether playing a big venue like Philips Arena or a small town club there was no compromise in the quality of the performance. The Marshall Tucker Band gave a small town a big city show.

Hits like "Heard it in a Love Song" and the everybody-sing-along "Can't You See" kept fans on their feet--clapping, dancing and even starting to rush the stage toward the end of the show.

The Marshall Tucker Band gave it their all, right down to treating their fans to an autograph session. It was a special evening of pleasant memories and foot-stomping fun.

TOMMY CALDWELL

Bass, Vocals

TOY CALDWELL

Guitar, Vocals

JERRY EUBANKS

Flute, Saxophone

DOUG GRAY

Guitar, Vocals

GEORGE MCCORKLE

Guitar

PAUL RIDDLE

Drums

George McCorkle:

Last of the Singing Cowboys Still Singing and Writing Songs of Inspiration and Joy

By Craig Cumberland

George McCorkle, founding member of MTB, visited with us recently and spent some time reliving the memories and bringing us up to date on what he’s been up to.

WHEN TUCKER FIRST GOT TOGETHER DID YOU HAVE AN IDEA OF THE TYPE OF MUSIC YOU WANTED TO CREATE?

No, I don't think so. I think if you tried to put a direction to that band you'd have screwed it up. It's like so many influences were thrown in a pile and stirred up. And what came out was us. We never thought of ourselves as a country band because we had steel. And we never thought of ourselves as a Jethro Tull band just because Jerry played flute. You got a steel guitar with a jazz drummer and an R & B bass player and a wild crazy man back there beatin' on his guitar with his lightening quick thumb and that's just what it came out to be.

It was just that these were the instruments that these people played - and they were put into the influence of a jazz drummer. Paul was a jazz drummer playing in a rock and roll band. He had such a unique style. I found Paul when he was about 16 years old through a friend and he came out and played some with me and that's the one thing that attracted him to me was that he played totally different than anyone else. Paul was a really, really big part of MTB's sound. You could have put a regular straight drummer with it and it wouldn't have worked. He was just a wheel on a freight train and it sure was a lot of fun.

PHIL WALDEN SAID IN THE LINER NOTES OF "THE CAPRICORN YEARS" THAT YOU GUYS DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULDN'T DO ALL THESE DIFFERENT THINGS - AND AS A RESULT YOU GUYS MADE SOME OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE MUSIC EVER...

I think he's right. We were too young and naive to know that couldn't put a flute and steel in the same song. We had no restrictions on us. In the studio it was wide open. That first record has everything from steel guitar to a melatrom on it. And Paul Hornsby was doing all this weird stuff with keyboards. It just turned out to be something really unusual.

I WAS ALWAYS GRATEFUL THAT PAUL HORNSBY DIDN'T TELL THE BAND THAT YOU COULDN'T DO THIS OR DO THAT AND JUST LET YOU GUYS GO...

I've learned a lot of things from Paul and Stewart Levine and others that it's just amazing how they just let us play - as confused as we were - and never once restricted it and let it come together.

IT WAS GREAT THAT THEY DIDN'T TELL THE BAND THEY HAD TO CUT A THREE MINUTE SONG.

No, no one ever did - we just went in the studio and cut it then handed it to them - and didn't think any more about it. But today, even in rock - there's just so many restrictions.

DID YOU EVER THINK TUCKER WOULD GET AS BIG AS IT DID?

No, never. I had no idea you could even reach that level. Especially a bunch of guys from Spartanburg. The first time I got a gold album was very much a shock to me. The first time I realized how big the band had gotten was the first time we played Madison Square Garden and played to a sold out crowd that never sat down the whole show. It was very, very unnerving as much as it was anything because I never thought out music would carry that far. As a matter of fact that was Tommy's birthday that night.

WHAT'S THE BIGGEST AUDIENCE YOU GUYS EVER PLAYED IN FRONT OF?

I think it was 150,00. I think it was us, New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Grateful Dead. The traffic was so bad. The bus was 22 miles from the show and they had to fly us in to the concert. That was Englishtown New Jersey. Actually getting in front of that many people is scary!

YOU GUYS JUST STRUCK A CHORD I THINK - AND A LOT OF PEOPLE RESPONDED TO YOUR MUSIC.

You know, I said it at the South Carolina Hall of Fame induction, that we never started out with money in mind. When we started out we were just enjoying doing what we were doing. I don't think any of us thought we could make a living at it.

MAYBE THAT'S WHY YOU GUYS WERE SO SUCCESSFUL./p>

Probably!

ONE OF THE EARLY GROUPS YOU WERE IN WITH TOY, THE RANTS, WENT TO NASHVILLE AND CUT SOME SONGS. IS ANY OF THAT FLOATING AROUND SOMEWHERE.

Franklin Wilkie seems to have a better recollection of that stuff than I do. He hasn't seemed to destroy his memory! Back in the early Rant days we were playing totally different styles. We were playing some British stuff and doing a lot of our own stuff, too. Toy was always an incredible writer. He was a gift from God that's for sure.

ONE OF DOUG AND TOMMY'S EARLY BANDS, THE NEW GENERATION, CUT A SINGLE. I THINK IT WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE AN MTB BOXED SET AND INCLUDE SOME OF THOSE EARLY CUTS.

There you go - I think so too!

IN ABOUT '82 OR '83 I SAW YOU GUYS IN CONCERT AND DOUG TOLD THE AUDIENCE THAT THE BAND WAS WORKING ON A LIVE ALBUM - BUT IT NEVER CAME OUT...

It was in the can, but it never actually came out because that was about the time the band broke up. I talk to Phil Walden every now and then and he's talked about releasing it. There's still some live European recordings floating around out there. As a matter of fact someone found the original demo we did down at Capricorn. He'd like to release some of that kind of stuff.

I KNOW A LOT OF FANS TRADE LIVE TAPES - OLD RADIO SHOWS...

Yeah, it's just now starting to pick up.

ONE OF MY FAVORITE LIVE SONGS IS "SEARCHIN FOR A RAINBOW" WITH YOUR EXTENDED GUITAR SOLO...

Toy Caldwell and George McCorkle on stage, 1983 Valley Forge Music Theatre.

I never did alot of lead guitar. It was a conscious effort when we started. We decided that we weren't going to do that because the Allman's had the twin guitar thing going - and this was I think actually before Doug and Jerry was in the band. Playing lead, my ego doesn't need it that much. I'm far better a groove person. In my heart I'm a die-hard rhythm player, I like laying back there with the bass player and drummer and creating a serious groove. In my way of looking at that is it makes the lead player play harder.

AND TOY ALWAYS PLAYED HIS BUTT OFF!

We had a real conscious thing between us. We were friends for many, many years and we had an unspoken thing between us. He relied heavy on me to do what I did and I relied heavy on him to do what he did. We had some fun, buddy!

IN CONCERT DOUG WOULD REFER TO YOU AS “KG” GEORGE McCORKLE - WHERE'D THAT COME FROM, IS "K" YOUR FIRST INITIAL?

(Laughs). No... a drummer by the name of Ross Hannah, who originally played with the Rants, hung that on me. We used to play A LOT of frat parties and, I hate to say this, but he used to call me "Cool George with a K" and only my close friends ever called me that. Everybody in that band had nicknames, the road crew and everybody. I guess it's just part of that road thing. We got real bored of calling each other by our real names.

YOU WROTE A LOT OF SONGS WITH WESTERN THEMES - WAS IT SOMETHING YOU INTENTIONALLY DID?

I don't think so. I was always intrigued by story songs and it was always a challenge to write a complete story and get it in the structure of a song. I was very influenced by westerns, the early cowboys, in my childhood going to western movies. I think that's why I was influenced to write in that direction. Doug always got on me - I'm a wordy writer.

HOW'D YOU FEEL THE FRIST TIME YOU BROUGHT A SONG TO THE BAND?

“Fire on the Mountain” was the first. It wasn't really a thought out song. Me and my brother came up with the intro to it. The two of us were just playin' acoustics and that little hook line just came up from me and him sitting around playing. There's a funny story about that recording. Toy one day bought a steel guitar and all of a sudden decided he was a steel player - you gotta give that man credit, that's a complicated instrument - but he didn't know how to tune it... so it was out of tune when we recorded “Fire on the Mountain”..

AREN'T YOU GLAD IT DIDN'T WORK OUT FOR CHARLIE DANIELS?

(Laughs) Yeah, in the long run. As a matter of fact I wrote that song with him in mind. I knew he had an album by that name coming out so I’d hope top itch the song to him. He liked it, but said it didn’t really fit in with the rest of the album.

"SILVERADO" IS A GREAT STORY-SONG.

It was not a thought out song. I was riding down the road trying to come up with something for the record and Tom Dowd kept calling me wanting to know what I had. So I was riding around and looked at the dash and said there's my man right there. That was one of those ten-minute songs - once I had the idea of where I wanted to go. Sometimes it stews around in your head for a few weeks and then all of a sudden it just jumps out of your hands on to the page.

I think my whole life my biggest thing about writing songs is just being stupid and not getting out of the way of what came out. Toy was the best example of that. He always told me "don't worry about the way it flows or the way it comes out just get it down". There was a song; I think it was "Property Line", where he wrote "I leave my ax in the trees." I remember the first time I heard that I just wanted to smack him - I said, "how can you come up with such a line?" He just did it with great ability. He was a prolific writer. I've always had to work at it. In about 1978 he told me "you know, you ARE going to have to start writing more because it's killing me!"

WHEN ONE OF YOU BROUGHT A SONG TO THE BAND DID EVERBODY ADD THEIR OWN PARTS?

Yeah, someone would bring in their song and from that point on people played what they wanted to play. Everybody added their own parts. It's hard to tell a drummer or a bass player "play it like this." Because that's not what we were about.

"CAN'T YOU SEE" IS SUCH A GREAT SONG - I'VE HEARD IT DONE BY A LOT OF PEOPLE IN DIFFERNET WAYS AND IT ALWAYS WORKS. TO START OFF WITH SUCH A HIT SONG ON THE FIRST RECORD IS TOUGH, BUT THE BAND SEEMED TO BUILD MOMETNUM WITH EACH ALBUM.

That was definitely a career song for Toy. There was even a rap band that was trying to license it. I think "Can't You See" would work by any band any way. I always have thought the second album was not thought out. We didn't have time to prepare and put it in perspective. We were on the road and went straight into the studio and then back on the road again.

IT'S HAD TO BE HARD WITH ALL THE TRAVEL TRYING TO FIND CREATIVE TIME TO SIT DOWN AND WRITE A SONG AND THEN THERE'S THE PRESSURE OF THE RECORD COMPANY EXPECTING A NEW RECORD EVERY YEAR...

It's a difficult deal. You go into the studio and you have the pressure of having to come up with ten songs. You know life on the road is very unnatural.

DO YOU EVER MISS IT?

I miss the actual performing. Anyone that has ever experienced what I was fortunate enough to have experienced would have to miss it. I was very fortunate to get to experience that at one point in my life. I don’t miss living on the bus and being in different hotels but it's was just part of doing what you had to do. The actual playing is a very small part of it. When you finally did get on stage you just block the rest of the stuff out.

I THINK "A NEW LIFE" IS AN UNDERRATED ALBUM - THERE'S A LOT OF DIVERSITY ON IT.

"Southern Woman" was always a favorite of mine.

IT ALWAYS REMINDED ME OF THE SOUTHERN BELLES ON HEE HAW...

I can see we have some things in common (laughs).

"BLUE RIDGE MOUTAIN SKY" IS A GREAT SONG, TOO.

That's always been one of my favorite songs, too - that was some of Toy's most authentic writing. Some people would term it country, but it's not.

WELL WHAT IS TUCKER MUSIC?

I always have refused to put a label on it. It's just American music.

YOU WROTE SEVERAL SONGS WITH DOUG AND JERRY - WAS THAT A CONSCIOUS EFFORT?

No, that happened because we hung out together in hotel rooms during the day. I wrote some songs with Tommy. I only wrote one song with Toy - "Jimi". That was a lick I came up with that we played in the dressing room, then Toy added a few other things to it and we cut it.

"JIMI" WAS IN HONOR OF JIMI HENDRIX - WHO WERE YOUR MUSICAL INFLUNCES?

Me and Toy both were heavily influenced by Hendrix. I guess my early influence was B.B. King - that was a revelation in my life. That people could actually play guitar like that without playing notes that were written down and bend the strings. In my early childhood Bob Wills the McGuire Sisters, the Andrew sisters were what my parents listened to. I've always been a blues based musician and have always had a tremendous love for the blues. And even people like Chet Akins and the Ventures. Then I got into listening to the English things - and of course the Beatles were a big influence. Past that point it was Duane Allman.

I'M SURPISED YOU DIDN'T MENTION ELVIS - ESPECIALLY SINCE HE'S MENTIONED IN YOUR SONG "8:05"...

I don't think I was ever really influenced by Elvis. I really liked Elvis. Me and Mary even went over to Graceland to pay homage to him. I always respected him and have always thought he understood what he was doing. He was a gifted person. He died of the curse, it's sad. All those guys in the early rock days were incredible people. Carl Perkins. I got a chance to play with him one time. He influenced me as much as anybody.

I never really wanted to play like anybody else. I've never been good at copying other people's licks. I've taken things from other people and turned it into my own style of playing. We all do. If you really studied early Toy and listened to Leslie West of Mountain you would see a tremendous amount of influences there. I don't know if they both were influenced by the same people or not but they played a lot a like.

HOW DO YOU PLAY LEAD BULLWHIP?

(Laughs) Just set a microphone in the studio and hope you don't kill anybody or tear everything up. That was a conscious thought - I think Paul Hornsby sent somebody to get a bullwhip. We wanted it on "Long Hard Ride". So we set the studio up so I could swing that thing around and make it pop.

I remember one time Paul Hornsby said he wanted a banjo on a song and everybody looked around and asked if anyone knew how to play - and I said no but if you get one I bet I can. So we borrowed one and I locked myself in a room for two hours and came back out and set "push the button, let's go!"

MTB DIDN'T USE A BANJO VERY OFTEN BUT THE FEW TIMES THEY DID IT REALLY MADE THE SONG.

You know it's real weird you said that because they were effective pieces - they weren't out front or even meant to be out front. Even banjo players I know here in Nashville - world class banjo pickers - have even complimented me on that and I've said "boy if you knew about me and my banjo playin’ you wouldn't say that."

DO YOU PLAY BANJO NOW?

Oh no! I would never touch one of those, not in Nashville Tennessee! I play mandolin some and bass from time to time. I still consider myself a guitar player first. I used to consider myself an electric guitar player but within the last ten years I've become more of an acoustic player and am proud of it.

DID YOU PLAY THE ACOUSTIC PART ON "RUNNING LIKE THE WIND"?

I know I played the intro - I played 90% of the acoustic parts on all those records. Toy played some, but he didn't like to play the acoustic guitar much.

IT SEEMED, BEGINNING WITH DEDICATED, THE BAND RECORDED FEWER AND FEWER OF THEIR OWN SONGS - WAS THAT A CONSCIENTOUS DECISION?

No, that was the Warner A & R department. That was actually a turning point for the band. They were trying to dictate what we did and you can't do that. That band could not play other people's songs it wasn't what we did - we wrote our own songs and played out of the character that it was.

ON "DEDICATED" THERE WAS A FEW SONGS FROM OUTSIDE WRITERS AND IT SEEMED THE LABEL WAS TRYING TO MAKE YOU GUYS DO MORE POP ORIENTATED SONGS - AND ALOT OF "TUCKERIZED" WAS THAT WAY.

Yeah, there were a few. They were pushin' the Poco thought on us. Everybody in that band had their own musical views and that's what made it so good - and Warner was being very forceful about what they wanted. It was about that point that everyone in the band became very aware of their influence - some people thought it was good to do some pop music and others didn't. That was a splitting point for all of us. I never thought we needed material forced on us. We went through a lull were the material we wrote wasn't so great and we were all aware of that - but artists paint pictures they're not so proud of, too.

AND THEN ON THE LAST TWO RECORDS IT SEEMED THEY WANTED YOU GUYS TO SOUND COUNTRY...

You go through different phases of music just like you go through different phases with your children... you know, they grow up. Your attentiveness and dealing with them changes and it changes with music too. You mature and you go in different directions to try things, but Warner wasn't willing to let us do that.

IT'S LIKE WARNER WAS FORCING EVOLUTION ON THE BAND RATHER THAN LETTING IT HAPPEN NATURALLY.

Exactly - the band was not that kind of band. Look at the Allman Brothers when the music was forced on them, it wasn't right. Gregg Allman can be the greatest white blues singer that ever lived - and they should have let him do what he does.

YOU CAN'T SCREW WITH MUSICIANS AND THEIR ARTISTRY.

Well, you shouldn't actually. I know it's a business, but everybody doesn't have to sell triple-platinum to be happy.

IT ALMOST SEEMS LIKE THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS RUN BY SOCIALISTS. WE LIVE IN A CAPITALIST SOCIETY WHERE THE GOVERNMENT JUST LETS THE BUSINESSES RUN AND THEY KEEP THEIR HANDS OUT - THE MUSIC INDUSTRY SHOULD BE THE SAME WAY.

There's a real strange term they use... "artist". You shouldn't be messin' with people and their art. Am I an artist or am I told to be an artist? There's a lot of wonderful singers that can't get the time of day. The business accepts only what they want to accept.

THAT'S WHY I THINK YOU GUYS NEVER GOT AIRPLAY ON COUNTRY STATIONS - WHEN ALABAMA HIT THE COUNTRY CHARTS I THOUGHT IT WOULD OPEN THE DOOR FOR TUCKER.

We just didn't fit that bill. We didn't come to Nashville to work and weren't within the structure of the Nashville business thing. Heck, the only Grammy we got nominated for was a country instrumental.

DID THAT TAKE YOU BUY SURPRISE?

Boy did it! I keep that nomination plaque on my wall just to remind me.

DID YOU GO TO THE GRAMMY SHOW?

We sure did. Me and Doug went together in New York. We were playing the Fillmore East. I think before the show we presented some Grammies.

THAT HAD TO BE FUN?

I guess... it was like a blur. I had go and get a suit, go to the Grammy show, then rush out and get out of the suit and get dressed for our show and run out on stage at the Fillmore. That New York City pace - it's really hard to feel what's going on. You sit down and enjoy it for ten minutes going "all right" then you've got someone pullin' on your collar sayin' you gotta be here in five minutes and the driver's tellin' you it's time to go. Then you get to the hall and they say "time to play" and by the time you're through it's 2 or 3 in the morning and it's time to wind down and go home.

RUNNING LIKE THE WIND WAS, IT THINK, THE BEST ALBUM THE BAND RECORDED ON THE WARNER LABEL. IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYTHING THAT THE BAND WAS ABOUT - WITH EVERYONE'S DIFFERENT MUSICAL INFLUENCES AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE MUSIC - JUST CAME TOGETHER ON THAT ALBUM.

I agree. That record and "Tenth." We always felt that sonically they actually captured the band. When Toy played the Stratocaster and I played acoustic that really set the pace for where we were at the time. There's a song called "Foolish Dreamin’" - that song gives the pace of where we were at the time. Then you go to "Last of the Singing Cowboys" which I still feel like that's the best song I've ever written. I don't know that it is but I feel like it is. We were playing in Saratoga and Stewart Levine and his family was there. After the show he stopped by my hotel room and asked me "well, what do you got" because we were cutting an album at the time. I said I got this weird song called "Last of the Singing Cowboys" so I played it for him on acoustic and he went berserk and said we've got to cut it. And well I've got to tell you straight out I her it with horns and he said "are you serious" and I said, "Man, I hear it with horns." And he said, "you got it." So we used Steve Madao and the LA section and flew them out to FLA and I just stayed out of it because I don't know anything about horns - and still to this day don't. I'm still in love with that song. And if you listen real carefully Jerry plays the flute note for note with the horn section - and that's different.

IT'S A REAL FAN FAVORITE.

That song came out of - I'm sitting here getting chills thinking about that song - because I looked at a lot of my friends that I was fortunate enough to be hanging around and I was thinking about what would happen when we got older, and that to me was a reality, about being on the top and what would happen when it was over. That's exactly what that song is about it's about the true reality of what possibly was gonna happen. It was way over my head. Quincy Jones, who was Stewart Levine’s' son-in-law heard that and said that's new age! Because if you listen to it here comes Tucker doing their own thing again - it was a three-piece rhythm section and a jazz horn section. It was just me and Paul and Tommy - all playin’ rhythm. That really captured the band - that and Running Like the Wind.

HOW DID YOU LIKE CUTTING THE VIDEO FOR SILVERADO?

It was a lot of fun to do. Of course since I wrote it they told me I had to play the bad guy. We'd never done any thing like that. We did it here in town and in Chimney Rock, North Carolina.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR MEMORIES WITH THE ORIGINAL BAND?

First, I have always applauded Doug for doing what his heart tells him to and his heart tells him to keep playing with Marshall Tucker. He's out there still chasing his dream and he's got my blessing. I've always stood behind him on that. Talking with you today is the first time I've talked about this in years. I don't discuss it that much.

I'm very, very proud of my time with the band. I cherish what I did. Those are wonderful memories. Musically I think we reached plateaus that are only dreamed of. We accomplished alot. Those guys... you can't change the feelings we had for each other. You spend that much time on the road with somebody and you become soul mates.

DID YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH TOY AND THE OTHERS?

Oh yeah. We'd talk every now and then and I played with him a few times. Once here in town. Then I played with him at the Volunteer Jam in 92 - we played "Can't You See". That was the last two times I saw him. I usually talk to Paul a couple of times a week. I may not see or speak with some of them for a long time but when I do it's just like old times. We created a real bond.

WHAT DID YOU DO AFTER YOU LEFT THE BAND?

In the mid-80's I left Spartanburg because I needed to get away. I moved down on the coast to Conway, South Carolina and played in some bands around Myrtle Beach. Mary and I stayed there for about 4 years then moved to Nashville.

DO YOU ENJOY LIFE IN NASHVILLE?

I'm having a real good time doing what I'm doing. It's a tremendous amount of freedom but it's a tremendous amount of work also. And I love the pressure. I like having success writing with people. I just had a cut come out on Warner Brothers done by a girl called Joannie Arms. I've had jazz cuts and European cuts. I don't want to jinx anything but I should have some things coming out this year - I always use the term it's not final 'til it's vinyl. Because I've had some things cut by artists but they don't make the record.

As a matter of fact I wrote a song about Toy called "The Journey Home" and a couple of country artists have cut it but the record companies won't put it out - it's too heavy. I might be having a title track coming out by a major artist. I've been putting my nose to the grindstone the past five years and have built about a 700-hundred song catalog. It's amazing because I've never considered myself very prolific. But I'm at a point in my life where I feel I have something to say. It may not be accepted, but it's honest. And I think Toy did the same thing - he had something to say.

I remember when he was in town working on his solo CD, he looked at me and said "I can't make this record in Nashville George, there's too many session players here. I gotta go to Memphis." Toy always held true to the honesty of his music and that's what you have to do. I also have our own publishing company. Mary runs it. She is my promoter, my wife, my fan, and my kicker-in-the-asser!

I HOPE SHE DOESN'T WEAR BOOTS!

No, she doesn't! When I first met her she didn't know alot about the early days of the Tucker band. I met her after the band broke up. When we met me I was mostly playing golf.

SO WHAT'S YOUR HANDICAP?

(Laughs) I don't want to get into that - it's pretty low. I don't want it printed; someone might take advantage of me. I can shoot in the 70's. I'm not great, but I can play. I've got some buddies, other musicians I go out with. We don't talk music - we just go out and play and have fun at it.

TELL ME ABOUT IT YOUR SOLO CD AMERICAN STREET...

We did it on an independent label. I'm just not willing to do that big label deal, because I'm just not really into doing something where everybody’s gonna tell me what to do. There's not alot of labels that will let you make your own record. So I just decided to do it independent - and between this point and that point if someone hears it and says they'd like to have it then we'll listen. But I want somebody to want to do it rather than me going and asking them. I don't want to have to apologize to anyone. I want to do what my heart tells me.

Maybe someone will hear my CD and cut something off it. That's what J.J. Cale used to do; release his CD and hope other artists liked what they heard. Skynyrd did (they cut Call Me The Breeze). Dickie did a couple of his songs. And Clapton did "Cocaine" - that was a pretty good haul!

I've been putting together songs for a couple years now. I write so much - I write for a living now - I write every day, really by appointment. It's a real different deal and what I've tried to do is just block that out for a while and write just for me. We did the pre-production on a 16-track digital hard-drive here at the house. Some of the stuff has turned out better than the studio work because it so honest.

It's real easy in Nashville to pay big money and go into the studio and get a slick-sounding record. But that's not my style of music. I've been playing some clubs, very few, and some college dates. And 90% of what I’m doing, and this would be hard for Tucker fans to believe, is that I do just a solo act, me and an acoustic guitar. It's something I've never tried before but I'm doing it now because of the acceptance of singer-songwriters.

I've never considered myself a great singer but I know how to translate the work I want to translate. I'm definitely not a young Doug Gray that's for sure (laughs). But that's OK. I'm comfortable with it. Sort of like Toy - we had the same thing in mind - we're not real slick we just have music we want to offer. I kind of run with a crowd of underground musicians. The bass player I used was 19, sometimes I use a 17 year-old drummer. The reason I do that is to get that fresh blood. The longer the hair and the more ear rings the better I like it. I like that offensive style of playing. That goes back to my roots, brother. The six of us in MTB had the same idea at first - it was the rebel in us. It's still, to this day, amazing; we'll have a party or I'll go to a party and people will ask me to sign MTB CDs.

DOES YOUR NEW CD HAVE ANY TUCKER TYPE SONGS?

Yeah, probably. We did a version of Fire on the Mountain. I've played that 100 different ways and you know the way I played it that I really like is with my friend, who's a world class banjo player. You know I wrote that with an Appalachian thought in mind so I took it back home where it belongs. And some of the other stuff, I'm a heady writer - I write stuff I think people need to hear.

So some of the stuff I've been writing could probably be done easy by the Tucker band. One song I wrote with a friend is a tribute to Toy - I couldn't actually finish it because it just kept killing me to write it, so one day I went to a good friend of mine and said here's the chorus and everything, just help me finish it. We talked about going to Toy's funeral and it's called "The Journey Home." It's a very inspiring song, it's a tribute to Toy and it's the only way I could do it. I sent Abbie a copy of it and she was real happy it. She was glad somebody wrote something like that.

I'd like to give a special thanks to George for taking the time to talk with me for this interview. It was definitely a trip down memory land. I'd also like to thank his wife, Mary, for making it possible. They both are first class people!

The Songs of George McCorkle:

Searchin for a Rainbow, 1975: Fire on the Mountain

Long Hard Ride, 1976: Windy City Blues (with Doug and Jerry) and Holdin' On to You

Carolina Dreams, 1977: I Should Have Never Started Loving You (with Doug and Tommy) and Life in a Song (with Jerry)

Together Forever, 1978: Dream Lover (with Jerry) and Everybody Needs Somebody (with Doug and Jerry)

Running Like the Wind, 1979: Last of the Singing Cowboys and My Best Friend

Tenth, 1980: Gospel Singin' Man Foolish Dreamin' (with Doug), Disillusion: (with Jerry) and Jimi (with Toy)

Dedicated, 1981: Silverado and Tonight's the Night

Tuckerized, 1982: Sweet Elaine

Just Us, 1983: 8:05 (with Franklin Wilkie) and Paradise (with Doug)

Livin' Life in a Song!

Questions & Answers from the Sax Man!

By Craig Cumberland

Photos by Craig Cumberland

Jerry was a founding member of MTB and played flute, sax and keyboards in the band for 25 years before retiring in 1995.

"I wandered this whole world over

Searchin' for a four leaf clover

Til I finally found

That the music had made me free"

Disillusion, 1980

Q: Tell us the story of how you originally became involved in the band?

A: I had known Toy, Tommy, & Doug for quite some time. The way I remember it, I was trying to recruit Toy for an R&B band I was playing with and he had a better idea....

"Yes a man who writes for a living

Has the spark of the highway in his soul

The fever is sweet, it's tuggin' at his feet

It's tellin' him he's just got to go

Blood Red Eagle, 1983

A: I'd love to take the credit, but I honestly don't remember if any one person had the idea originally.

"No one really knows why,

No one takes the blame"

Tan Yard Road, 1992

We tried all kinds of ideas with MTB.....heck, I think we would've used bagpipes if anyone could've played 'em. Here's a few that I remember.... Mini-Moog, mandolin, harmonica, fiddle (that's an easy one, but which players played on what songs?), banjo, bullwhip, vibes, alto flute, tuned soda pop bottles, back of a guitar played like congas, guitar thru a Leslie speaker, I'm sure there's more.....these are just a few that come to mind.

Q: Tell us about some of your favorite MTB songs and why they are special to you.

A: A short and perhaps flip answer to a serious question: I liked them all.....each for a different reason. I particularly enjoy the "Running Like The Wind" and "Together Forever" albums.

"Listening to a faint sound

Gazing out the window

I see Winds blowing clouds

Wish they were taking me

A lonesome song on the radio

Reminds me of where I'd like to be"

Everybody Needs Somebody, 1978

Q: Who were your musical influences?

A: King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, many old jazz and R&B artists. For a little more in depth answer check out my website!

"What makes two people together from the start

In love with the life of their own?

Choose to live their lives in the songs that they sing

And always bein' alone

Livin' their life in a song"

Life in a Song, 1977

Q: What was the best of times for you in the band and why?

A: Jeez, Craig, you ask difficult questions. I guess I enjoyed the very early days the best. We were all so young and the music was so all encompassing then. It was very exciting even if we didn't know what we were doing.

"Just outside of town there's an old dirt road

It's full of trash and old memories of stories left untold

Where legends say ghosts walk at night

By the light of the cold dark moon

And sprits cry out in the night

For loved ones who died too soon"

Tan Yard Road, 1992

Q: Did you ever imagine the band would get as big as it did?

A: I imagined that it might. There was a lot of talent there, but it took a lot of lucky breaks for it to happen.

"You know this life of rock and roll

Can be a devil with two heads

Do you sell your soul for the smell of gold

Or live for the music instead?"

Disillusion, 1980

Q: What are you involved with now since retiring from MTB?

A: I've been spending a lot of needed time with my family. Twenty-five years doing ANYTHING is a long time, but that amount of time on the road can seem like an eternity. Between Little League baseball, volunteering at school, and raising a house full of kids, my days have been pleasantly filled since leaving MTB. I'm still semi-active in music, and looking forward to playing professionally again one day....I'm just not sure when or in what capacity.

"But one day he tires of the movin'

He's thinkin he'd like to settle down"

Blood Red Eagle, 1983

Q: Why did you decide to retire from the band?

A: See previous answer ....LOL!

"Weeks ago I left you in sunny Caroline

Sittin' in our home in the pines

I got a job to do that takes me away from you

But your love still remains on my mind"

Windy City Blues, 1976

Q: Do you still live in Spartanburg?

A: Yes, for now....again, that might change soon.

"But the legend goes

If you travel the road

You won't come back the same"

Tan Yard Road, 1992

Q: Did you know that the '95 tour was your last?

A: I suspected that it might be, but didn't make that decision until late in the year.

"I've lived my life on dreams

I planned my share of schemes

But the lines on the road and the telephone poles

Sometimes seem like a bad, bad dream"

Disillusion, 1980

Q: Any plans to re-join Doug and the band in the future?

A: Life's all about change.....never say never.

"Each man has the choice

Of the road which he will choose

Each man has to figure out

Just what he's willing to lose"

Tan Yard Road, 1992

Q: Do you stay in touch with George, Paul or Doug much?

A: Not as much as I'd like, but yes, I think we're still friends.

"Everybody needs somebody

To help 'em make it through life

Arms to hold, words to soothe

Someone to say it's alright"

Everybody Needs Somebody, 1978

Jerry Eubanks' flute and sax is one of the things that distinguished MTB's music from everyone else's. They "never sold their soul for the smell of gold", choosing to always "live for the music instead". And because of that, the music has endured. And I bet if given the chance, Jerry, as he wrote in Disillusion "would do it all again". He's a true southern gentleman. Thanks, Jerry, for the music, and the memories.

In addition to his playing, Jerry wrote or co-wrote several of the band's songs, including:

"Windy City Blues" with Doug and George from Long Hard Ride

"Life in a Song" with George on Carolina Dreams

"Everybody Needs Somebody" on Together Forever with Doug & George

"Dream Lover" on Together Forever with George

"Disillusion:" with George on Tenth

"Long Island Lady" with Doug on Just Us

"Blood Red Eagle" on Greetings From South Carolina

"Tan Yard Road" with Rusty on Still Smokin'

Take the Highway!

It's More Than Just a Song Title - It's a Way of Life

An interview with Rusty Milner

by Craig Cumberland

In the fall of 1999 I had the chance to interview Rusty Milner, lead guitarist of the MTB. While many fans may consider him one of the "new" band members, he's been with MTB since 1984. His tenure is longer than any other band members' except Doug and Jerry. He's written numerous songs for the band and helped engineer their last 4 albums as well as co-producing the most recent, Face Down in the Blues.

YOU'VE BEEN WITH THE BAND FOR 15 YEARS NOW?

Yeah, since '84. It all started in the winter of '83. Doug called and asked if I'd be interested in playing in the band because he said something was getting ready to go down. I didn't really take it to heart, but he called back in January and said it happened and we'd start rehearsing in February of '84. And I've been with them ever since.

Rusty and MTB circa 1984

AND I BET HE DIDN'T HAVE TO ASK YOU TWICE?

No, it was a good opportunity. I never imagined I'd be playing in Tucker. I guess you could say I considered myself more of a pop/rock player in those days. And I considered Tucker more of a country/southern band, which I really wasn't interested in at the time. But you get a chance to play, and at that level - I was willing to play anything. But it fits my style real well and I fit into it real well I guess... I've managed to hang around this long anyway.

I BET YOU COULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED THAT 15 YEARS LATER YOU'D STILL BE DOING IT.

Well, before I got into the band I was working on alot of my own stuff and even attempted to push it and that really helped me develop my writing. I've tried to make some of my songs work for the band and get them on the CDs whenever they fit in. It's so hard to play music and make a living. I've got so many friends I played with back in the old hometown and now they're working full time and some stopped playing music all together. You get married and the music becomes more of a hobby. I've been fortunate.

YOU WERE IN THE ARTIMUS PYLE BAND FOR A WHILE, RIGHT?

Yeah, from about 81 - 83, then we split up. The band had been together for a year or so and had just done their first album when I joined. They were recording their second album. Shortly after recording it MCA came in with a whole new management team and cleaned house, and we were gone. But that's how I got to know Doug and Jerry, we recorded the APB album at Creative Arts Studio, which was owned by the two of them and George. Then after that Doug was working on some stuff and I played a little on that. We got to know each other better and then things happened with Marshall Tucker and here I am...

Rusty jammin' in '99

YOU'RE ALSO FROM SPARTANBURG, RIGHT?

Yes. I graduated from Dorman High School in 1976. (The original band, except for Paul, also graduated from Dorman). I used to ride motorcross and play in basketball leagues quite a bit growing up. As a matter of fact I sold my motorcycle to buy my first guitar and amp.

SO ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE SUCCESS OF THE FACE DOWN IN THE BLUES CD?

Yeah, it's kind of, I don't know... The band was so popular, so naturally, I kept up with the band growing up even though I didn't personally know 'em. It was such a big deal. You saw these guys all of a sudden driving Mercedes around town so ya knew things were going real good and when I got into the band I always hoped it would get back to that point, though things had already started slowing down a little bit. They'd had their hey day, but you always hope things can get back to the way things were. When I first joined the band they hired some great Nashville musicians and took them out on the road with us. They were great players, but it didn't feel like a band. It took alot of time to get to where we are now and I feel like we've got a great band now and it's the best CD I've done since I've been in the band. We did it in our own studio so this CD was more hands on than the others we'd done, so naturally I'm pullin for it. Over the last few years I've learned to not get too excited, ya just got to wait and see what happens.

THE SINGLE "THE LOVE I GAVE TO YOU" JUST WENT FROM 40 TO 34 ON THE NATIONAL CHARTS.

Yeah, that was a real surprise. Originally it wasn't on the record because we thought it was too pop, and this was supposed to be more of a rhythm and blues thing. But the record company wanted 12 songs so we added this one and "Face the Music" and that just rounded it all off.

Rusty and Jerry, 1985

"AIN'T NOBODY'S FOOL" WOULD MAKE A GOOD FOLLOW UP SINGLE.

I feel the same way, I'd love to see that happen. That's one of my favorite songs. The other little kick that would help this thing get off the ground is videos, but I don't know if the record company is willing to spend money on that. Video would be that last link to let people know that we're still out here.

"MEAN MISS SWEETIE" WOULD MAKE A GREAT COUNTRY HIT

That was the one I originally picked to be the first release. That's a really good song, too.

THERE'S SO MANY GREAT SONGS ON THE NEW CD, "THE LONG GOODBYE" WOULD MAKE A GREAT SINGLE, TOO. YOU GET A GOOD FEEL FOR ALL THE SONGS ON THE CD THEN "DRIFITN BLUES" JUST COMES OUT OF LEFT FIELD WITH SOMETHNG TOTALLY DIFFERENT TO END THE CD.

Yeah, I like that for a good ending too. I love CDs that end with something different and light.

I THINK THE NEW CD BROUGHT ALOT OF FANS BACK WHO MAYBE DIDN'T KNOW MTB WAS STILL OUT THERE AND ALOT OF NEW FANS HAVE GOT INTO TUCKER THE PAST FEW YEARS, EVEN YOUNG FANS IN THEIR TEENS AND TWENTIES. THE NEW CD HAD OPENED ALOT OF EYES I THINK.

Yeah, we've noticed alot more fans out there this year and that's always nice to see.

SPEAKING OF VIDEOS, IT LOOKED LIKE THE BAND MUST'VE HAD A GOOD TIME FILMING "AND THE HILLS" (IT FEATURED PLAYBOY PLAYMATES).

Well, our wives sure gave us a hard time about it. But honestly, it was one of the earliest videos we'd done so I spent alot of time watching what the crew was doing and trying to learn as much as I could.

ARE YOU WORKING ON ANYTHING NEW?

Yeah, the gospel CD. It's a K-Tel project. It's just something Doug's always wanted to do. We actually started on it before we started on Face Down. We've already got 5 or 6 songs done. We got about 5 more we're gonna do. There might be a couple of our songs on there. We're mainly doing old southern gospel tunes like "Eye of the Sparrow", and "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad". A gospel CD fits in real well with where we are right now with the music and our lives.

THE BAND'S DONE SONGS LIKE THAT BEFORE, THE MOST RECENT "CLOSER TODAY" WHICH YOU HELPED WRITE, OFF THE SOUTHERN SPIRIT CD.

That's just a special song. Believe it or not every now and then I get a royalty check for that, (laughs) and believe me it's very small, but it's real consistent. Folks just like that song and somebody's covering it. It's just got a very special meaning, a special line "may we be closer today than yesterday" and thing's will get better. That's what it's all about.

ANYTHING PLANNED FOR AFTER THE GOSPEL CD?

We're always hopin' a major label will pick us up, with major money (laughs). It always takes money to get things really going again. It seems that if we're not on the road we're in the studio working on something new. We're always busy.

IT SEEMS LIKE THERE'S BEEN TIMES THE BAND STARTED TO TAKE OFF AGAIN BUT BECAUSE OF YOUR RECORD LABELS YOU'VE HAD TO CHANGE DIRECTIONS. SISAPA FOLDED, THEN YOU'RE NEXT LABEL, CABIN FEVER, GOT OUT OF THE RECORD BUSINESS.

Yeah, these independent labels get into it, they have a tough time making a go of it and it takes more money than they think. And that's happened to us a couple of times. K-Tel is a big label, but they've always released compilations, but they're just getting into releasing new music, but they're still a popular label with good distribution.

DRIVIN YOU OUT OF MY MIND GOT SOME CMT AIRPLAY AND WALK OUTSIDE THE LINES GOT EVEN MORE - IT SEEMED YOU WERE BUILDING MOMENTUM IN THE COUNTRY MUSIC MARKET, THEN CABIN FEVER GOT OUT OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS - THAT HAD TO HURT A LITTLE BIT.

Yeah, it did 'cause we were just startin to get into that video market, and I feel like it's something we could use right now. Ya know, "video killed the radio star." It really did. Live performances, that's what the music survived on with the original band, they gave such great live shows, big concerts, all over the United States, all over the world. That's what kept the band going, more so than the actual albums. When the fans come out to see us they don't expect to see a three minute song. They expect us to get out there and jam, and that's up our alley - that makes it fun.

I'M GLAD TO SEE STUART BACK IN THE BAND.

Yeah, Stuart's a great player. I grew up watching him play before I ever got serious about playing. I don't think he even remembers this, we were probably barely high school age, but a buddy of mine told me about this hot guitar player so we went over to his house. Stuart had a little band and they practiced in the storage room of their garage. Ya know that was a big inspiration 'cause I wasn't a big southern fan at the time - Stuart's band covered alot of Tucker, Allman Brothers and I thought that was some cool guitar stuff, he was really good. We saw each other here and there from time to time then later on in the mid-80s we got him into the band - we had been looking for someone that fit that bill, someone that grew up with the music.

Rusty, Stuart & Tim, 1998

TIM HAS BEEN A NICE FIT TOO.

Yeah, he's another guy from Spartanburg, growing up with the music and just being raised in the same area, I guess we just have a feel about it. And Tim's such a good writer.

BB AND DAVID SEEM TO HAVE BROUGHT SOME NEW ENERGY TO THE BAND.

Yeah, BB drives us real well. He just keeps it going. Dave's a great soloist, probably the best I've ever worked with. His solos just blow me away. He's got a lot of jazz influence, which I like. He just gets up there in front of everybody, kinda like "here it is", and he just goes and takes ya for a ride.

I'M GLAD THAT DAVID IS PLAYING THE KEYBOARDS ON SOME OF THE SONGS IN CONCERT.

He's extremely talented, and plays alot of different instruments. Hornsby's (Paul, the producer of the band's first six albums) thing was always to go back over the recording and lay down this big bed of piano and it really made the record, just jelled things. MTB's never used piano live much, except when Ronnie Godfrey was with them for a couple of years. It was mainly always a guitar band, thank goodness (laughs).

I'D LOVE TO HAVE THE CURRENT LINE-UP RELEASE A LIVE CD. A LOT OF FANS HAVEN'T HAD A CHANCE TO SEE YOUR LIVE SHOW. THE CURRENT LINE-UP HAS ADDED SOME REALLY NICE TOUCHES TO THE TUCKER STANDARDS. I LOVE THE SLIDE GUITAR STU PLAYS ON "SEARCHIN FOR A RAINBOW" & "FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN". AND THE TRADE-OFFS YOU BOTH DO ON "CAN'T YOU SEE" GIVES THE SONG A NEW DIMENSION. AND THE BAND HAS WRITTEN SOME NEW TUCKER CLASSICS LIKE "STAY IN THE COUNTRY" AND OTHERS.

We've talked about it. We love to jam, sometimes I tell the guys "don't be surprised, we might get into anything tonight."

Rusty 1998

YOU GUYS STILL PLAY A LOT OF SHOWS, OVER 200 A YEAR. THAT'S ALOT OF MILES.

And our schedule can get crazy, especially around the Fourth of July. Just this year we played in Southern California on the 1st and then on the 2nd we were in Sparks, Nevada. After the show we took a red eye flight to Baltimore for a show on the 3rd and on the Fourth of July we played Alabama. We were hurting at the end of it all. It makes for long nights and long days.

LIKE THE BELLAMY BROTHERS SANG "IT'S A HARD WAY TO MAKE AN EASY LIVING"

Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. Leland Sklar, a bassist who's played with James Taylor and Phil Collins and others, once told me "you get paid for the travel, the show's for fun."

DO YOU REALIZE YOU'VE DONE OVER 3,000 SHOWS WITH TUCKER NOW...

Really? Now I know where all these gray hairs come from (laughs). I never thought about it that way.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAMILY

I've been married for ten years and I've got a six-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. I've struggled with that and beat myself to death alot of times over that, 'cause you miss out on so much. And now that my little girl's in school all year and then when she's off in the summer we're gone. We only made it home 7 or 8 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day. But you gotta do what you gotta do. You know, children teach us not to be so selfish. Before the kids when I got home all I'd think about was working out, playing golf, or working on new songs. I used to have a studio at home but when my son was born we turned it into a bedroom. Now all think about doing is getting home to them, and where I can take them and what we can do; just playing out in the yard - just ordinary stuff. It's just so special to spend that time with them. Now the only time I play much golf is when I have free time on the road.

WHERE'D YOU MEET YOUR WIFE?

I walked in Wendy's and this girl just smiled at me and I knew right then... something told me she'd make a good mother. Really, I even told a buddy of mine that. I ran into her again when she started working at the bank I used. I asked her out several times and she kept saying no because I was a musician. She finally said yes and the rest is history.

SO WHAT'S YOUR HANDICAP?

(Laughs) You gonna print this? About a ten, a few years ago it was down to 8. The best I ever shot was a 73. I was under 80 most the summer. Then in September I lost it, it got so bad I went to a teacher. But I love it, it's my new drug, it's my therapy. Those 4 or 5 hours you don't think about anything. I go out and play and then a few days later I'm ready for another fix. It just clears my mind. I've got a little black book with all the places I golf when I'm on the road. I've met alot of great folks, it's amazing. A lot of people think that golf is a rich man's game, but it's not. When you get out there on the course everybody's the same. A good putt is a good putt. A good drive is a good drive. Sports teaches you a lot, teaches you how to interact with people. Now I'm taking my daughter with me when I'm at home. She hits a few balls and likes riding around in the cart. I get cabin fever in the winter when I haven't played in a while. It's one thing I really look forward to these days. Back in the old days we'd party just to pass the time and now I just golf - it's a lot more positive thing. Being able to golf and get outside is kinda like the other side of the world compared to what I'm doing. Like Jerry said a few years ago "I'm remodeling my house and I'm gonna make my bedroom look like a hotel room so I feel at home." It didn't make much sense to me when he said it ten years ago, but now I know what he meant.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU DO TO PASS TIME ON THE ROAD?

I carry a little 8-track recorder that records to a hard disk drive. It's a "sketch pad" for my song ideas. Last night I started playing and next thing I knew it was 3:00 a.m. so I decided I'd better get to bed.

THROUGH THE YEARS YOU'VE CONTRIBUTED A LOT OF SONGS TO THE BAND, WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE?

A song I really like and that I wrote several years ago is one on the new CD, "Face the Music". We started working on the new CD and I brought it out. Doug added a few lines, came in with the hook - that's a really good song. I'm always so critical of what we've done and there are things I'd like to do differently, like "The First to Say Goodbye" which was on Walk Outside the Lines. I'd love to go back and record it the way we originally played it live, with more sax. When we cut it we went for more of a country feel, so we cut alot of the sax.

YOU CO-WROTE "I LOVE YOU" ALONG WITH DOUG AND TOMMY. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT?

We were in Denver during Thanksgiving. It was about the time we were working on the "Still Smokin'" CD. Doug had this old tape of him and Tommy doing this song. All they had were the verses and the chorus. They needed an arrangement, which I did. I also added the bridge. I was disappointed I couldn't be at home for Thanksgiving but a buddy of mine from back home, who was now living in Denver, called me up and asked me over for dinner. I wasn't able to make it, but it made me feel alot better. I started working on this song and everything just came together real quick. That's another one of my favorites and something I'm really proud of.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS TO PLAY LIVE?

We just started playing "Hillbilly Band" with Stuart singing it, and that's a lot of fun. Naturally, "Highway" and "24 Hours", the songs we jam on. One of my favorite songs of all time is "Last of the Singing Cowboys". We haven't done it for a few years but we've been talking about bringing it back.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE MTB RECORDS?

Together Forever. It had so many flavors in it. It's just such a great fusion of so many kinds of music. Just that whole album, they were into a really cool fusion - Together Forever just kind of sums it up. I guess being a musician I just like fusion. I'm a big fan of Larry Carlton and I'm a Jeff Beck fan, too. Another favorite is Tenth. Just recently a friend of mine just happened to have it on when I walked into his shop and I happened to catch that. It brings back alot of memories. You could tell they were evolving into something else. Songs like "Last of the Singing Cowboys" from Running Like the Wind, which was sort of in that direction, I just enjoyed that jazzy, funky spirit. That was an era of the band I just really liked.

"Thanks to all the fans for a great year and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. It looks like 1999 will be another great year for MTB with the Volunteer Jam tour with Charlie." - Rusty Milner.

The Songs of Rusty Milner

Southern Spirit (1990)

Destruction; Modern Day Man; Special Lady (with Stuart Swanlund); No Mercy; Love Will

Still Smokin' (1992)

Tan Yard Road (with Jerry Eubanks); Carolina Party; I Love You (with Doug Gray and Tommy Caldwell); Let Me Come Home; Can’t Take It Anymore; Frontline (with Don Cameron)

Walk Outside the Lines (1993)

I'll Be Alright Without You; The First to Say Goodbye; Lost in Time (with Doug)

Face Down in the Blues (1998)

Face the Music (with Doug); I Like Good Music (with Doug and Tim Lawter); Ain't Nobody's Fool (with Doug); Southern Belle (with Doug and Tim Lawter)

Gospel (1999)

Beauty of Life

We often hear from fans wanting to know when a particular member was in the band or if this person or that person ever played in MTB... so to answer that question definitively (we think) here are the people who have been members of MTB!

Ace Allen

Don Cameron

Clay Cook

Ronnie Godfrey

Garry Guzzardo

Tony Heatherly

Chris Hicks

Tim Lawter

David Muse

Rusty Milner

Mark Pettey

Ronald Radford

Tom Robb

Paul Thompson

Frank Toler

Franklin Wilkie

THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND KEEPS ON ROCKIN’

In the early fall of 1973 Marshall Tucker Band was still a young and hungry group out to prove themselves every time they hit the stage.  Their debut album had already spawned numerous hits. “Way Out West!”-Live fromSan Francisco1973, their latest CD is a time capsule from that period.  “We were a bunch of young guys who didn’t know any boundaries” says founding member and longtime lead singer Doug Gray.  As it turned out, the collective talents of the Marshall Tucker Band took them very far indeed.  More than three decades later this galvanizingSan Franciscoperformance reminds us how it all began.

Still led today by founding member and lead singer Doug Gray, they represent a time and place in music that will never be duplicated.  Gray is quick to credit the band's current dynamic members with carrying on the timeless essence of the Marshall Tucker Band sound. Current members include slide guitarist Stuart Swanlund who joined the band in 1989, the highly respected drummer B.B. Borden, a former member of both Mother's Finest and The Outlaws, multi instrumentalist Marcus Henderson of Macon, Georgia, plays flute, saxophone and keyboards in addition to lead and background vocals, Pat Elwood on bass guitar, and Rick Willis on lead guitar and vocals, both of Spartanburg SC, are disciples of the Caldwell Brothers.  Together they present a powerful stage presence as they continue to tour the country and continue to be powerful force in the world of music.

The Marshall Tucker Band got its start inSpartanburg,S.C.when Gray teamed up with Tommy Caldwell and Toy Caldwell, Paul T. Riddle, George McCorkle and Jerry Eubanks, borrowing the name "Marshall Tucker" from a piano tuner whose name was found on a key ring in their old rehearsal space. In 1972, they signed with Capricorn Records, the same label that guided The Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie, and others to national fame. The MTB opened shows for The Allman Brothers in 1973, and the following year, they began to headline their own shows acrossAmericadue to the platinum-plus sales of their debut album.  They toured constantly playing sheds, stadiums, theaters, fairs, and festivals.

In years to come, The Marshall Tucker Band would wow critics and influence major country acts likeAlabama, The Kentucky Headhunters, Confederate Railroad, and Travis Tritt with its definitive blend of rock, rhythm & blues, jazz, country, and gospel. Now, thanks to the expanding scope of today's music, a new generation of fans is learning what the rest of their fans have known for so long- that good music knows no boundaries.  Along the way, the band has recorded twenty two studio albums, three DVDs, three live albums and many compilations.

In 1980 Tommy Caldwell died as a result of injuries from an auto accident.  In 1984 Toy Caldwell, George McCorkle, and Paul Riddle decided to retire.  Doug Gray and Jerry Eubanks with the blessings of the other three continued to record and perform as the Marshall Tucker Band.  1n 1993 Toy Caldwell, who wrote the majority of their songs, passed away, as did George McCorkle in 2007.  Jerry Eubanks retired in 1996 and Doug Gray continues to lead the current band of fine musicians winning new young fans as well as satisfying the loyal fans of several generations.

Years of rigorous tour schedules earned the band the respect of critics and countless dedicated fans. With hit singles like "Heard It In a Love Song," "Fire On The Mountain," "Can't You See," and "Take The Highway," The Marshall Tucker Band earned seven gold and three platinum albums while they were on the Capricorn Records label. During the 90's, the MTB scored four hit singles on Billboard's country chart and one on Billboard's gospel chart. Their music has also been featured on the soundtracks of movies such as Smokey and the Bandit, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, Shipwrecked, Crank 2, Don’t Mess with Zohan, Stop Loss, Swing Vote, Taking Chance and many others as well as many TV Shows.

“The buying public never really cared whether we were country or rock and roll" says Gray. "They called us a Southern rock band, but we have always played everything from country, jazz, blues, Rock & Roll  and all things in-between. As we've become older," Gray grins, eyes twinkling, "our Southern heritage seems to come out even more. But no matter how old we get, we can still rock your socks off."  Gray also notes that people have gotten "married and buried" to classic MTB songs like "Desert Skies" and "Can't You See". After 37 years, The Marshall Tucker Band continues to be played on classic rock and country radio, and they have never stopped touring.

Today the band records on its own RAMBLIN’ RECORDS Label which is distributed by SONY by way of a joint venture with SHOUT! FACTORY and continues to record new material and continues to regularly tour the country to the delight of their fans, old and new.

The Marshall Tucker Band is:

Doug Gray – Lead Vocals

Pat Elwood– Bass

Rick Willis– Guitar, Vocals

B.B. Borden – Drums

Marcus Henderson – Keyboards, Saxophone, Flute, Vocals

Chris Hicks - Guitar, Vocals

by: Kenn Kasica

I am thinking back to the year 1979. This brand new teenaged rock and roller from Boston Massachusetts was sitting in the back of a Buick Wildcat during a late August afternoon cruise. The black as tar dashboard in this convertible was baking and the mad dog maroon vinyl seats were broiling. But there was nothing under the sun hotter than the deep southern "in your face" rock and roll blasting from an orange eight track tape of a South Carolina group called The Marshall Tucker Band. I cannot recall how long that cruise lasted. Perhaps it went on for a few songs, the next street light, into the next sunrise, or like the everlasting summer breeze whispered by the hands of time, the cruise rolls today alongside my memories. I often embrace this moment in 1979. It was a time of young and wild untamed twists and turns on the asphalt ribbon while dancing with the heat to Carolina Dreams by The Marshall Tucker Band. I had forever ahead of me but a moment in the circle was all I needed back in 1979.

I am back into 2009. Janurary 28th and ice is the special on the weather menu today served in a super sized heaping helping of sleet sprinkled slush. I am kicking back on a sofa in a cozy warm room backstage sitting next to a man with a head full of hair and hands full of a cell phone. His fingers are all over the gadget as he tries to check his voice mail and text messages. A few moments pass then he puts the phone away in his pocket. He gives me a look and smiles. Softly he asks, "Hey, how are you?" "Did you enjoy the show tonight?" This is how I met Doug Gray, lead singer and original member of The Marshall Tucker Band. Doug and the rest of the MTB had just finished a show in Foxboro Massachusetts at a place called Showcase Live. Meeting Doug Gray was quite special. He is an embracing spirit who poured it out on stage touching the souls of in an audience full of old faces and new admirers of southern music. It was a great show. Doug was charasmatic, directing the night with his one liners and a fresh picked set list. He reached the dancing crowd toward the back as he reached the fans seated in the front giving the crowd classic MTB songs they came to share with the night. The band was tight. The night went south in the best of ways. The time I spent backstage with Doug Gray as the MTB prepared to jump on a bus and head on out is something worth sharing. It is something very special.

A well groomed man enters the backstage room along with his lovely wife by his side. The two are already bundled up for the bitter elements outside. The mans shiny black shoes and matching hat along with a real expensive looking "buisness leather" jacket stands out among the MTB concert shirts and faded jeans that are worn by the band and the roadies as they pop in and out of the room. The couple had an appearance of just being "charmed" by a symphony and in the zone of blown kisses, plastic "shout outs," and blue blood fingers clenching fine crystal of finer French bubbles. As the tight glove wrapped hand of this man extended to greet Doug Gray's hand, I took it all back. This couple was here backstage to meet an idol. Perhaps they did well for themselves, It all depends on how you judge success. The man shook Doug's hand as his wife smiled. Two different men on opposite paths met to share a moment as a new friendship was born. This man represented all of the fans who have come out tonight to enjoy the music of MTB. They are young kids, old fools, hopeless romantics, working stiffs, poorly dressed garage rock relics, and a well groomed man who looked like a million bucks. What would become priceless was the words this man said to Doug Gray in the moment he realized he was face to face with a southern rock legend. Who, I ask, could ever say it better. "I have all your albums." "I play them to this day." "Your songs are such a part of my life." "They are part of my, best of times."
A lady entered the backstage room. She wore a pretty smile and had nice things to say. She was dancing as she was earlier in the night out beyond the tables from center stage. Her arms opened up to give a big hug to her southern song man Doug Gray. Doug wasted no time getting to his feet and accepting this very happy ladies embrace. She told Doug how the music of The MTB touched her life. I could see this pretty lady back in the day at a stadium show. She was up on somebodies shoulders, whistling to the band as mellow colors and loud southern boogie swirled from the stage mixing with the last of the twilight sky and enhancing the offerings of dearest Mother Nature. She wore a brand new denim jacket that night as she danced her heart out to her favorite group, The MTB. It was an amazing piece of life to be there seeing this lady after over three decades of singing and dancing to a great band and a lifetime of beautiful songs. She told us, "I remember where I was when I heard the first MTB album." "I remember who I was with and what I was doing." All the moments of a wonderful life and playing along with the memories was the timeless music of The MTB. Today, her denim jacket is a bit faded and she did not see tonights show from the top of somebodies shoulders. Her love for Doug Gray was as strong as it ever was. She left the room with a smile and an everlasting memory she will hold dear for the next three decades. I liked this gal!! I think the human factory put in an extra helping of "real" mix when they made that uplifting lady. With her love of The MTB, there goes one sweet, "Honey Tucker Rose."

Number sixteen in black and gold is a real deal legend in the Boston sports world. He is known around these parts as "Nifty" and Nifty has just entered the room backstage to visit a southern rock legend. Nifty was a fifty goal scorer one year for the Boston Bruins. I watch as Nifty hands to Doug an old band photo for Doug to sign. This is a picture where Jerry Eubanks standing on the left is wearing a black Boston Bruins jersey with the number sixteen on its sleeve. Doug smiles at the photo and signs his name above his picture. I remember the player who wore jersey number sixteen for the Boston Bruins. He was my favorite player when I was a kid. Tonight, Nifty, the sharp shooting NHL goal scorerfrom Canada is a humbled and excited fan of The MTB who goes by the name of Rick Middleton.

Between the long night of performing and the longer night of a bus ride, Doug Gray took in the silence of an empty room. He thought of his friend who had passed away earlier in the day. He was a friend who was an immovable mountain on the stage and an irreplaceable genuine spirit of inspiration. Billy Powell faced tragedy and walked from the wreckage that would forever change the great circle of southern rock. The crowd was gone. The colored lights were off. The bus outside was warmed up and ready to head down to the next MTB show in Phoenixville Pennsylvania. In a room backstage, Doug Gray felt like talking. I sat beside him and was all ears "We lost Billy today." "I was told the news before the show tonight." "We just did a cruise with Skynyrd and Billy looked fine." "You know," Doug said, "Billy was a man who took life straight on." "He was always there but now, he is gone." I could see the sadness in Doug's eyes but I could only imagine the miles, the hardship, and the friends that he keeps and how he can bring it all to centerstage singing over heartache and playing it pretty under the grace of god. Doug went on. "I think of this." "I think of Toy, Ronnie, and now Billy." "It gives me an understanding of why I am still out here doing what I am doing." "People wonder why I still go out on the road at sixty years old." Doug looked right at me. "Well," he said, "I don,t wonder at all." "I do it for my friends and for the fans." "It is important that I carry on and in some way, carry on the music of the friends who have passed on." Doug got to his feet. There was a bus to catch. Before the door opened, before we went our own ways I told Doug he was a survivor, he would be singing forever. With a handshake and a smile he left me one last thing, "I feel strong."

I was a brand new fan of The MTB back in 1979. Thirty years later, the music is as good as ever. I do believe that Doug Gray will forever sing the great music of The MTB for there is a centerstage to infinity and the spirits from SpartanBurg South Carolina are headlining the show. May Doug Gray carry on. Forever is a brand new moment. And so goes, the great southern circle.

A devoted Gibson man, like his father before him.

Gibson ES-335 (cream)
1974- Gibson Les Paul Standard (Red Sunburst)
Toy had two older Les Pauls, a 1958 and a 1953, but both were stolen in 1975)
Emmons Pedal-Steel

Toy's Standard was strung with Ernie Ball Slinky Strings. (011, .013, .017, .022, .024, and .036) The action was lowered, although it was still mildly high when compared to other players' height preferences. Fitted with two older humbucking pickups. Except for Schaller tuning heads, the guitar was a stock model.

Two (2) Fender Twin Reverb Amps removed from their original cabinets and refitted into specially-built casings. These two amps powered two Marshall cabinets with the original speakers replaced by four K120 JBL's per cabinet. The two stacks were linked with a Y-cord.

Fender Precision Bass

Gretsch Drums
Toms: 9 X 13, 10 X 14, 16" Floor tom.
Concert Toms 8" and 10"
Penstripe Heads
White head on bottom and Penstripes on the top.
22" Bass Drum
5 X 14 Slingerland Wood Snare with three airholes (sometimes, P.T. would use Canasonic heads on his snare in the studio to achieve a dry, crisp sound).
Zildjian Cymbals.
22" Medium Ride
Two 18" Crash Cymbals, one medium, one medium-thin
Concert Hi-Hats, 14" Quick Beats
Studio Hi-Hats, New Beats

George was kind enough to e-mail us his equipment list. Thanks George! ;) "I started off playing with MTB with an old Ampeg head & cabinet, probably an STV. The first good rig I got was one we bought from The Grateful Dead. It was a Macintosh Amp (300 Watt), pre-amped with a Fender Showman Head (100 Watt, I think) played through eight (8) cabinets with two (2) 12 -inch JBL speakers each. Then I got a Mesa Boogie rig. It was a 100 Watt head through (2) two Mesa Boogie cabinets with (4) JBL speakers in each. I used a Mesa Boogie Combo withone (1) 12 inch speaker in smaller Venues.

In the early 80's I did use some Peavey amps from time to time, but never found one I just loved! As for Guitars, I've played about everything! I mostly played my black Gibson Les Paul and my Red Fender Stratocaster. (My son, Justin, plays the Red Strat now) I did like playing a Gibson 335 or 347, or a Lucille every now and then!!

George with Michael B. Smith

Now if I play with my band, I use a Mesa Boogie Combo with one (1) 12 inch speaker. It's a Mark IV, fully loaded. Most of the time I like to plug it straight in, but if I use effects I use a Digitec RP 1 through the effects loop. I Play a Paul Reed Smith Custom Sunburst or a white 62 Stratocaster that's been modified to suit my needs. If I play Acoustic, I use my Taylor 615 (Fishman Pick up EMG amp) or my old Martin that I played when I played with MTB. It's a D-37K with a Baggs set up.