The Tucker Boys Are Cookin’ Down in Caroline…

I was listening to The Marshall Tucker Band today, and it got me thinking. MTB was one of the “original” southern rock bands, their first album was released in 1973. They were part of the Capricorn Records stable, along with other southern rock staples The Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie, Elvin Bishop, and Grinderswitch, Dixie Dregs…. Aside:  5 of the 9 bands mentioned in Charlie Daniles Band's "The South's Gonna Do It" were on Capricorn Records...  but not CDB.

Factoid: There was no person named Marshall Tucker in the Marshall Tucker Band. According to the band’s web site the got the name from a key-tag for the place they were rehearsing. Marshall Tucker was the previous renter of the space, and his name was still on the tag.

Remarkably, MTB had no personnel changes over their first 7 years (and 9 albums).   Most of the southern rock bands couldn't claim any sort of stability, much less 9 albums' worth.  Sadly, the streak was broken when bassist Tommy Caldwell died in a Jeep Crash in 1980.  The band released 4 records after Tommy's death, then broke up.  They reformed in 1988, without Toy, which just doesn't seem right.  And which wasn't particularly succssful.

Factoid:  MTB featured 2 brothers, Toy and Tommy Caldwell.  Not unheard of, but not all that common.  In the southern rock world, there was the Allman Brothers (Gregg and Duane Allman) and Wet Willie (Jimmie and Jack Hall).  Toy was the key member of the band, writing 100% of the band's first 2 albums, and almost 75% of the first 9.  Adding brother Tommy's contributions, and 82.5% of MTB's songs were written by a Caldwell.

The photo is Cades Cove, TN, in honor of the MTB song "Blue Ridge Mountain Sky".