By: Matt Bjorke Last Updated: April 7, 2011 10:04 AM

With classic songs like “Heard it In A Love Song” and “Can’t You See,” The Marshall Tucker Band had an influence on a wide variety of modern country stars, from multi-decade stars like Garth Brooks, Toby Keith and Mark Chesnutt to more recent stars like Randy Houser, The Zac Brown Band and Gretchen Wilson.  So it makes great sense for us, then, to be highlighting the re-issued and expanded release of the Marshall Tucker Band’s Greatest Hits.

Released through the band’s Ramblin’ Records and Shout! Factory, the new expanded edition of Greatest Hits is an altogether different animal than the 8-track one K-Tel put out a time ago.  It features the single versions of the classic hits like “Can’t You See,” “This Ol’ Cowboy” and “Heard It In A Love Song” along with a sprinkling of other classic country rockers like the expansive opening “Take The Highway.”  A true band in the sense that all the musicians were allowed solos and periods within many of the songs from the group’s peak period of time as Capricorn Recording artists, when the original members Doug Gray, Toy Caldwell, Tommy Caldwell, George McCorkle, Paul Riddle and Jerry Eubanks were all in the band. When you consider that feat, it’s hard not to think of The Zac Brown Band as a modernized version of The Marshall Tucker Band.  It’s also hard to fathom that their peak output of four years is better than the output many other bands have a decade or longer to achieve.

To balance out the hits, Doug Gray, producer Ron Rainey and Buddy Strong have added in some delightful ‘album cuts’ like “In My Own Way,” complete with a fantastic guest spot from Charlie Daniels on Fiddle and the jazzy “I Should Have Never Started Lovin’ You.”  While fans of The Marshall Tucker Band may already own these songs and could probably make playlists of the album on their own, for newer and/or younger fans or people wanting just one album from this versatile band, there’s not a finer, more complete compilation of The Marshall Tucker Band’s music to own than this fantastic and expanded edition of Greatest Hits.

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