Marshall Tucker Band – The Next Adventure
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Posted On June 1, 2007
THE 1970S were more forgiving of flute-fueled rock music than any time since. Chicago. Tim Weisberg. Dan Fogelberg. Jethro Tull. Amid that eras wind-whirlwind, the mightiest rock-flute line of them all belongs to the Marshall Tucker Band. Its the trill of notes at the start of Cant You See. The anthem lives on today on classic-rock airwaves and in Buick commercials.
The pride of Spartanburg, South Carolina, launches its fourth decade with The Next Adventure, flute and all. Founding member Doug Gray oversees what amounts to a family reunion. His fellow band founder, the late Toy Caldwell, wrote Why Am I Crying?, the tiresome sixth cut. Grays daughter Gabrielle duets with Chris Hicks on the most hit-worthy track, I Love You That Way, written by yet another former Marshall Tucker member, George McCorkle.
Southern-fried rockers such as Crossroad satisfy like a cold beer at the state fair, but its ballads that always set this band apart from its original labelmates at Capricorn Records. Come Runnin Like A Friend features Grays old, familiar voice in tandem with Ronald Redfords gentle steel guitar. Down The Road Before shifts up to midtempo but is still a laid-back number along the lines of Searchin For A Rainbow.
Marshall Tucker isnt doing things differently or better than in the day. Then again, part of what a fellow needs nowadays is reliability.
