Like Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Marshall Tucker Band is named after a real person who wasn't in the band. He was a blind piano tuner with perfect pitch who used to work at the studio where the band rehearsed. They saw his name on a keychain and decided to use it.
The band formed in Spartanburg, South Carolina, but in 1972 travelled 200 miles south to Macon, Georgia to audition for Capricorn Records, home of The Allman Brothers band. They got the deal and released their self-titled debut album the following year, which includes their signature song, "Can't You See."
Like the Allmans, this was a band with brothers, Tommy and Toy Caldwell. Both died young, Tommy in a car accident in 1980 when he was 30, Toy from a heart attack brought on by cocaine use in 1993 when he was 45.
Lead singer Doug Gray became the last original member of the group when multi-instrumentalist Jerry Eubanks retired in 1996. Gray has kept the band going with phalanx of members - he estimates that at least 500 musicians and crew members have done time in the band over the years.
Four of the original members - Toy Caldwell, Tommy Caldwell, Doug Gray, and George McCorkle - served in either the Army or Marines during the Vietnam War in the late '60s before the band formed. Gray became an advocate for veterans and often spoke about how hard it was to come home after fighting the unpopular war.
Toy Caldwell didn't use a pick, relying instead on this thumb, sometimes plucking the strings. This gave him a distinctive tone that helped define the band's sound. Toy learned the technique from his dad, a semi-pro country musician who was emulating Merle Travis.
The Marshall Tucker Band had saxophone and flute player in the lineup, Jerry Eubanks, which set them apart from other guitar-based Southern Rock bands. A good place to hear his work is the song "Can't You See," where his flute grabs the spotlight.
Toy Caldwell was their primary songwriter. After leaving the band in 1983 he formed a new group, the Toy Caldwell Band, but they released just one album and never came close the success of The Marshall Tucker Band. From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-marshall-tucker-band
