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Marshall Tucker Band Brings Its Rockin' Best Tonight

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By GEOFF FOX, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Although he sang lead on the five-minute ballad, Doug Gray never thought 'Heard It in a Love Song' would be popular.

'I thought it was a bubble-gum song,' said Gray, vocalist with The Marshall Tucker Band. 'We were out with Jethro Tull and the Allman Brothers, before bands like Cheap Trick came around, and, you know, I just had no idea a song like that would still be as popular as it is today.'

'Heard It in a Love Song' - about a 'wrangler and a rambler' who 'don't need no woman taggin' along' - is one of several time-honored songs the legendary Southern rock band will play during a roughly 90-minute set tonight at the Cotee River Bike Fest, in downtown New Port Richey.

The band is expected to take the Sims Park stage about 8:30 p.m. The show is free.

'We wanted to get somebody the bikers would want to hear,' event coordinator Dan Sullivan said. 'With The Marshall Tucker Band, they've been around for years. It brings back memories for everybody.'

For Gray, the only original member of the group from Spartanburg, S.C., the memories are long-held, and mostly good. Through parts of four decades, the band has released more than 20 albums, including 'The Next Adventure,' released this year.

Speaking from the back porch of his Spartanburg home, he said his favorite memory in the music business was also one of his earliest.

In the mid-1970s, he said, the band played in front of 60 people in a Manhattan club.

'A month later, we were opening for the Allman Brothers in Madison Square Garden. Of course, the show was sold out; it was a little bit unbelievable,' he said. 'I teared up, I'll be honest with you. We finished our show and those people lit those matches and held them up. I couldn't believe it.

'My mom was a nurse and my dad worked in a cotton mill all his life. I know how hard they worked, and I had them there with me that night.'

The band produced a string of popular albums throughout the 1970s, including 'Carolina Dreams,' 'Searchin' For a Rainbow' and 'Together Forever.' The albums included anthems such as 'Can't You See,' 'Fire on the Mountain' and 'This Ol' Cowboy.'

The band's lineup has evolved through the years and several original members have died. Bassist Tommy Caldwell died in 1980; lead guitarist and songwriter Toy Caldwell, Tommy's brother, died in 1993; and rhythm guitarist George McCorkle died this year.

The current, six-man ensemble includes Gray's nephew, Clay Cook, a singer and guitarist.

The band has never had a member named Marshall Tucker.

'He was a blind piano tuner,' Gray said of the group's namesake. 'We had a real good training school for deaf or blind people in Spartanburg, and people came there from all over the world. Marshall Tucker went there for training and met his wife there.

'He had rented this warehouse in Spartanburg, and we needed a place that was downtown and empty at night, so we rented the warehouse, too. Six months later, this guy said he wanted us to open a concert for somebody. But they needed a name for the marquee and we didn't have one.

'Then we saw a tag on this key at the warehouse and it said Marshall Tucker. So, we let them put Marshall Tucker' on the marquee.

Even with varying lineups, the band has played steadily ever since. This year, Gray said, the group will perform about 170 concerts, many in the Northeast and Midwest.

Although it played Friday in West Palm Beach and is scheduled to play Sunday afternoon in Houston, Gray said concertgoers should expect the group 'to play our butt off' tonight.

'That's what we always do,' he said. 'We play a lot of old stuff and a lot of new stuff. It's hard to believe it's been 35 years. We started this because we wanted beer money. We didn't think we'd whup the road, we just wanted to be a part of it.

'We're going to get up and do our best, and everybody will walk away happy, I promise.'

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 948-4217 or gfox@tampatrib.com.

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