Marshall Tucker Band - Live! Englishtown, NJ - 9/3/77 - A review

It was a perfect day for a concert, and what a venue, right beside the Englishtown, NJ, race track. It was a hot late summers' afternoon. My friends and I pulled into the outskirts of Englishtown, and decided to park a good walk away, because we asked and heard that the small town was full of cars, and people were paying to park on peoples' front yards.

  So, we walked about thirty - forty five minutes to Raceway park, right beside where the concert was going to be. It was a huge area surrounded by eighteen wheeler trailers for a fence, and the huge stage which took up a large area in the front at the bottom a very large slowly descending hill. Besides the speakers on the stage, there were several large stacks of speakers scattered across the side of the hill for the people who were further back like myself. People were lying on blankets or standing around talking, My friends and I had missed the "New Riders Of The Purple Sage", a country rock group who had opened up the show. All of a sudden, there arose a large commotion, and The Marshall Tucker Band came out around Three in the afternoon, and started their set. We could not see or hear the group at first, You could barely hear the music where we were hanging out and there were several people behind us, There was an estimated one hundred and fifty thousand people there. It was a very mellow crowd, people enjoying what they knew was a very special moment that afternoon. It took awhile for the sound to get loud enough for the whole crowd to hear the MTB.

  Finally the sound got straightened out and the band sounded great as they played several of their popular songs from that era, both the Grateful Dead who Marshall Tucker was opening for and Marshall Tucker were playing in the peak of their careers , so it was quite an experience. The CD is a copy of a soundboard tape for the MTB, so the sound quality is not that good. The volume of the recording was the same volume thruout the show, and the quality of the recording improves as the show goes on. The set ends with a rousing "24 Hours At a Time" and The Encore is "Can't You See"(a killer version) This is definitely a must have if you were at the historic show. Marshall Tucker did not release a lot of Live material.

          www.marshalltucker.com

THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND SETS SAIL WITH ROCK LEGENDS CRUISE THIS DECEMBER

MTB Headlines Cruise With ZZ Top, George Thorogood & the Destroyers, John Kay & Steppenwolf, Dickey Betts & Great Southern, Foghat, Artimus Pyle, Molly Hatchet, Johnny Winter, The Edgar Winter Band, Among Others


Royal Caribbean's Liberty Of The Seas Cruise Ship Departs on Four-Day Excursion to the Bahamas December 1



Nashville, Tenn. (July 7, 2011) – This December, legendary southern rockers The Marshall Tucker Band will ‘batten down the hatches’ and take to the seas, as they co-headline the inaugural ROCK LEGENDS CRUISE, benefiting the Native American Heritage Association (NAHA).



“This is going to be one hell of a party on the Atlantic,” notes Marshall Tucker Band lead singer and founding member Doug Gray. “Hittin’ the waters with some of our best rocker pals never sounded so good. You can bet we’ll have some of these guys jammin’ with us MTB-style on more than a few of our sets!”



Departing from Ft. Lauderdale on Dec. 1, The Marshall Tucker Band joins more than 18 rock bands including ZZ Top, George Thorogood & The Destroyers, John Kay & Steppenwolf, Dickey Best & Great Southern, Foghat, Molly Hatchet, Johnny Winter, The Edgar Winter Band, and The Outlaws, among others, on a four-day Bahamian cruise.


As many as 3,200 music fans, served by a crew of 1,300, will be aboard The Royal Caribbean Line’s Liberty of the Seas. The ship, one of the largest (160,000 tons / length equal to almost four football fields / 18 decks) and most luxurious passenger vessels in service today, is scheduled for stops in Bahamian cities Coco Cay and Nassau. The main attraction of the cruise is the multiple performances by the rock bands brought aboard in four different on-board venues. Liberty of the Seas also features on-board surfing thanks to its FlowRider wave generator, a boxing ring, a full-sized volleyball / basketball court, cantilevered whirlpools and a range of gourmet restaurants.



The unprecedented cruise will benefit Native American Heritage Association’s mission to provide emergency assistance and self-help programs to the Sioux Native Americans living on reservations in South Dakota. Since 1993, NAHA has worked with Lakota (Sioux) Reservations, strengthening the Native American communities and families one member at a time. The challenges are difficult as unemployment rates on the Reservations are at 80%, 70% have no transportation, the average life expectancy is 58 years of age, infant mortality is 10 times the national average and 31% of Native American children under the age of 4 are obese because of lack of proper nutrition. NAHA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, in partnership with Feeding America and Gifts In Kind International, has provided food, clothing, heating assistance, personal care items and home care items to the many Native Americans in need. NAHA has a 17-year history of executing its mission in a fiscally responsible way, outperforming most other charities. Thanks to its financially sound business practices, NAHA has earned 6 consecutive 4-star rating with www.charitynavigator.org. 92.4% of all NAHA revenue goes toward its program services. For additional information, visit http://www.naha-inc.org/



This year, The Marshall Tucker Band celebrates its 40th year since forming in 1971. Last May, the band, in recognition of four decades, released The Marshall Tucker Band: Greatest Hits and lead singer Doug Gray’s lost solo recordings, Soul Of The South. The legendary southern rock band continues to tour regularly and recently returned from a five-concert tour of Iraq and Kuwait, where they entertained thousands of United States military personnel.



For ROCK LEGENDS CRUISE ticketing information, visit www.rocklegendscruise.com.



For additional information on The Marshall Tucker Band, visit http://www.marshalltucker.com/

Marshall Tucker Band's Doug Gray 'Sells Soul' This Spring

MARSHALL TUCKER BAND'S DOUG GRAY


'SELLS SOUL' THIS SPRING



Gray Unveils Never Before Released 30-year-old R&B Recordings,

Soul Of The South, On April 5



Nashville, Tenn (March 8, 2011) - Dedicated fans and friends of the Marshall Tucker Band have always heard a touch of the soul man in Doug Gray’s voice. From the band’s beginnings into the present day, his singing has tempered the group’s country leanings with a bluesy edge. Largely unknown even to MTB’s hard-core followers, Gray actually cut tracks for a solo album nearly 30 years ago that fully explored his affinity for R&B. These recordings finally see the light of day on April 5, 2011, with the release of Soul Of The South.



“In 1981 I was offered the opportunity to sign a solo record deal by top music executives to sing Pop and Soul songs which were very popular at the time. I loved singing these types of songs as I had been singing them for years going back to when I was a young boy in the early sixties. I was really into singers like Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson and later, Al Green,” recalls Gray. “When [MTB lead guitarist] Toy Caldwell and I used to go out and listen to music, we’d always look for places that had rhythm and blues. That was the kind of stuff I did before we started The Marshall Tucker Band.”



“The Marshall Tucker Band was then signed to Warner Brothers and Tommy Caldwell had recently died in a car crash. The band was in between records so I had the time and I owned the studio so I recorded these soul songs and all the guys came in to help out as well as some other musician friends. I really felt good about the results but stopped short of completing a full album because it was time to do another MTB record and I felt a loyalty to the group so I put the tapes away, turned down the solo deal and continued with the band and never looked back until now. These songs are important because they are the only songs by the five living members of the band at that time that have never been released. They may not be your typical MTB songs written by Toy Caldwell but I think it shows how good the band was to come in and work on songs that were out of character and get the results we did,” Gray says with a smile.



As co-owner of Creative Arts Studio in his hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina, Gray was in a good position to work on a solo project in his spare time. He enlisted the help of engineer Billy Sherrill and a host of Nashville publishers in rounding up the right material to record. Out of a stack of 300 demos, he ended up choosing seven tunes by songwriters both famous and lesser known. Rounding out the song list was a spirited cover of the Spiral Staircase’s 1969 hit “More Today Than Yesterday.” Gray notes, “I recorded that song because Billy Sherrill bet me I couldn’t hit the high notes.”



Gray’s band mates were happy to help lay down tracks at Creative Arts. Original Marshall Tucker members Toy Caldwell, George McCorkle, Paul Riddle and Jerry Eubanks all took part in the sessions, along with bassist Franklin Wilkie (who joined the band after the tragic death of Tommy Caldwell in 1980) and pianist Ronnie Godfrey. Also contributing to the Creative Arts sessions were such gifted Spartanburg-area players as keyboardist Michael Blithe and Rusty Milner who later replaced Toy Caldwell in the mid ’80s. After the basic tracks were completed, Gray and Sherrill finished up recording in Nashville, enlisting A-list players like bassist Bob Wray (known for his work with Ray Charles, B.B. King and other legends), keyboardist Mike Lawler (a veteran of sessions with everyone from the Allman Brothers to George Jones) and Terry McMillan on percussion.



Gray had reason to feel proud of the results. From aching ballads like “Still Thinking Of You” (co-written by star-to-be Michael Bolton) and “Don’t Blame It On The Rain” to funky upbeat tunes like “Never Enough” and “Who,” the tracks allow Gray to wail and testify with abandon. The after-hours elegance of “Sandman” contrasts nicely with the moody atmosphere of “Guilty” and the percolating groove of “Let Me Be The Fool.” Any number of these tunes might have scored high on the charts if they had been released as singles.



The release of Soul Of The South restores a missing chapter to the Marshall Tucker story. The band, by the time of these recordings, had several gold and platinum albums, hit singles and were one of the top concert draws of the seventies and early eighties. Playing and recording a wide variety of Rock, Country, Blues, Jazz and Pop songs in its own unique style, there was no one else like them. Beyond its historical value, this album is a prime slice of vintage Southern Soul, delivered straight from the heart.



In addition to Soul Of The South, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Marshall Tucker Band will release The Marshall Tucker Band: Greatest Hits on April 5, 2011. The 14-track album includes MTB fan favorites including “Can’t You See,” “Heard It In A Love Song,” “Take The Highway” and “24 Hours At A Time.”



For additional information on Doug Gray and the Marshall Tucker Band, visit http://www.marshalltuckerband.com/






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Soul Of The South Track Listing:



1. Let Me Be The Fool

2. Who

3. Sandman

4. Guilty

5. Don't Blame It On The Rain

6. Never Enough

7. Still Thinking Of You

8. More Today Than Yesterday



The Marshall Tucker Band: Greatest Hits Track Listing:



1. Take The Highway

2. Blue Ridge Mountain Sky

3. In My Own Way

4. Fire On The Mountain

5. Heard It In A Love Song

6. Ramblin'

7. Searchin' For A Rainbow

8. I Should Have Never Started Lovin' You

9. 24 Hours At A Time

10. Long Hard Ride

11. Can't You See

12. Too Stubborn

13. This Ol' Cowboy

14. Desert Skies